"I think it's about time we had a talk Izuku Midoriya, you may call me Archer."

Izuku observes the man that calls himself Archer, he is rather tall, has tanned skin, his white hair is slicked back, and has piercing steel grey eyes. The longer he looks at him the more familiar he seems, and like a lightbulb going off he has it, "Shirou Emiya."

Archer stills and then sighs, "Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right."

Izuku tilts his head in confusion at that and Archer continues, "I both am and am not Shirou Emiya, if you wish to refer to me as either use Emiya but I prefer Archer."

Izuku nods respecting his preference and then asks, "Where are we."

"We are communicating through your dreams at the moment, I can do this because I have recently siphoned enough magical energy from you so that I can now communicate with you regularly."

At that Izuku remembers the pendant he's been wearing since the summer, "Oh so that's what this was doing," Izuku pauses and then continued as he put the pieces together, "So you're in the pendant?"

"More or less I would have spoken to you beforehand but opening your circuits drained a large portion of my stored magical energy but due to the number of circuits you possess I was able to recharge at a decent pace."

"Oh, that's good…Umm, so what did you want to talk about."

Archer looks to him and smirks, "I wanted to greet you and get to know my new Master."

"Master," Izuku whispers out in confusion, "Why are you calling me master Archer."

"I call you master as I am a Servant, even as diminished as I am in my current state."

Noticing the emphasis on the word Servant, Izuku assumes he doesn't mean butler, "What's a Servant, Archer?"

"Servants are one of the highest level of familiars you can contract most take the form of Heroic Spirits or Heroes from ages past."

"Heroes from the past… but wait weren't you alive until recently?"

Archer grimaced but answered anyway in half-truths, "I am a special type of Heroic Spirit as I am from a parallel timeline and was only summoned because my previous master had a catalyst that could be used to summon me."

Izuku had many questions mostly about what he meant by parallel timeline but held his tongue and nodded accepting the explanation and decided to ask another question, "So what did you mean by diminished."

"I am but a small fragment of a Servant, at the end of a certain event, I was to fade and return to the throne but I chose to assist my past self and in doing so I decided to place a fragment of my spiritual core in that pendant as a means of watching over him, however, I hadn't expected to regain consciousness." Archer decides he may one day tell him the truth of his origin and the Grail War but for now this child need not here of such bloodshed.

Izuku decides not to ask about this event as Archer sounds like he doesn't want to talk about it. He then studies the pendant and asked, "So what was it supposed to do."

Archer looks at the pendant fondly, "Hmm, well it was supposed to bleed some of my experience over into him as a means to make him stronger, but the resonance between us allowed me to regain a sense of self, even if it took over two decades to do so."

"Wait, has it been doing that to me?" Izuku asked in curiosity.

"Well yes, I'm sure you noticed how fast you picked up Structural Analysis, to even glimpse the history of an object would normally require years of practice," Archer rubbed his chin in thought, "Although you may simply have a talent for it given how fast you absorbed the information."

"Is that also why I've been compelled to cook lately?"

Archer then looked a bit flustered, "Well yes, it is, as cooking has always been one of the ways for me to unwind and I can't help myself at times so I would give you advice subtly."

"Huh, well that explains why I've improved my cooking so much in the last couple of months, thank you for the help."

Archer centered himself but his cheeks still had a hint of pink, "Don't mention it, it was my own selfish desire anyway," Archer then banished his blush and spoke seriously, "Now to solidify our contract so we can have a proper bond."

"What does that mean Archer?"

"It means we will have a more stable connection and can communicate easier."

"Ah, okay…how do we do this then?"

Archer then gave a rough explanation on how to form a contract. "Are you ready then Master," Izuku nods and takes a calming breath.

"I ask of you, Are you my Master," Archer said with fond reverence.

Izuku gulped nervously but clenched his fist and steeled himself, he then responds, "I am, please take care of me, Archer."

Izuku then felt the bond form between himself and Archer.

"And so, it is done, Servant Archer at your service."

As soon as they finished the back of Izuku's hand began to burn as a symbol etched itself into his hand and Archer felt a massive drain to his reserves.

"Ahhh!" Izuku clutched his hand in pain.

Archer winced as he felt the energy leave him and his eyes widened as he looked to his master clutching his hand and moved to his side.

"Let me see," Izuku complied and showed Archer his hand on and on it resided a symbol –{0}– , "Command Seals, how?" Archer spoke in confusion.

"Command Seals?" Izuku asked as the pain faded.

Archer's confusion continued but answered his question, "Command Seals are the mark of a master that is in control of a Servant, however, I didn't think they would form as in my current state I barely qualify as a wraith, let alone a full servant."

