Lancer Emilya.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Fate\Stay night or any other works used in this story. I write it because it's fun, no other reason.
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Prologue.
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Shiro lay near Sakura's body that he just freed from Angro Mainyu's influence with Caster's Rule Breaker.
He knew he was dying because his entire body screamed of it ever since he traced Hercules's weapon to perform the demigod's Noble Phantasm: Nine Lives: Hundred Shooting Heads.
With it he defeated the Dark Berserker and bought himself, Rin and Ilya enough time to plan what to do.
Nevertheless, he pushed himself first on his knees, then stood up and slowly walked towards the Grail that stood completed for the first time in the history of Holy Grail Wars.
It's was both a terrifying and awe-inspiring sight, an artifact that created a gate to the root of universe, a rare mage didn't dream about what he could see now. But Shiro wanted only to destroy the thing that brought so much sorrow in his life, both ten years ago when it turned his previous life to ash and now, when it harbored so called 'all the evil in the world'.
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Shiro slowly raised the arm he got from Archer and concentrated, trying to ignore the pain from his overstrained magic circuits and hoping he would manage to trace and use Excalibur before he died.
'Saber.' that thought caused images of his Servant, before she was corrupted, to flow into his mind, threatening to break his concentration. Images about how she first appeared and saved his life, how she was changed by Shadow and how he finished her life with dagger of Azoth.
"Onii-chan, stop! I'll deal with Grail" he, suddenly hearda voice from behind and slowly turned his head to see if she was here.
He saw a very young girl with long white hair that framed her red eyes that suddenly started to glow when she used a spell.
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"Ilya…" he whispered and felt his body began to freeze. Afraid that he could die before he destroyed the Grail he tried to turn to the artifact, but, instead, his body went limp and he fell on the ground.
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"Don't worry Shiro, you will live. Even if it takes a miracle." said Ilya, stopping her paralyze spell and walked to Grail.
The boy couldn't see what happened after, as Ilya's paralysis spell easily won and his eyes closed.
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For a long time, an eternity as Shiro thought, he relived what happened to him in his life. He relived the conflagration, the talks he had with the man he called his father and the events of this War.
Archer, Saber and a multitude of other people appeared before him and soon faded away in the darkness that surrounded him, as if repeating their deaths at the hands of Shadow.
One of them however refused to leave. It was Ilya, his sister, wearing the dress he saw on her before his eyes closed, surrounded by bright white glow.
"Wake up, onii-chan. Wake up and live." said the girl and suddenly the light around her expanded in a burst and banished the darkness that surrounded him.
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Shiro opened his eyes, not yet understanding what was happening. Slowly his vision cleared and he saw the ceiling of his room above him.
'What happened? Why am I in my room?' he thought and tried to move, but his body was too weak, he even barely felt it. Instead, he looked around, trying to see if it was another dream, but soon it proved to be a futile effort.
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The door to his room opened and turning his head, he saw Sakura in her usual outfit with painfully hopeful expression that burst into happiness when she noticed that Shiro was awake.
"Sempai! I was so worried that you'll never wake up." she cried and ran to Shiro. Surprisingly, when Sakura hugged him and he started to feel his body under Sakura's hands, Shiro felt something was very wrong and tried to break free to see what happened to him.
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Sakura misunderstood and thought that Shiro rejected even her touch. With tears in her eyes, the girl broke away and was about to run away when a shout stopped her.
"Sakura wait!"
The girl slowly turned around and said.
"It's all right Sempai. I understand if you don't want for me to be around."
"No that's not it Sakura. I want you to be around… What? What happened to my voice?!" exclaimed Shiro when he heard his words spoken by Ilya's voice. He looked at Sakura, who showed almost tangible amount of remorse and looked under the bed covers.
First he saw his bloodstained shirt and gulped as he saw the body that flashed through the rips.
'I'm Ilya?'
"I'm Ilya? How?" asked Shiro, feeling his face with his hands and then caught a strand of a long pale red hair and brought it before his eyes.
