I am trying to use as many legitimate Type/Moon rules as possible. That being said, if I do break something... just calm your hormones, ok?
This is the sequel to a Stay Night/Unlimited Blade Works Universe.
Chapter One: Old Friends
Shirou Emiya breathed deeply, running his fingers through his grey streaked hair. It had been the longest 12 hours of his life, but he was home in Japan!
It had been almost a year since he had been on a plane. Last time, it had been with Rin, heading to England to train at the infamous Magus Academy: The Clock Tower. He had left his older sister, just a month after discovering her, in hopes of finding a way to cure the smaller girl. While he hadn't found one, he was back to see her.
He had left the care of his house to his sister, and care of Ilya to his best friend Sakura and guardian/older sister Taiga and could only hope that nothing disastrous had happened. In one of the dozen letters he had exchanged with Ilya, he had learned that she had done 'a little bit of redecorating' and was frightened of the result.
Despite himself, he chatted up the customs and security agents, just happy to be speaking Japanese again. The only person he had spoken Japanese to in the last year was Rin, and while did enjoy talking to her, it was nice to be able to have a full conversation with someone new. Once he got through customs and security, he started home.
He only lived about 30 minutes away, but decided to take a short detour. He hadn't been to see his father since the Grail War. He hated going—he remembered his father alive, and preferred to keep it that way, but felt drawn to pay his respects. He didn't even know what he would say to him. Over the last year, he had been doing everything his father had asked him not to. He had been a Master in the Grail War and he was training with other Magus at the academy.
He stopped in front of the simple stone. He didn't pray or anything, he just looked down blankly. It was simple—the simplest Shirou could find at the time. He knew his father would have wanted something inconspicuous.
"I won't be Archer," was all he could think to say, even though his father wouldn't know about his son's future self. "I'll be a Hero of Justice. I won't be Archer."
"It makes me feel better to talk to them too." Shirou whipped around, a mental gun cocked and a sword traced in his mind if this person was a threat. He was greeted by a grey haired girl with vibrant amber eyes, a bundle of carnations in her arms and in a dress from The Church. "Who is he?" she asked, nodding her head at his fathers stone.
"A hero," he answered softly, turning back to it. He didn't trust the church enough to say who he was.
"A hero?" she asked before smiling. "Then he deserves one of these!" she placed one of her flowers on his gravestone and said a little prayer, before turning back to Shirou.
"You look tired. Have you been travelling?" she asked innocently. Shirou shrugged. 'A little,' he said. He didn't know why, but this woman was making his skin crawl. "Well! You better head home and rest then! Surprises are always more fun that way!" she smiled then turned and walked further into the cemetery, leaving Shirou flabbergasted.
"Surprises?" He sighed and turned away. He didn't have time to deal with perplexing strangers. It had been a short visit, but it was all he could ever manage. As he came to the end of the graveyard, he looked back.
It was huge. He hated that thousands of them were probably from the Grail Wars, and a couple from the 5th—but it would never happen again; he had seen to it. As sad as it made him to know anyone had died over a disagreement between 4 people, 551 years ago, he was a happy to know that no one new would join them.
"I wonder if I should text her or something..." he thought out loud, looking down at his cell phone as he started to walk the rest of the way home.
"Shirou! You are being a child!" Rin yelled, glaring angrily at the red head.
"Why is it childish to want to go see my sisters, Rin?" he asked, starting to raise his voice as well. He just couldn't understand what problem Rin had with him leaving for a week! He was just worried about Ilya, and to be honest, a little homesick of Japan.
He hadn't been to Japan in almost a year. He had been getting the crap kicked out of him in doujos and sitting in classrooms with Rin while she –and others- tried to teach him magic other than Projection. It had been slow going and arduous, but effective.
"Fine!" Rin huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from him stubbornly. "If you want to abandon your training and run back home, count me out."
"I... didn't ask you to come..." Shirou pointed out. He knew that Rin's jewel magic research was important to her, and would never ask her to leave it to chase him half way around the globe.
She stiffened and glared at him before yelling 'idiot' and slamming the door behind her as she stomped off. Shirou just scratched his head, wracking his brain for what could have possibly irritated the brunette.
He smirked fondly. She probably wouldn't answer. It would probably vibrate, scare her and lead to her blowing it up... again. She really did hate technology. He shook his head and sent one off anyway. 'You don't need to answer me, but I'm here safe.'
