Of Demons and Librarians

"It shouldn't be much further" Came a rather awkward sounding voice. The travel back to Emilia's place had taken longer than he expected and while he didn't try to strike up a conversation, Emilia did or at least tried to she didn't seem to know how to talk to someone, he usually would've tried his best to help her out but after coming into another world and fighting a vampire he was rather exhausted mentally at least.

"Alright, again thank you very much for this Emilia." Giving her a grateful smile that finally took some pressure she seemed to have, how curious either she had social anxiety or she didn't meet a lot of friendly people.

"It's really no problem, after all, you helped me a lot today." before giving him another awkward look and an uneasy smile "Also, I'm not exactly going to be helping you since the house is not mine." She seemed rather sad at that.

"Not your own?" Crossing his arms, tilting his head and his left eyebrow shooting up. So it wasn't her house was it really okay for him to come in.

She started to panic slightly at the confused look waving her hands left and right "It's fine, It's fine, It's my benefactor's house I'm sure Roswaal will be fine with it." Trying to give him a reassuring smile that didn't quite reach.

Before he could respond the driver decided to give them an update "Lady Emilia, we're almost done, please gather your things."

After the carriage stopped, he left a bit of space for himself and the two girls deciding to look around. She had to be a noble or at least this Roswaal was, the palace was huge, which made sense he noticed how everyone regarded Emilia back in the city, fear and hatred two of those could be explained by her standing, the common people would hold the higher ones in contempt as they usually did in history. That seemed to work out but there had to be more to it, the fear seemed less about angering a noble and more about looking at someone who could destroy everything at any minute, he would ask her later.

"Rem hopes you had a safe travel, Lady Emilia." A blue-haired maid said bowing down, It didn't take much to know she was related to the other maid.

"Where is master Roswaal, seems Lady Emilia picked up…" looking behind her at him "… a stray."

"Master Roswaal is already asleep big sister is our guest stayi…" she finally looked at him her eye widening before narrowing, he didn't know exactly what he did but he seemed to have a knack for angering the two.

Emilia laughing sheepishly "Don't call him that Ram, he helped me a lot back at the capital, I want you two to treat him nicely." giving them a pout and waving her finger in command.

The two sisters looked at each other before bowing down and speaking in unison "As you wish Lady Emilia."

Emilia smiled widely before going to him "Why are you all the way over there, dummy c'mon I'll show you to your room." before grabbing his hand starting to run if he didn't know any better he would think she was still a kid.

The two maids watched them go.

"Big sister, that man he…"

"I know, it almost unnoticeable but he does have the witch's miasma around him." Ram looked at her sister seriously "Rem you must promise me not to attack him while alone, from what lady Emilia told me he was able to defeat a formidable enemy, don't take him lightly. Just observe for now in case he does something."

Rem was still looking at the door in thought "Yes sister, Rem won't."

(Shirou and Emilia)

If he was impressed with the outside it had nothing on the inside, everything was set perfectly, cleaned perfectly, the corridor seemingly stretching forever and it looked like he wasting money just by looking at it. As they passed through a door he stopped, somehow it felt different from the others.

"Hey Emilia, what's behind this door."

She gave him a confused look "Oh that's just the bathroom, why? do you wanna go, I can wait." Smiling brightly again, seriously this girl didn't know what she was saying did she.

"Uuuuuh no, there's just something different about it." Emilia simply tilted her head and started to look worried about him, sighing Shirou simply opened the door.

"Who would waste Betty's time at this hour, I suppose." A library of all things appeared in front of him, the shelves looked absolutely filled with books there must have been hundreds of them. Though what caught his eyes was the little girl standing in front of the door there was a book in her hands and now that he took a look at the written language it seemed it was quite different, more problems, seems getting back home would have to take a backseat for now.

"hmmm? Are you that mesmerized by Betty, in fact." She wasn't human if the eyes weren't an easy indicator she felt very much like puck did.

"A bathroom huh." Shirou turned to Emilia who was looking surprised.

"How were you able to find Beatrice's library first try Shirou, that's amazing." She looked at him in wonder.

"Is it really that big of a deal?"

"Oi why are you two ignoring Betty, in fact." the little girl got off the chair and was now making her way over to him, an annoyed look on her face.

"Hpm, It would be best if you stand still, I suppose." putting her hand on his stomach, he looked back at Emilia her just giving him an apologetic smile.

"What exactly are you doooooooin…." pain shot up to his entire body, she was draining all his energy.

After a few seconds she stopped, Shirou dropping to one knee in front of her "Seriously I thought I was about to pass out."

"Are you alright Shirou, that didn't look good." he looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine though I want to know why you did that Beatri…" he stopped after looking at her face. Her eyes were brimming with tears, she raised her hand and cupped his cheek her eyes focusing on him alone.