He briefly thought about checking himself further, but banished this thought since his feeling of touch fully returned and told him even more than he wanted.
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He turned his attention to Sakura who was still standing near the door and asked, faintly hoping that Ilya was somehow alive and merely gave him a copy of this body.
"Where's Ilya? What happened to Grail?"
Sakura briefly hesitated before she decided something and walked to him.
"I couldn't see what happened, but Grail is gone and Ilya wasn't here when I woke up in your house." The plum haired girl suddenly embraced Shiro in her arms and said in a much quieter voice that was so sincere that if Shiro listened he could hear the strings of her soul reverberating as she spoke.
"When I woke up, I thought that Sempai is dead. That I killed you. But soon Rider brought a girl here and Rin said that you are Sempai. I'm so happy now, I don't care how you look, just don't leave me again."
"S-Sakura…" Shiro, slightly stunned by the strength of her emotion, didn't know what he should do and just embraced the other girl.
'So there's almost no hope left. But I'll still ask Tosaka.'
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Almost as soon as the red-haired girl thought about Rin, the door opened and revealed the said girl, dressed in her usual red & black combination. Sneezing, Rin slightly winced from the wound that wasn't healed yet, but steeled herself and said.
"It's good to see that you're alive, Emiya. Now, get up and follow me, I want to check you while you awake, since I couldn't find anything wrong while you slept."
"I'm going." said the girl and got out of the bed in her dirty torn shirt.
"Sempai, you might want to dress first."
"Oh, right." Shiro blushed, carefully closed the biggest rip with one hand and walked to his closet, but stopped when Sakura said.
"You can't wear your clothes. They are too big for you."
"What am I going to wear then? I won't borrow any clothes from you. Or Rin." answered Shiro, looking at Tohsaka who had a painful smile on.
"You don't need to, Emiya. Ilya's maid brought enough of her clothes for you."
"Tosaka! I can't…"
Rin winced from the shout and interrupted the redhead before she got even louder.
"You'll deal with what you like or dislike later. Now, I want to check your body before my wound puts me in a bed again."
"…"
Shiro walked to his closet and replaced his shirt with a clean one, taking care to keep the shirt from brushing his body and then left with Rin, trying to ignore Sakura who couldn't help but snicker when she saw how big the shirt looked on Shiro's now small body.
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"Did you find anything Tohsaka? Can I be changed back?" asked the redhead when Rin stopped the spell and stepped back.
"No, I couldn't find anything like that. It looks like you are stuck with it for now, Emiya. I can't even say if you're a homunculus like Ilya was. I really hope that you are not." answered Rin when she sat near by, tired.
"But I can't live like this!"
"That's right Sempai. You can't live like this. You must at least wear the clothes that fit." said Sakura when she walked into the room.
"But…" Shiro tried to protest but the other girl took his hand and gently pulled the redhead after her, leaving Rin alone.
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Soon they walked into the storage room and Shiro saw a woman in a long white dress, with white hair and red eyes that reminded him about Ilya, who stood near several big bags on the floor.
"Who are you? "
"I'm Sella. I was Illyasviel's maid for a very long time. Together with Leysritt we watched over and taught her everything we could." answered the woman and after a short pause she said.
"I don't understand why Illyasviel chose to sacrifice herself for your sake, but allow me to honor her memory by serving you as I did for her. I suppose she would've wanted me to be at your side if she knew what will happen."
"Ahh… You don't have to serve me, but you can live here if you want."
Hearing that Sella brightened up and scanning Shiro, she said.
"Then we can start with finding you suitable clothes. I think Illyasviel's would fit well. But... first, you need to be washed."
"Washed?! No way, not today and not with anybody else!" shouted Shiro, dashing out of the room with Sella and Sakura chasing after her.
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About a half an hour later, Shiro stood before the big mirror, all clean and tidy, and looked in the mirror at the girl dressed in purple jacket and white skirt that Ilya usually wore.
Ignoring the praise from both Sella and Sakura, she moved to touch the mirror, almost expecting the girl she saw in it to jump out and hug him with a cheerful cry as she usually did, but nothing happened when his and his reflection's fingers met.