Shirou put his phone away and grinned, looking up and the long wooden house he had grown up in. Boy had he missed it! The houses and buildings in England around the Clock Tower were beautiful, but nothing beat the faint smell of sandalwood and sliding rice paper doors.
"Ilya! I'm home!"
Sitting with Ilya in front of the TV while they finished their supper, with Ilya babbling on about a Magical Girl Anime she had started watching after he left, had been the happiest Shirou had been in about a year.
As content as he was now, he had almost had a heart attack when he had first walked in the door. While she hadn't painted the walls, Ilya's idea of 'A bit of redecorating' was to give every cabinet, piece of furniture, decoration and floor mat an obnoxious, pre-teen dose of several shades of pink. He had stood completely shocked by the state of his home, while a proud, grinning Ilya waited patiently and innocently for his response.
"Shirou! Look!" At Ilya's cry, he was broken from his memories and quickly turned to the tv, where a woman was talking about a resent gas leak in an up-scale hotel not far from them. The breaking news cast seemed to have interrupted Ilya's show.
"— Doctors believe that the 24 victims of the accident will recover completely, although, they are still in a coma. In other news, a turkey was pulled from a car toda—"Shirou clicked the sound off, sitting in silence with his sister.
"It sounds like Rider—"
"Impossible," Shirou muttered quietly. "Saber and I destroyed the Grail, and even if we hadn't, it's only been a year..." Ilya nodded in agreement, turned the sound back on the tv and turned back to her show, babbling on again. "A year ago..." he muttered, thinking back.
This time last year, he would have been sitting with Ilya, Rin and Saber, eating their meals and living together. He missed that. He missed her.
The next morning, Shirou was awakened by his old teacher breaking his door off and tackling him. He hadn't told anyone that he was home, as he wanted it to be a surprise, but was soon regretting it. Before he knew what was going on, he was sitting beside Ilya at the table while Taiga rambled on about things that had happened since he left, and scooping huge amounts of food onto his plate.
He had purposely picked a day that Ilya said she was on a trip with the Kendo club, hoping to surprise her. She had gotten home early, apparently, and gotten the jump on him, however.
"It's great to see you too, Fuji-nee," he muttered tiredly around a bite of food.
"What are they doing to you at this college, Shirou!?" she suddenly asked, right in front of him and tugging on his bangs. "You're hair..!" He was confused, before remembering that his training had been messing with his looks. He didn't mind the tan, but probably could have done without the greying hair.
"You know how it is," he waved off with a nervous laugh. "Studying hard! Just school stress stuff..."
"Mama's hair was grey," Ilya mentioned, pointing at her own head. "Sometimes hair is just grey." Taiga nodded, shrugging. Shirou sighed thankfully as Taiga walked back into the kitchen to answer the ringing phone.
"Thanks for that," he muttered, turning back to his food.
"I thought the wake up would be enough amusement for this morning," she said with a little giggle.
"Shirou, I know just got home, but could you do me a favor?" Taiga asked, calmly walking over again. Shirou just nodded. "One of Oyabun's associates just had his daughter move in with him from England," she started. "She'll be going to the school, but needs her motorbike fixed to get there..." she trailed off.
"Sure, Fuji-nee," he started. "It'll give me something to do when everyone is busy." She smiled thankfully before excusing herself to go to school.
"So what did you wanna do today, Ilya?" he asked, picking up their plates and walking into the kitchen to clean them.
"I'm not sure," she answered, standing up and stretching. The phone rang again and she sighed. "So many calls, so early in the morning." As Shirou's hands were wet, she stepped up on her tip toes and grabbed the phone.
"Good morning, Sakura-nee!" Ilya said happily into the phone, turning to Shirou to gage his reaction. He just smiled at her. "Supper tonight?" she asked. "Something Japanese would be fine." Ilya tried not to giggle at Shirou's grumbling stomach. Ilya didn't care much for Japanese food, but figured that Shirou probably missed it. "I have a friend over though, so please bring enough for 4 people?" After a pause, Ilya said good bye and hung up the phone.
"Sakura's been taking good care of you, huh?" Shirou asked.
"She cooks and cleans for us, if that is what you're asking," she answered. "I am older than her. She doesn't 'look after me'." Shirou just smiled and shook his head. He'd have to thank Sakura. Everyone knew that Taiga couldn't cook and was more destructive than anything. Sakura must be taking good care of the house.