"Beatrice, are you okay." Emilia immediately rushed to the little girl, who by now realized what she was doing, turning around quickly before cleaning her eyes with her sleeve.

"It's already late you two should go to bed, I suppose."

"Beatrice, I…" before Shirou could talk

"LEAVE."

He was about to try and talk to her again, It wasn't in his nature to leave someone in need but before he could Emilia had grabbed his arm "I think it's best if we leave her alone for now."

Shirou looked back at the little girl who still had her back turned from them "Alright if you say so Emilia, I'll be back tomorrow Beatrice you can count on that."

Closing the door he and Emilia walked in silence, why did she look like she recognized him Aaah this world was becoming a bigger problem and he was simply too exhausted from everything to figure it out.

"Well, we're here, Shirou." Emilia gave him yet another bright smile, before becoming a bit red and starting to play with her hair.

"Is something wrong, Emilia." giving her a reassuring smile seemed to work as she tried to put on a strong face.

"We haven't had the chance to talk and honestly other than puck I never met anyone who was as nice as you were to me right at the start…" she started fumbling slightly "… well what I'm trying to ask is would you like to be my friend."

Well, he wasn't wrong about the girl being socially awkward after all she seemed like she didn't have a lot of people she could trust or talk to, he would need to get to the bottom of this, someone this nice shouldn't be getting that amount of hate noble or not.

Seems he had been thinking for too long "Hahaha you don't have to if you don't want to, I mean…"

"It's alright I would love to be your friend Emilia." at those words her entire face light up.

"Thank you, actually you're probably tired right, I'll see you tomorrow." She said without even letting him say goodnight turning around and skipping to her room. Well at least he made someone happy tonight, his thoughts being in the little girl still.

He would work on that tomorrow. Opening the door he checked out what the room he was placed in looked. It was the same as outside everything neatly organized and well cleaned, though it lacked any personality. Didn't matter the bed looked good enough to sleep and without even taking his clothes off that's exactly what he did.

(Beatrice)

That boy, why did he feel…

After a bit she stopped trying to think about it, too many memories, too much sadness, too much loneliness.

Walking to a nightstand, she grabbed a box opening it to reveal a piece of red cloth, the scent of the one who wore it had long since vanished but she still held it close to her chest, this was her most precious item the last thing she had from him.

She sat on the ground and fell asleep never once letting go of the piece of clothing.

(Morning)

The clashing of swords could be heard.

This was not him

It was that same battle all over again.

This was not him

Sometimes he won, other times the ideal did.

THIS WAS NOT HIM

Shirou suddenly shot up from the bed panting, scaring the two maids that were in his room. It was the same dream he'd been getting ever since the grail war, his life was still stuck in that place two years later.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you two." the blue-haired one seemed like she was about to bolt before the other one grabbed her hand.

"It's quite alright, we were here to wake you up but it seems you've done that yourself stray." Shirou simply looked at her before shrugging if she didn't want to be friendly more power to her, the blue-haired one continued to glare at him.

"Knock, knock." Emilia said smiling "Are you okay this morning Shirou."

Shirou cracked his neck "Yeh should be fine the bed was pretty comfortable."

Emilia nodded her head quite rapidly "Anything you want to do this morning, I wouldn't mind giving you a tour."

"Actually, we could go outside I woke up a bit later than usual but I should get around to training a bit."

Emilia tilted her before smiling "Alright, c'mon then." before suddenly skipping out of the door, Shirou simply shook his head gave a goodbye to the two maids and left before Emilia left him behind.

(Outside)

"This place sure is something else." It was simply too big right out of fantasy books of palaces "Oh well, trace on."

Before him appeared two bokkens, he always did this in the morning either training his magecraft or his swordsmanship. Emilia looked in wonder as they appeared.

"What magic are you doing, trace on, it's a spell I never heard of." Tapping her finger bellow her chin, thinking deeply.

"You wouldn't be able to, let's just say it's a very rare magecraft and leave it at that okay." He didn't think to hide his abilities this world seemed indulgent in magecraft as it is, but perhaps it would be better to hide it seems the system was different than his own.

"Hmmm what element even is it." seems Emilia couldn't take a hint.

"It's none… from what I gathered at least hehehehe." A small cat-like being appeared above Emilia's head.

"PUCK." She started smiling brightly, completely forgetting her questioning after puck appeared "I'm sorry I put you through too much yesterday." the small cat simply glided to her hands.

"Morning Lia, I almost lost you yesterday." Looking at the young man "Seems I have you to thank for saving Lia if you need anything just ask."

"No need for that, I don't need any reward over saving someone, making sure Emilia is safe is reward enough." Smiling at both of them.

"Wow even though I know it's true since I can kinda read your mind, it's still quite something ain't that right Lia… Lia?" She seemed slightly awestruck looking at him with a small blush.

