EDIT: A LOT OF CRAP. Second edit done, on to the next.

"I need your help."

Shirou hesitated. He didn't know either of these people, yet they knew him. After a moment he nodded, stepping to the side so they could come in. Rin stood from the small table as they entered. Lillian gave her a smile, "Tohsaka Rin; you're the talk of the town."

Rin shifted uncomfortably, "Yes?"

Lillian laughed, "I'm sorry. You don't know me, Lillian Grey... from London."

"I've heard the name before," muttered Rin, "You're the only one with a seat that doesn't absolutely despise the notion of a sorcerer."

Lillian laughed, bringing a hand to her chest, "I see my reputation precedes me."

The blue haired girl moved to Lillian's side, still keeping quiet. Shirou sighed and shook his head, "Lillian... you both came here to see us?"

"I'm sorry," said the blue haired girl, stepping forward to Shirou and bowing slightly, "My name is Ciel, and I've been having some trouble. I called up a contact from the magic association and they pointed me to Lillian. Lillian took me here. She said that you're a formidable fighter, and I need your skills to rescue someone."

Shirou looked at Rin, who simply shrugged. "My name is Emiya Shirou," he said, "I don't know about being formidable." He laughed, "What do you need help with?"

"Shirou!" shouted Rin, "We talked about this didn't we?"

Shirou nodded, "Yes we did, but I don't see any reason to not help this girl. You know Lillian from the association."

Rin bit her bottom lip, trying not to fume, "You can't just go jumping into danger anymore!" She crossed her fingers and fiddled with her hands... she was worried, "I mean..."

'What if you get hurt? I couldn't lose you.'

She didn't say it. Shirou wasn't the type to listen to a complaint like that, and the mere thought of it caused fire to spread to her face.

"Then come with me," he said with a smirk.

Rin was taken aback by this. She was no slouch herself in a no holds barred fight, but she had been next to useless in the battle against Gilgamesh. The fact that Shirou still saw her prowess in battle, despite being so much more powerful than her, caused her to become flustered for a second, "It's not about that," she mumbled.

"You're worried about me," he said.

"I didn't say that!"

Shirou laughed, and took an opportunity with the silence Rin had left in her wake, "So... Ciel was it?"

Ciel nodded.

"Alright," said Shirou, "What happened?"

"Tohno Shiki," said Ciel solemnly, "He's a close friend, I met him a few weeks ago."

"That's an awfully short amount of time to become close with someone," muttered Lillian.

Shirou and Rin both glanced at each other with that offhand comment.

Shirou turned back to Ciel, "Why don't we sit down?"

Ciel nodded and smiled softly, "That would be great. It's been a long trip."

They took their places around the table and Shirou shut off the TV, eliminating the background noise. Rin resumed working on her cup of tea, which had already started to cool off with the interruption. "I'm sorry to ask this of you," said Ciel, "But you have to understand that I have nowhere else to turn but magic now. I am a member of the church... I was anyway."

Rin raised an eyebrow, sipping before setting her cup back down, "You failed to elaborate on that little detail," she said, her voice lined with slight hostility.

"I know it sounds bad, but please just let me explain."

Shirou, lacking the slight amount of hatred and prejudice towards the church that Rin had grown up with, nodded for Ciel to continue her story. "Right," said the blue haired girl, "I apologize. I worked with the church... I was a hunter. That is until I met Shiki. Shiki needed my help with a problem he was having; it was a family thing. He was hurt greatly so I took him under my care, and recently, another church member broke into my home and took him along with half of my power and my best weapon."

"What was this weapon?" asked Shirou.

"The Seventh Scripture."

Rin raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be?

"It can be a lot of things. The church has had it in their possession for a long time," said Ciel, "I was the current bearer of it, but now its been taken from me. It's a powerful weapon with a lot of history behind it, history we don't exactly have time to cover here. The man who attacked me, Alexander, seems to specialize in sealing, since you are all mages it would be wise to not let him near you."

Day 4: Trail

"I hope you have more strength than that Tohno." Alexander let the clipboard fall onto the small table at the end of the white bed. The hospital room was easy enough to commandeer by slipping a few yen into an unfortunate soul's pocket, and it was an ideal place to hold someone as grotesque as the boy strapped to the bed in front of him. "We need you in top form, after all... your eyes are all we need. You do know how to utilize them don't you?"

Shiki's eyes were shut.

Alexander had taken his glasses, and he did not want to constantly be peering at the death around him. "I need my glasses," he said firmly.

He didn't share why, maybe this man would make a fumble and assume he needed the glasses to use his mystic eyes.

He was not so lucky.

Alexander laughed, "Oh you don't need them. You have perfect eyesight after all, and they're not even a prescription." His voice was mocking. Shiki heard him shuffle around a bit, "In fact, I think I'll be taking them back to the church."

Shiki growled, "NO!"

Alexander chuckled, "Come now, open your eyes."

"You bastard, do you have any idea what you're doing?"

"I'm clearing the way for you young mage, now open your eyes."

"I'll open them, but only to see how I can kill you."

"It would be very interesting to see you try considering your current position."

"What happened to Ciel, what have you done with her?"