"I'm just going to go watch TV if you want to go out." Ilya said, sitting on her cushion in front of the television and turning it on. "Go get that bike, maybe."
Shirou sighed. He would rather spend some time with Ilya, but looking out the kitchen window, it looked like it would rain and he probably wouldn't get a chance to do it later.
"Alright. But I'll try and be back before it rains and we can do something together."
Shirou walked down the familiar path to the Fujimura family complex, thinking about everything that had happened over the last year. He had fought in the Holy Grail war to end them all. He had summoned the King of Knights—and fought beside her along with the most cocky woman he had ever met, and his haughty future self. He found his smaller, older sister, discovered her magical illness and she came to live with him. With the help of the woman-king, he had destroyed the source of countless deaths and with it; he had destroyed his chances of seeing his beloved Saber again.
After destroying the Grail, he had travelled half way across the globe with Tohsaka Rin to train at an academy full of Magus' with the hopes of not only developing his magical circuits he had promised not to use in public or around other Magus', but of finding a way of curing his sister.
Now he was back in Japan, living the life of a normal human once again, if only for a week. He carried a constant reminder of Saber with him in his book bag though, trying helplessly to cling to his time a year ago. The small plush Lion he had won for his Saber on their only date was nestled safe on his back, away from any prying eyes.
As he approached his destination, he banished all thoughts of the Grail War, and started thinking about the internal combustion engine of a motorcycle. He had hardly touched any complex technology in a year, and wanted to make sure that it was fresh in his head. He knew he could just use structural grasping on it and figure out the problem, but he needed a distraction.
"Ah! Shirou!" He looked up and smiled at the old man, standing at the entrance of the complex.
"Hello Rai-jii-sama!" he said, bowing briefly to the older man. "Fuji-nee said that someone needed their bike fixed?" The older man smiled, nodded and showed him in.
"She's very protective of it," he started. "About her bike I mean. I would treat it like gold, if I were you." He chuckled and let him into the garage.
Startled, Shirou set his bag by the door, and walked slowly into the garage. It was the most gorgeous bike he had ever seen— the white chrome plated frame looked astonishingly like a suit of armour, guarding the black exposed engine and green lights. It was –not only the most unique- but most beautiful, amazing, immaculate bike he had ever seen in his life.
"Trace on," he muttered near silently, he didn't dare touch it, but ran his hand along the bike, blue printing it inside and out. "It's... incredible."
"What are you doing!?" Shirou felt his shirt collar get pulled from behind him so hard, the threads cracked and broke against his skin. Unprepared, he lost his balance and fell on his back with a resounding thud as his head cracked off the cement.
Shirou opened his eyes groggily to angry green eyes and blonde hair looking down on him. He couldn't make out the face through the feeling of his brain rattling against his skull, but could tell from the steadfast foot on his chest, that whoever it was, didn't want to let him go.
"What are you doing to my bike?" a female voice growled, pushing down roughly again, knocking the air out of his chest yet again. His vision was getting blurrier and blurrier by the second. If only he could use his magic—
"Get off him this second!" she was tugged off and he was allowed to breathe. Fresh air flooded into his chest, making him jolt up coughing and rubbing his head, still a little rattled about what had just happened. "He's the one I told you would fix your bike. He's family. Apologize immediately."
"It's fine, Rai-jii-sama..." he muttered, finally getting his breath back. He looked at the girl that had attacked him and his heart stopped beating in his chest. Those raging sea-green eyes, sun-kissed white skin and long blonde hair were unmistakable.
"Arturia..." he muttered to himself in disbelief.
"Look," she started, looking away shyly. She seemed to feel bad for attacking him, but didn't want to show it. "Oyabun spoke highly of you, I just heard you are a busy man and didn't think you'd be here so soon. So go ahead and take it. I'll run by your place tomorrow evening and check on you though, so don't mess up!"
"Senpai, would you like another rice ball?" Shirou was shocked out of his thoughts by the sweet, purple haired girl beside him.
Sakura had been so happy when she seen Shirou sitting at the table when she arrived, she couldn't help but run over and hug him. She had held back tears, but only barely. They had talked for a couple hours about things going on at his "mechanics school" in England, the Archery teams improvement in competition over the last year and anything else that popped into their heads.