Nevertheless, for a moment he thought that he could feel her presence.
'Thank you, big sister. I will never forget what you did for me and I'll try to live for us both. Maybe you'll feel the joys of living through me wherever you are now.'
Turning around, he…
'I guess I can start with calling myself 'she' now.' mentally sighed Shiro and said to the others.
"I'm clean and dressed now. Are you happy?"
"Yes, you look very cute, Sempai." said Sakura and her eyes gained a gleam that, for some reason, seemed highly suspicious to the redhead, but she decided not to ask about it and instead walked to the door.
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"Where are you going?" asked Sella, slightly suspicious that despite what she knew about that… person, Shiro was going to do something indecent to Illyasviel's body. That actually was one of the main reasons the maid came to Emiya household.
"I'm going to prepare something. I'm hungry."
"Please wait Sempai. You don't have to do it yourself. We'll prepare the food."
Shiro turned to them, beginning to feel annoyed that so far he wasn't allowed to do anything for himself, even bathe.
When Sakura saw Shiro's sour expression, she barely held herself from flinching.
"Sempai, it's not because I don't take you seriously. You are not tall enough to cook in your kitchen yet."
"Oh, right…" The redhead's grip on the door knob lessened and sighing she said.
"Then I'll go to Rin. We'll plan how to explain everything to Fuji-nee when she arrives."
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'Where is Shiro? I didn't see him yesterday. I hope he's not gone missing as so many others did.' thought Taiga Fujimura as she walked into the house where the boy lived.
When she entered the living room, she saw Tohsaka girl, Sakura, but no Shiro. There were also two more people at the table. A girl with long pale red hair that framed her face and contrasted her dark red eyes and a woman wearing a white floor length dress, that matched her short white hair and bright red eyes, that was serving the breakfast.
"Who are they?" she asked, angry that these guests behaved themselves as if they lived here.
"What?" asked the redheaded girl and seemed confused when she understood what Taiga meant. She turned to Rin who sat nearby and asked.
"Ah, Tohsaka can you answer that?"
Rin stopped eating and turned to the newcomer, before she said.
"This is Emilya von Einzbern. She is Shiro's cousin and she, her maid Sella and Sakura's friend Rider are from another country and arrived yesterday to visit him, but since he's missing, they decided to wait for him."
"Tohsaka!" exclaimed the smaller girl, furious to hear that lie." Tell her the…"
The rest of her words were muffled when Rin almost jumped from her place, put her hand on Shiro's mouth and almost carried her out of the room, saying that they'll return in a minute. Sakura went out after them, followed by Sella.
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Blinking in confusion, Fujimura turned to the guest who just walked in, a young looking woman with purple hair that almost reached the floor and held a book in her hand.
"So, your name is Rider? And you came to see Sakura?"
"Yes."
"Poor girl. She lost her family a few days ago. I hope you'll cheer her enough for her smile to return."
"Umm… I'll try."
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Meanwhile in another room, Rin released Shiro and immediately the redhead exclaimed.
"Why did you do that, Tohsaka? We must let her know that I'm alive, I don't want her think that I'm dead!"
"Quiet Emiya! Soon I'll have to leave to London as the only surviving Master of the Holy Grail War to make a report. But I'm almost sure they'll put me on trial for allowing Grail, and the gate to Akasha, disappear. And even though they'll condemn me anyway, Taiga is not a mage, so she can't be allowed to learn that magic exists."
"Tohsaka…" Shiro was stunned for several seconds, but soon her face hardened and she said.
"Don't worry. If I'm one of Einzbern now, then I'll do whatever it takes to stop them before they hurt you."
Rin smiled and cupped the girl's cheek, looking in her eyes, as if trying to see Emiya inside.
"You really changed Shiro."
"Now I can kill to save those I care the most." sighed the smaller girl with sullen expression as her dreams of becoming a 'hero of justice' assaulted her mind again.
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A\N: Comments, opinions, reviews are welcome.