"I would be more concerned about myself if I were you."

"I don't like being here," muttered Rin, bringing a hand to her chest as Lillian walked around her towards the entrance to the large church.

They were quite the group, two young mages, a board associate, and a former Buriel Agent, gathered in front of Shinto's church on a Sunday night.

Ciel frowned, "If we have any hope of tracking down the agent then it will be in a church, and this is the closest one that's associated with the agency. The agent mentioned Kirei's name before dispatching me, so I would assume this place has some connection to them. We can't just walk into a random church and hope to find clues."

"So this friend of yours," said Shirou, "He's a mage?"

"Yes and no," muttered Ciel.

Lillian leaned down to the church's door, fiddling with the handle before giving a frown, "Rats, it's locked." She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a small tool kit in a red bag before leaning down again.

"What's that mean?" asked Shirou.

"Well, technically the answer would be yes. He has a magic circuit and an odo store, much like a normal mage would, however... he does not know he is a mage for one. Also, he is not capable of casting spells."

Rin wheeled around on Ciel, leaving Lillian to pick the lock on the door, "Wait, how can he not use magic if he has a circuit? Shirou was hopeless before I met him, but he could still at least cast a crappy spell."

"Gee, thanks Rin."

Ciel smiled a bit and shoke her head, "No, Shiki is a... special case. He comes from a long line of demon hunters. Often times they would have to call upon magic to do their duty. On the other hand they did not pass down a crest, each of them had to go through a trial, driving the iron hot rod of their spells down their spine before they were worthy of using them."

"Wait..." said Rin, "That's how Shirou learns spells. Without a magic crest your body doesn't have the blue prints of the spell it's using. You literally have to burn it into yourself to find the switch. During the process the user could die, but once the spell is learned..."

"You can use it at will without danger of death," said Shirou, "You seem to know more about this guy than he does himself."

Ciel frowned, "I... I was planning to fix that until Alexander came."

"Sorry, I didn't..."

"No, it's okay Emiya-san. I know he's alive, Alexander would have simply killed him while he was bedridden if they wanted him dead. We just have to find him."

"Aha! Got it!" shouted Lillian.

The group went silent, trailing after Lillian and Ciel as they led the way inside the church. Shirou didn't like it one bit; it brought back bad memories. Memories of the Holy Grail War, the fight against himself, and the struggle to defeat Gilgamesh.

Kirei...

"There is no one here," said Ciel, "Where is Kirei?"

"Dead," said Rin flatly, "And good riddance."

"I see... we should search the basement level, that's where records and other things of importance are kept."

Shirou's stomach turned, "Alright, let's get this over with." He tried not to let it trouble him, but...

As they approached the rear of the church's main hall and the courtyard Rin reached out and grasped Shirou's hand tightly. She gave him a reassuring smile when they found the stairs and began to descend.

They had never been past the room where they confronted Caster and Archer, but Shirou doubted anything was kept down there, it had been pretty empty during the whole ordeal. He didn't notice anything but what was happening in front of him, so when Ciel showed them the steel door through a narrow stone hall it came as a surprise to him.

"As I thought," said Ciel, frowning, "This is a church associated with the buriel agency. We should get what we came for and leave quickly."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Agent Ciel."

The group froze, all except Ciel, who turned immediately and produced three thin black swords from seemingly out of nowhere.

It looked strange, a blue-haired girl in a school uniform wielding weapons against a man who must have been at least six feet tall.

The man wasn't only tall, he was also wide, and wore a long black cloak that hardly did anything to disguise the bulk. His head was completely shaved and his gaze was like steel.

Rin was the first to move, she stepped away from the small hall and next to Ciel, reaching in her coat pocket to grasp what Shirou could only assume was a handful of gems.

How many did she have left?

Shirou didn't want to find out.

He moved to the girls' sides, and Lillian followed him.

The man smirked, letting his eyes travel over each and every one of them, "I see you've brought some friends. It truly is a shame that you've decided to turn on us Ciel, your talents were... appreciated."

Lillian scoffed, "Oh yeah? And when's the last time the church appreciated something other than their own agenda?"

"The same could be said of the association, allowing unethical experiments on human subjects so long as one is not caught."

Lillian paled, "That's..."

Shirou was surprised that she was rendered speechless, she seemed like the type who loved to get the upper hand on people.

"Can't handle the truth?"

"That's the reason I'm here," said Lillian softly.

The man raised his eyebrows, "Oh?"

"A man like you wouldn't understand. So I think it's time for you to leave before this gets ugly."

"That is where you're mistaken. I am here to kill you. Well... three of you. One of you cannot die after all."

Ciel's grip on the black keys tightened.

Shirou shifted a foot back, tapping into his magic circuit as he did so. Rin had only taught him one spell, and it required a catalyst.

He saw no fire around, so he opted for his projection instead, "Trace, on."

The man moved with a speed that was so unlike his behemoth size.

Lillian was thrown back against the stone wall with a sharp cry, and he descended on Rin next.

Shirou moved like a lightning bolt, coming up under the giant's fist as it came down upon Rin's skull.

A loud clang echoed in the chamber.

The man's eyes widened.