While they had written letters since he left, they were both busy with school or work and didn't have time to write as often as they would like as the months went by, so they had a lot of catching up to do.
After Ilya had gone to bed, Sakura had invited herself down to Shirou's work area, and watched him as he fiddled with Arturia's bike.
"Thanks Sakura," he muttered distractedly, taking the offered Rice ball and turning back to her bike. He had easily figured out what was wrong with it—a badly worn fan belt and a couple of blown fuses. If Sakura would go upstairs for a minute so he could make the materials, the bike would be finished in 20 minutes, but she seemed adamant to stay with him, and he didn't want to use his magic in front of her, so he just played at fixing it by loosening and tightening things as he thought about what had happened earlier in the day.
He still couldn't get over that he had seen Arturia! He was fixing her bike, she had pulled him away from it, and stepped on his chest- he felt her. She was there! She had answered to Arturia, so the chances of her being some look alike were incalculably slim. It had to be her.
He got up and walked over to the closet, starting to dig around in it for a minute in hopes that Sakura would go upstairs and do something for a minute. He didn't wanna ask her to give him a minute—he understood that she missed him, but he really just wanted to finish her bike so that he could stop looking at it and try to sort his thoughts out.
"I'm going to get some drinks, Senpai," Sakura declared happily, running up the stairs. She shut the door behind her and sighed sadly before skittering about the kitchen to make his favourite tea. She leaned against the counter, waiting for the water to boil. He was acting now, like he had when he left with Tohsaka a year ago. She thought that he had been torn up about Saber leaving at the end of the Grail War, but by the time he had gone to England with Rin, it like the war had never happened. Now, he was back and miserable again. Why was he so miserable? Did he have a fight with Rin? Was it her?
"The best I can do is try to make him feel better!" she declared determinedly, shaking the negative thoughts from her head. "He'll see! I'm just as good as Rin or Saber!" She quickly put the loose tea leaves into the boiling water, before putting a couple of cups onto a tray, and taking it all downstairs.
"Senpai! The Tea—!" She called running down the stairs before being interrupted by Shirou yelling out in pain. She bounded the last stair and roughly put the tea on his work table before running over to him.
He was gripping his hand, trying to hide the blood from Sakura. It was not working.
"Hehe, the frame is sharp,"
"Oh my gosh! Senpai!" She gently grabbed his hand, seeing the blood running down his fingers and wrist. He had a nasty gash from above his wrist, clean down his hand, and across one of his fingers. It definitely looked like it hurt, and would scar. "Bandage." She gently pulled him over to the work counter and sink, and ran his hand under water, before grabbing the roll of bandages he kept there, just in case. She quickly disinfected it.
"It's alright, Sakura," he flinched as she started to wrap his hand. "I just got distracted—"
"It's my fault! I scared you..." She hid his eyes from him, leaving her hands covering his left one, as if to try and protect it from anything else that might want to hurt him.
"Sakura," he muttered softly. If he hadn't had been thinking about Arturia so much, he wouldn't have jumped, and he wouldn't have sliced his hand across –what he now knew to be—the incredibly sharp plating of her bike. She had startled him, but he should have been paying attention, and couldn't blame her. He pulled her into a soft hug, minding his hand. She leaned startled against his chest, and started blushing deeply at being in his arms. "Thank you."
After a moment, she pulled away. She didn't want to, but was determined to check on the bandage and hide her blush.
"T-tea?" she asked softly. Shirou chuckled heartedly—the first real laugh he had, had all day. She blushed darker, but laughed with him.
"Why does Father have to be a Yakuza?" she quietly muttered to herself, peaking around the corner at the guards outside the house she shared with her Japanese father. Perhaps rightfully so, the entire complex was paranoid of some outside force attacking them. This made sneaking from her room to the nearby garage building hard. She held her breath and walked inaudibly toward the guards, sneaking next to one and touching his neck softly, making him instantly stiffen, but appear asleep. She quickly moved over to his partner and did the same.
She was awful at mind altering, but hoped by keeping them awake enough to see what was going on, but not awake enough to be aware of it for the 20 seconds that the spell would last, would keep them from being suspicious or taking notice of her as she ran to the next building.