"Huh… oh, Puck sorry wasn't hearing." Puck seemed taken aback before looking at him as if he was a cockroach to be stepped on, what the hell did he do wrong this time.

Before he could ask the two maids appeared "Lady Emilia, Lord Roswaal returned."

So he was finally meeting the owner huh.

(At the dinner table)

They seemed to be the first to arrive, he couldn't help but be excited about the cuisine of this place his inner chef brimming with possibilities.

"Trace on huh, that is a family spell I suppose." Seems little Beatrice was already there, on the side of the wall. Another person asking about that, he really needed to keep it close to himself huh.

"Oh, are you curious about that too Betty." Puck made his presence known with a smile and a wave, making Beatrice smile slightly and move towards him. "hmmm you're not as happy as usual Betty is something the matter."

The girl simply hugged the cat "I'm alright bubby." before looking back at him "you never answered the question, in fact."

"Not exactly." trying to leave it at that, before he saw her eyes narrowing.

Before she could continue her questioning, a man with clown-like make up appeared.

"OOOOOOOOOOh, Beatrice It's quite a pleeeeeeeeeeeasent~ surprise to see you down here with us."

"Shirou I would like you to introduce the owner and my benefactor Roswaal L Mathers, Roswaal this is Shirou… uuuh actually I don't know if you have a last name."

"Emiya Shirou, it's nice to meet you." bowing down, he didn't know a lot about noble etiquette but he had seen some of saber's memories.

"AAAAh It's nice to meeeeeeeet~ you too, shall we siiiiiiiit~ down so we could talk comfortably."

After waiting for a bit the food was set down by the two maids. Grabbing a bite Shirou couldn't help but be slightly disappointed it had nothing to do with the quality of the cooking, it was well made, but more to the fact that it wasn't anything unique.

"Oh my, seeeeeeems~ our guest doesn't likeeeeeeeee~ your cooking Rem." Giving a look at the maid on his right, Shirou coughed slightly at being called out.

"Rem will try better Lord Roswaal." the maid bowed down again.

"You don't have to." fumbling slightly before calming down "It has nothing to do with your cooking Rem."

Roswaal started laughing for a bit before stopping and looking at him with interest.

"So you coooooooome~ to Lugnica without knowing whaaaaaaaaaat~ is happening."

"Is the country doing badly?"

"You coooooould~ say so, the king and his children weeeeeeeent~ into hiding."

"Into hiding?"

"Thaaaaaat's~ what's known, it was at the saaaaaame~ time as an epidemic ran through the castle leeeeeeaving~ them as the last of their line."

"So the country is without a ruler, is what you're saying."

"The country is curreeeeeeeeently~ being run by a group of wiseeeeee~ men until a kiiiiiiiing~ is selected."

While that seemed rather important to everyone, he didn't really care all that much outside of just learning a bit more about what type of world he was in "Actually I wanted to ask you something why does Emilia call you her benefactor."

Roswaal put on an even bigger smile "Oh, she haaaaaaaasn't~ told you?"

Emilia started fumbling slightly "Well it's not as if I meant it to be a secret, you know it just didn't seem important at the time." sighing for a bit Emilia continued "I am currently one of the candidates to become king, the insignia you helped me keep is the proof of that."

Shirou's eyes widened slightly, this awkward nice girl was supposed to run a country "I see, wait what would have happened had you lost it."

"Well I would have lost my candidacy." again smiling brightly at him, she seemed to do that a lot "So thank you Shirou, you really saved me."

Before he could say it was no trouble, Roswaal started speaking "Ah, that's riiiiiiiight~ such bravery should be reeeeeeeeeewarded~ what is it that you want."

At first, he thought about refusing to grab a reward from helping someone isn't something he likes to do but he really needed all the help he could get.

"Actually if you could do me a favor, I wouldn't mind it." Shirou said scratching the back of his head, asking for stuff wasn't his forte.

"Ask away."

"Well then I have two requests, one is I need someone to teach me how to read seems our languages are quite different." This surprised everyone in the room but Roswaal and Beatrice.

"Oh that is quiiiiiiiite~ alright, Ram here will tea…"

Before he could say more he was interrupted by Beatrice "I'll teach him I suppose."

"Well well isn't thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis~ a surprise?"

The little girl simply looked at him "Be there in the afternoon tomorrow, I'm guessing you don't need any help in finding the forbidden library, in fact."

The boy simply looked at her surprised after yesterday he thought he would need to talk to her "Alright thank you very much, Beatrice."

She was avoiding his eyes for some reason "Hpm." and with that, she continued feeding Puck.

"I had another request but this one is small." He could Roswaals eyebrow go up.

"Very weeeeeeeeell~ ask away."

"You wouldn't mind if I cooked from now on."