Shirou struggled against the sheer strength on the other side of his black and white blades. It was as if he was holding back a boulder.

Archer's... his blades would normally cut flesh, but the fist that was bearing down on him was not made of flesh.

"Shirou Emiya," muttered the man, "You must be desperate Agent Ciel, to enlist the help of a demon."

Shirou gritted his teeth, "Demon huh? And who's the one trying to stop a girl from saving her friend?"

"No mere mortal can defeat a servant, not even a mage," growled the man, "You are not human, therefore you must die."

"What the hell kind of church are you?" shouted Shirou.

An explosion rocked the room as flame collided with the man's face.

Rin took a deep breath, still holding up her smoking fingers, "Stay away from him!" she shouted.

Before he could get up Rin stomped the ground, "Erde, kommen!"

Several stone bricks dislodged from below the group's feet.

Rin spread her arms and clapped her hands together.

Each of the stone bricks, one at a time, collided with the man's skull as fast as bullets.

With the last brick he was sent careening into the stairs he had descended from. Rin stepped forward, shaking slightly and sweating.

"Rin?" asked Shirou.

She took one deep breath, and then another, "I'm... fine... I didn't want to waste jewels, and that was a heavy spell."

Shirou nodded, "Stand back while you catch your breath, Lillian!"

The British woman was grumbling something in her own language, which Shirou assumed to be a long string of curses, as she pulled herself from the ground, cradling her head, "I'm alright, I'm alright!"

She stepped forward, pulling what looked like a blue stone out of her pocket.

Just as the man was about to get up and strike for Shirou his right fist was encased in ice, and Lillian's jewel shattered, using up the last of its power, "When I went to school we were taught to play nice," she said with a smirk.

The man roared, bringing his spare fist down upon the ice and shattering it in one blow.

Lillian frowned, "Well, that didn't work as well as I thought."

He charged for her this time, only to be interrupted by Shirou once more.

Two blades pierced the man's left shoulder, causing him to stumble slightly and allowing Lillian time to move away from the giant.

He cried out in bitter fury, pulling the blades from his shoulder as they disintegrated.

Blood trailed down his cloak and onto the stone at his feet.

"I can do this all day!" shouted Shirou, a long steel sword forming in his right hand, "Can you?"

This time the man went for Shirou.

He held up the blade, but it wasn't enough to stop the attacker this time.

The sword shattered and faded against the blow.

The man grinned and wrapped his hand around Shirou's throat, lifting him from the ground.

Three black keys pierced the man's back, and he felt the burn of another wound. However, he wasn't letting go until Shirou's throat was crushed, and he was doing it slowly.

"Let him go!" shouted Ciel, leaping into the air and landing on the man's back, who tossed her off like a rag doll.

With only half of her power she was nothing to such a monster.

He was so occupied with killing Shirou that he didn't notice Rin run up with a red jewel at the ready.

What he did notice was when she pushed that jewel into his side and muttered an incantation, and by then it was too late.

The room exploded in white hot light, engulfing everyone inside.

A faraway land...

He walked alone down an empty road.

There was nothing but the asphalt beneath his feet, and the death surrounding him as he moved from one place to the next.

He kicked an empty tin can and it was carried away by the strong gusts.

He passed building after building, all of them empty and devoid of life.

No matter how many times he ran it through in his head it never made any sense. He had done everything he was supposed to do, and yet this was how things had ended up.

Part of him knew it wasn't his fault, but that part was small and meek, nothing compared to the part that was saying he could have stopped this.

This could have been prevented.

He could have done something better, faster.

He could have saved everyone.

And yet he was 'rewarded' with his heroics like this, walking down a desolate road for the rest of eternity.

If he could do something to set this right, if he could...

There was nothing...

Nothing left.

The blood red sky was mocking his efforts.

He let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

There must have been something he could do.

He would fade away...

And he would wake up again somewhere else.

"Shirou, wake up."

"Shirooooou..."

He felt something wet and soft on his lips, and when his eyes slowly opened he saw Rin's face, extremely close, eyes closed.

She pulled away and smirked, "Well look who's awake," she said with a smirk.

When his vision came back to him he realized he was in his room with Rin laying next to him, "How long have you been here?" he asked.

"N... not long."

A light grumbling sound interrupted them, and Rin's face immediately went red. "How long has it been since you ate?" he asked groggily, "You've been here the whole time haven't you?"

"I... I wasn't... I just got here like ten minutes ago!"

"Oh don't be a bullshitter Tohsaka, even someone as dense as this boy could tell you were lying." Lillian stood at his door, leaning against the frame with a smirk on her face, "Now both of you come and get something to eat, we've got a lot to talk about and even more to do, that is... if you're not too 'busy'."

Shirou didn't think it was possible for Rin to turn even more red, but...

"What are you talking about busy? Why would I be busy?" she shouted.

Lillian grinned, "Oh so you have? Well I'll be..."

"I didn't... hey! Dammit!"

Lillian turned and walked away, leaving a fuming and cursing mage in her wake.

Shirou decided it was time to get up, lest he worsen the situation further, "We should eat," he said, not even waiting for a response before getting up.