She caught her breath from her little sprint, and looked around the corner. These two were talking about something stupid –a fight or something- and not really paying attention to anything around them. She narrowed her eyes. On one hand, they would be easy to slip by, but that was the problem. She couldn't tell Oyabun she was sneaking around in the middle of the night and saw them goofing off, so she made note to torture them the next chance she got. Negative reinforcement always worked at home. She easily slipped by the inattentive guards, around the corner, and over to the entrance of the garage.
They called it a garage, but it was almost the size of her father's house. It was big enough to hold 6 cars, although it was only holding one at the moment. She had intimidated most of the men into parking in other places, saying she didn't want them near her bike. Realistically, it was the biggest indoor space for her to use magic in. The only car in there now, was Oyabun's.
Arturia tip-toed into the garage, checking outside the door before clicking it closed quietly. She looked around to make sure that no one was around before sighing and leaned against the door. It was hard to sneak around a campus of Yakuzas.
She put her hand on the door knob, making it glow a soft blue that quickly engulfed the whole building. "Locked and barrier up. That should keep nosy people out." She walked further into the room, flipping through an old book as she did so.
She got to the middle of the room and stopped, facing the big sliding garage door. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a shimmer of red peeking out from underneath the table by the door. Curious, she walked over and picked it up.
"A ruby necklace?" she questioned, holding her book in one hand and the mysterious necklace in the other. She could feel just the smallest taint of prana coming off it, as if it had been used up, but kept close to a Magus anyway. "Who here would have a Magus' ruby necklace?" She stood puzzled for a minute before putting the broken chain into her Jeans pocket and walking back to the middle of the room. She'd worry about it after she finished her spell.
"I hereby propose. Thou shalt come under my command, and thy sword shall control my fate." The wind picked up a bit beneath her feet and the bright red marks of a Master appeared on her hand. "Abiding by the summons of the Holy Grail, if thou dost accede to this will and reason, answer me." A giant magic circle appeared below her feet. She had built it the night before, but then someone had come in trying to spy on her and she didn't get a chance to use it. "I hereby swear I am all that is good in the eternal world. I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world." A spark flew across her mind's eye, dictating that something had crossed her outer barrier around the complex—something magic. She turned back to her book, speeding up her reading. She didn't know if it was a threat, but if it was, she would probably need the help of a Servant. "Thou, clad with the Great Trinity, come forth from the circle of constraint—" Her concentration was broken when something broke through her barrier and sent her flying into the wall behind her with a loud bang.
"Getting rid of the stupid Masters before they summon is the easiest way." She looked up from under her bangs at the Magus and Servant that had interrupted her summons.
The room quickly filled with a thick, black, magic cloud that covered not only the huge, intimidating form of the Servant, but the much smaller Magus as well. Her garage door was fully intact, half making Arturia wonder how they got through the barrier and door without breaking either one, but she quickly discarded the thought. Her book had flown in the other direction and was now by her attackers feet, so the chances of her getting it back was slim.
'I need to get to the summoning circle!' she yelled in her head. 'But how?' In a sudden gust of wind, she was shoved against the wall again, cracking her head against the wall. She felt the thick, cold, clammy hands of the mysterious Servant wrap around her throat. It squeezed a bit, cutting off oxygen to her brain, and further ruined her vision. She hung onto the hand of the massive Servant, trying to stop her neck from breaking. As he passed around her summoning circle to take her to the Master, she got an idea.
She formed a tiny fireball and tossed it at the Master. 'Distract them' she begged in her head. They sidestepped toward the summoning circle and laughed at the little fire on the concrete.
"You think that would do anything?" they huffed. "Berserker, stomp out that little Magus' hopes." Arturia reinforced her leg. She needed enough force to distract a Berserker, while still leaving her enough prana to summon a Servant when she hit the ground. As the Berserker lifted its foot, she kicked at the other leg, feeling her own bones crack under the pressure. It lost it's balance, letting out a strangled growl of pain and flinging her away. She landed against the wall in front of her Oyabun's car, feeling her head crack against the wall again. 'It only staggered? Fuck...'
She tried to shake her blurred vision away. She started crawling toward the circle in the middle of the room. The throbbing of her head and broken leg was almost unbearable, but she knew that if she didn't make it to that circle, she'd be dead, and the pain would mean nothing.