The two of them observed the command seals and Izuku noted it resembled All Might's silver age symbol, and Archer noticed it resembled the command seals of his former master somewhat. Archer then began to analyze the seals and even with his limited ability found that the seals that engraved themselves upon Izuku are different when compared to a traditional seal. For one they are significantly weaker not even amounting to a fraction of the power of a true command seal but he can feel some of Izuku's magical energy trickling into them so they may recharge then, if slowly. He judged the amount of energy in the seals versus what was drained from him and confirms about several months of his stored magical energy was transferred from him to the seals. After a minute the seals pulsed a deep red and then faded, however, Izuku can still feel them only a thought away.

"Hmm, well they aren't true command seals however I would still be cautious about using them."

"What do they do," Izuku asked absentmindedly rubbing the back of his hand. Archer paused thinking about it, "Think of them as a temporary power boost if you must."

"Power boost?"

"Yes, normally command seals were used to give a boost to the contracted servant allowing them to go beyond their limits but they could be used for other things I believe if one is skilled enough."

The world of blades shook and began to fade into motes of light, "Well, with the seals sapping my energy I can no longer maintain my connection with you like this, so for now it is goodbye Master."

Izuku then quickly asked, "Wait how can I contact you from now on."

Archer smirked as he and the world began fading faster, "Well we can speak to each other like this from now on I simply lack the energy to maintain the dream, so once again goodbye Master have a good night," Izuku eyes widened as he heard Archer's voice in his mind and a moment later the world vanished in a sea of light, Izuku then fell into a blissful dreamless sleep.

Izuku woke up several hours later and rubbed the sleep from his eyes and then remembered his dream and with a thought, three red seals flashed on his right hand, "So it was real," the seals faded and Izuku tried to contact Archer, "How did it go," he mumbled out, "Like this I think, Archer can you hear me."

Izuku then heard Archer's voice reverberate around his head a moment later, "I can Master, I hope you had a pleasant sleep."

"Ah, I did…so how does this work," Izuku got up and began to stretch while continuing his mental conversation with Archer.

"Hmm, Well think of this as a standard familiar bond if inverted, as in my current state I have no way to interact with the world so I will be borrowing your senses to do so, but apart from that I will offer you advice but do note I am a rather poor magus."

"Ok then well, I'm going to get cleaned up so talk to you later."

"Very well I will be here if you need me."

With that Izuku cut the connection and headed to the bathroom. Izuku entered the living room after getting cleaned up and found his father sitting on the couch watching, wrestling?

"Samba Mask is preparing to launch their partner Bradaman into the air, can they counter the Tsar Missioners unbeatable technique or will they fall to the Mammoth Tusk Train!" Shouted the horned commentator.

"We will have to see Eric, so far it seems the Tsar Missioners has the Samba Sisters on the ropes," replied the more mild-mannered masked commentator.

"You got that right Sal, And Here They Go!"

"BOUCLIER PRESENT DROP!"

"MONTJOIE! GOOOO!"

"We will crush them head-on!"

"MAMMOTH TUSK TRAIN!"

"Bradaman has started spinning rapidly what is she doing?!"

*BOOOM* The collision of the powerful moves leaves the ring a smoking crater.

"The smoke is clearing…Who won!?"

Two of the fighters remain standing the giant mammoth of a man and the petite twin-tailed wrestler.

"It appears The Duchess and Samba Mask are down for the count, Mammoth King and Bradaman are the only ones still standing, will they end it!"

"Ah, Bradaman has blinded the Mammoth King and knocks him down for the count, the ref has called it, we have our winners The Samba Sisters continue to the finals!"

Izuku doesn't know how long he stood there watching the wrestling match, but he is knocked out of his reverie by his father, "Hey Izu, how long have you been standing there."

"Oh, umm, right before the finishers I guess, so what is this."

His father smirks, "I can't believe you don't know, its quirk wrestling, but I guess you like heroes more though."

Izuku flushes at that, "So this is quirk wrestling I didn't think it would be this intense."

"Oh yeah this year's Christmas tournament is intense, we can watch the older matches later if you want."

"I would like that," Izuku itched to take notes about quirk wrestling it seemed interesting especially how they used their quirks. Meanwhile, Archer was remembering fond memories of Rin and Luvia fighting with magecraft enhanced wrestling moves and martial arts, those thoughts turned even fonder as he remembered his past self was the one having to clean up the resulting mess.

It took him until breakfast was served to notice his parent's current state that being covered in bandages, he was going to comment on it but Archer recommended to leave it be, especially after he identified the rather satisfied smile on Inko's face. After a nice calm breakfast, the family now sat together in the living room observing the small pile of presents residing on the coffee table.

"Alright let me start us off, Inko I got you these," he said as he handed Inko her gifts which when opened revealed a membership card to the new quirk gym that opened up downtown and several new tracksuits. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Are you telling me I'm fat Hisashi."

His father then looked rather flustered, "No, not at all dear," he then gathered himself, "The card is to the same gym that I go to I figured you'd like because they allow quirk sparring, and the tracksuits were recommended by Klaus, he said it's one of the most durable brands out there."