This time Rem talked "Sir, was Rem's cooking that bad."

Again scratching the back of his head "It has nothing to do with that honestly, but cooking was always something I enjoyed doing so if you allowed me to do that, I would be very grateful."

Roswaal merely scratched his chin in thought "Very well then frooooooom~ now on you'll be known as the new cheeeeeeef~ for Roswaal L Mathers, does that please you."

Well not exactly the part about being his chef in particular but that was fine "Yes thank you very much."

After everyone ended their meal they went their respective ways, leaving him alone with the maids and Emilia.

"Sorry Shirou, I must go study, we can talk later if you want that is."

"Yeh sure." she gave him a smile before leaving him.

"Stray, it's time we give you a tour since you're going to start working here." she gave him a bored look.

"Seriously is that what you're going to call me."

Not even bothering to look at him she turned to her sister "Rem you wouldn't mind giving him the tour, I have some matters to attend."

"Rem will." Watching her sister leave before turning to him "Follow me, sir."

They walked silently through the mansion, only the occasional answer about what the room was and what it did, she really did not seem to like him.

"Rem, did I do anything bad?"

She looked back at him surprised slightly "No sir, rem doesn't think you did."

"Then why is it that you're always glaring at me." after getting no response he sighed "Look I'm not your enemy despite you clearly thinking I am, I can promise you I won't hurt anyone that lives here, just give me a chance at least."

Rem looked at him but after a while relented "Very well Rem agrees, but rem will keep a close eye on you if she notices anything suspicious, you won't be able to run away from it."

"That's fine, I wouldn't run away anyway."

Rem simply looked at him "Isn't it time you do your job it's almost dinner."

"Alright alright, thank you for your trust Rem, I promise you I won't squander it."

(After cooking)

"This is so good Shirou." Emilia said as she grabbed a second serving.

"Yeh niche gowing Shiwou." said puck his mouth full of food.

The ingredients he had been shown were nothing special and regrettably, neither was the kitchen but he made do.

"Indeeeeeed~ my compliments to the chef." Roswaal said before cleaning his mouth with his napkin "Seems it wasn't a baaaaad~ idea to give you the job."

"Glad it worked out and that you're all liking." before looking at the only one in the table not enjoying her food. "Is something wrong Beatrice?"

"Hmp, no nothing is wrong, Betty's not very hungry, I suppose." before getting off the chair and leaving the dining room.

Really he just didn't get her, but tomorrow he'll try his best to at least make sense of why she was so sad yesterday.

"I would leave her be for awhile." Roswaal said without his usual pronunciation.

Shirou nodding "I'll talk to her tomorrow then."

After eating and getting more compliments over the food Roswaal left with the maids, and with puck going to sleep in the crystal, left him and Emilia alone.

"Shirou I need to talk to the lesser spirits do you want to go outside with me for a bit." Smiling at him hopefully.

"Well I did promise to spend more time with you right, let's go then."

(Outside)

The nights sure were beautiful in this place, there were nearly zero clouds it kinda reminded him of Fuyuki, ever since he had gone with Tohsaka to London he rarely came back to his hometown. That reminded him that he didn't make any progress towards going back, each day that passes means more injuries he would be getting from Tohsaka for worrying her.

Before he could start getting into his despair-riddled Tohsaka nightmare, a few of the lesser spirits started flocking towards him.

"Oh, seems the spirits like you Shirou." before she sat down near him. "The night is pretty today, what are you thinking about." hugging her knees to her chest still looking up at the sky.

"Just a bit home sick I guess."

She looked at him "I see." hugging her legs closer "home, huh."

Shirou looked at her for a bit she looked sad. "Are you home sick too Emilia."

She didn't respond for a while now looking at the ground "Would you think less of me I wonder." quiet enough that he couldn't hear.

"Huh did you say something?"

"No, It's nothing." Emilia got up "I'm a bit tired Shirou, goodnight." before walking away.

"Goodnight." Not really understanding what happened.

Looking at the stars again Shirou "What a mess I got myself into."

New chapter, yatta anyway i feel like i should slightly explain myself over Emilia's character in this story the way i see it she's a rather lonely girl who wants friends and people who would care for her well being the way she is right now and why she wasn't like this towards subaru is simply that subaru was quite content in saying how much he loved her from the get go on the other hand shirou is quite well muted by contrast and while he was as kind to her as subaru was he isn't really someone for impressive love declarations, so she'll feel the need to try and talk to him and make sure he likes her.

The relationship will be worked on by both parties rather than just subaru who brute forced his way into her heart, that makes it sound bad but i love my boy subaru.

Hope you like the changes i will make towards the original story this is mostly just an introduction chapter though. Also as i'm sure you can tell english isn't my first language, not really and excuse over misspelling but i'm trying to get better.