'What was the spell? Guardian. Guardian of something... Think Arturia!' She shook her head again, trying in vain to remember what the last line of the summoning spell was. She had read it dozens of times over in her head, but she was under such strange pressure –a definite concussion, a shattered leg, and the very really possibility of dying— that she just couldn't remember. 'Guardian, guardian, guardian..?' Finally reaching the circle 'What would someone use the Grail to defend?' She shook her head one more time, shoving her hand into the circle "Guardian of the Earth!" her command seals started to glow a little brighter, as did her pocket.
Before her eyes, a tall, tanned, muscular man in red and black appeared before her in a burst of light and shimmering, old magic.
"Get rid of them!" she yelled, pulling her arm out of her Servants way. The red Servant launched at the Servant that had just gained its ground back. Her guardian summoned two black and white swords, slashing repeatedly at the massive enemy while effortlessly dodging the erratic clumsy swings of his arms.
Arturia vaguely seen the Berserker Servant block two attacks from her new one, before he jumped back in front of her.
"You're pretty sturdy for such a little girl," he declared. He glanced over at the dark figure of the Master by the door. Quickly, they barked an order to their defender who barely made it to block an attack from the two swords. Again, the red Servant backed off, this time throwing his white sword toward the Berserker, but it went over their shoulder.
"H-Ha! You missed—!" The Master was cut off as the sword swung around behind them, leaving a small cut on the their arm.
"I did? I'm sorry, I must be really bad at this," he muttered. The Master called off the attack, summoning their Servant back to their side.
"Not worth fighting a Servant right now." With that, all the smoke in the room retreated back to the figures and they vanished.
"Are you alright?" he asked gruffly, unsummoning his swords and crossing his arms, looking down at the blonde.
"Fine," she said, flinching. She stared down at her leg as she tried to concentrate enough to put the bone back in place. She shook her head and held it in her hands, instead deciding to work on her concussion. After a minute, she seemed to gain enough sense back to work on her leg, never looking up at her new Servant. She sighed in defeat, realizing that she would be walking with a limp in the morning—she just didn't have enough prana to completely heal herself. "Arturia Knight. You?"
When Arturia finally looked up to see her new Servants face, she was met with snow white hair and shocked grey eyes.
'Saber?'
Shirou passed store by store, following the excited little girl in front of him. She didn't pass a window without excitedly claiming how cute, tasty or awesome something was, with loud, child-like exuberance.
After dropping Arturia's bike off with Oyabun, Shirou was now taking Ilya to the park for some much needed fresh air and bonding. While he was nervous of seeing her again, he had half hoped that Arturia would be at the compound. Ilya didn't believe that the Woman King was in Japan, let alone alive again. Unluckily –or luckily?—Arturia was at school when he stopped by. It probably was for the best anyway; the only thing he could think to do when he saw her, was to gape like a fish.
"Onii-chan!" Ilya yelled, pausing in her run for the swing set. "Push me!" He smiled fondly and ran over to the swing set. He pushed her gently, but hard enough to make her squeal with joy as she flew higher and higher.
As he pushed her, he stared at his bandaged hand and contemplated taking it off, but quickly shot it down. Sakura was expecting a serious, decently deep cut on his hand. It was probably healed by now, and not having the cut, would draw suspicion, so he kept the bandage on as a ruse.
Unexpectedly, the back of his hand started to sting, and he moved out of the way of the swing, staring at the back of his hand.
"Onii-chan?" Ilya asked, starting to slow herself down. "Why'd you stop?"
"It should be healed," he muttered, holding up his hand. Suddenly, his cell phone went off. Pulling out his cell, he narrowed his eyes at the name blinking on his screen.
"How the hell do you use this damnable thing!?"
"Rin? Why are you using your cell phone? What's up?" he asked, cutting off the young woman's' rant.
"Shirou!" she yelled. "Why didn't you answer your phone last night? Are you ok?" she asked franticly.
Stopped on the swing, Ilya suddenly started looking around her, confusing Shirou.
"One minute, Rin," he put his hand over the mouthpiece, ignoring the yells from the Magus on the phone. "What's wrong, Ilya?"
"Strong Prana," was all she said, standing up from the swing and walking over beside her brother.
"Shirou! You bastard—"
"Sorry Rin, got a pro—" Before Shirou could finish his sentence, he noticed a spear fly at them from above. Quickly, he grabbed his little sister and jumped out of the way of the incoming weapon. A large crater was left on the ground where Shirou and Ilya had just been standing, with the weapon lodged in the ground. The backlash from the magically enhanced attack tore at his clothes as he tried to protect his sister from the aftershock, exposing dark red marks under his bandage. His eyes opened in shock, and tore the rest of his bandages off. There on his hands, were the glaring marks of a Grail War Master.