Inko hugged him, "I love it honey, thank you," she then grabbed her presents, "And here are your gifts dear."

Hisashi opened up his gifts and thanked Inko and then it was Izuku's turn, "Alright Izu here you go," Izuku then delicately opened the gift revealing the new limited-edition All Might poster the debuted during the summer, Izuku was speechless.

"Hope you like it Izu, it took me a while to track it down."

"I love it, dad."

"All right Izuku here's mine," Inko said as she gave her son a rather large wrapped gift.

Izuku then opened up the large gift revealing a rather large assortment of arts and crafts kits?

"I remember seeing you scrounge around for tools and what not so I thought this can help out."

"Not a bad idea when working on magecraft having proper tools is a must," Archer chimed in throwing in his own two cents.

"Thank you, mom I appreciate it, umm I made you these I know it's not much but," he said as he handed his parents their gifts, small wooden charms that had several runes rather crudely etched into them, "There good luck charms," He fiddled with his hands nervously, "There not that good but I worked hard on them so I hope you like them," He was then brought into a group hug.

"Oh, we love them Izuku."

"Yeah, it's great Izu."

Christmas day continued and the only odd thing happened to be that Yatta had made a nest out of the leftover boxes and wrapping paper and refused to leave it.

"No, my nest!" squawked out while pecking at Izuku's hand.

"Come on Yatta, you have a better nest in my room anyway," Izuku said rubbing the pain of his pecks away.

"No Little Green My Nest!"

Izuku sighed and decided to pick up the stuff later when Yatta vacated his temporary nest. He sat on the couch and continued to watch the quirk wrestling matches that happened previously in the week with his dad.

"So, no go then Izu," Hisashi said after sipping his drink.

"No, but he will get over it in a bit," Izuku then reached for the bowl of chips.

"Hmm, that little bird has a quirk right," Archer asked.

"Yatta? Yeah, he has a quirk it allows him to grow up to eight times his original size and he can control how big he gets," he replied as he stuffed his face full of chips.

"Do you plan to make him you're familiar in the future, he certainly has the proper qualifications for a powerful one given his intelligence and quirk."

Izuku contemplated his response for a moment, "I thought about it after I looked up familiars after our contract and decided I will let him choose."

"Good choice but I would do it sooner rather than later as he has the potential to become a rather strong phantasmal beast in the future and it would be easier to handle him before he becomes stronger than you."

Izuku paused, "I'll keep that in mind…So what do you think of the wrestling."

"It's not bad one of my friends back in the day combined her magecraft with wrestling techniques and she was rather good especially since her family specialized in combat, her matches with Rin were more entertaining though."

"Oh, that reminds me do you know Bajiquan?"

"No, my specialization was with bladed weapons but I," he paused and Izuku felt the impression that Archer shook his head," Rather the younger me sparred with Rin so I know enough to at least assist with your form."

"Thanks that will help a lot."

And so, Christmas came and passed so to did New Years and now the family stands at the train station to see Izuku's father off back to America.

"You have everything dear," Inko said as she fussed over her husband.

"Yeah I do, I love the both of you and hopefully I'll see you guys again soon," The train chimed so that singled his departure.

"I love you too Hisashi, have a safe trip," She then leaned in for one more kiss before he leaves.

"Bye, dad have a safe trip."

"I will see you later," The doors of the train closed, and they watched as it moved into the distance.

Izuku stood on the veranda and looked to the distance and smiled as he took in the sunset and hoped this next year will be better than the last and that he can get another step closer to his dream of being a hero.

Archer sat within his reality marble and shut off his connection to his new master and contemplated said person. Izuku was a simple boy who desired to be a hero to save people not because of an inherited ideal or some twisted survivors guilt like he did, but because that is what he wants to do and all he can see himself doing to live a full filling life, the two of them were similar but different. His thoughts drifted to this particular version of himself that lived out his dream and he was glad he could share in the experience…it was something he sometimes didn't believe was real. He saw his past-self live his life as a hero until his body began to fail him in old age…old age a thing he would have never thought of himself experiencing. So, he was fine when he was tasked to guard the legacy left behind by Rin and his other self as he felt whole for the first time in eternity and if entrusting that once beautiful dream to another and guiding them on their own journey is something he has to do then he will do it so they won't fall into the hell he once did.

His thoughts once again drifted to memories that he once believed to be gone but nearly a century of peace and nothing better to do he searched for them, the memories of his life from before he became a Counter Guardian and remembered a promise to his servant, one that lied forgotten for an eternity. Archer laid down on the grassy hill of his reality marble and drifted off to sleep basking in the glow of a blade he treasured above all and thought,

"Are you still waiting for a fool such as myself,"

"Artoria."

A.N. Sorry for the late chapter but I was busy farming the Christmas event on FGO and I ended up at 235 lotto boxes opened. So, I hope you don't mind the Christmas chapter a day late. Oh, and next chapter is when I pick up the speed hopefully.