Suddenly, a form appeared in the hole of a dark skinned man wearing a white toga with silver arm and leg bracers, and a silver helmet with white wings extending from it. He stood up showing the green gems on various pieces of his armour. He pulled the spear from the ground, and jumped to the opposite side of the crater to stand beside a foreign teenager.
"Γαμώτο I missed," the Servant exclaimed, crouching back to an offensive stance.
"Command your Servant, Magus," he yelled cockily. "Defend yourself." He adjusted his fedora against his dark brown hair and lifted his head, showing his bright brown eyes and goatee.
"What!?" Shirou asked dodging another attack with Ilya in his arms. "Lancer?!" he cried, dodging the man's attempt to stab through his head.
"He's a slippery one..."
"Keep attacking!"
"Shirou! Defend!" Ilya called as if commanding a Servant again. She wasn't used to having to be defensive, but wasn't fond of the idea of them dying either.
"Trace: On!" he muttered. He dropped Ilya off at the side, before he flung his arms down, then instantly brought them back up, using the black and white swords from EMIYA to block the latest attack. He countered, pushing his lance away and moving to slice down his chest, but he avoided the blow.
"Nice projection," the teenager called as Shirou continued to fight off the Servant "Why aren't you using your Servant though?"
Shirou was at a loss of words. Why did he have Command Seals? What was he doing with a Servant? The war had only been done a year! They had destroyed the Grail a year ago with Saber? This shouldn't be happening!
"What are—how are you—what the hell is going on!?"
"What am I doing with a Servant? Kicking your ass at the moment. I'm a Magus, to answer your second question, and I know you are a Master! So if you don't call on your Servant, Rider is going to crucify you!" he answered cockily. "Rider! Ready!" the teen called. The Servant backed off to stand beside his Master in a defensive stance, ready to spring at any moment. Shirou stayed in front of Ilya defensively. He didn't understand how someone had a Servant, but if someone was after the Grail, they must be after Ilya.
"I—I don't have a Servant!" Shirou called, posing ready to defend again, encase the "Rider" attacked again. "No one should," he added quietly.
"Down Rider," the teen muttered. "What do you mean you don't have a Servant? Who's that?"
"The Grail was destroyed," Shirou answered darkly. Did he think Ilya was a Servant? He looked down at the innocent Lolita beside him. She did have an insane amount of prana for a 'human'. If he didn't know better, he might have thought her one too. "And she's a little girl—A Magus, but a little girl," He lied a little. Despite her appearance, Ilya was probably around his age—a little older. He knew Ilya hated being called a little girl, but hoped she would go with it for now. If he knew she was a homunculus, he might try and take her for the Grail.
"Saber did," Ilya added with a smile, making Shirou glare at her.
"Well, apparently, you didn't do it well enough," the teen said matter-of-factly. He relaxed a bit. "This sucks. It's not worth taking out a defenceless Master." He sighed and adjusted his hat again. "Let alone the last Grail Winner... How about this: I'll give you until tomorrow evening to summon a Servant; but if you don't, I'll kill you so I don't have to worry about it later, clear?" Without waiting for an answer, he ran off and Rider disappeared into a shimmering dust.
"A Grail War?" Ilya asked herself, crossing her arms and shaking her head in disappointment. "Looks like I was right..."
Shirou sighed, slumping to the ground and vanishing his projections.
First the strange news cast, then Arturia shows up and now he was apparently a Master in the newest Grail War—the one he vowed would never exist. What a vacation. He phone went off again, reminding him that he had hung up on the temperamental gem Magus.
"Shirou! I didn't call to catch up!" she yelled when she noticed that he had answered. "I'm on a connector flight from Hong Kong to Fuyuki city! You won't believe what showed up last night!"
"Command seals?" he muttered tiredly. He heard her gasp on the other end and knew he was right. Great.
"You too? What's going on?" she asked, much quieter this time. "It was destroyed!"
"I don't know Rin, but Ilya doesn't seem to have any..." he trailed off, looking at the white haired girl, who just looked back at him blankly. "Boy do we have a lot to talk about when you get home."