Interlude: Prologue
It is a cold night. The sky is clear, there are no clouds and the streets are empty. The last rays of the sun touch the surface, before the moon would rise. Even the stars smile upon earth. Only two swords cut the tranquility of the dark, the park is the exact opposite, five souls cling to their life while the heat of the battle transitioned to their hearts. A fierce battle between the two revives the lifeless park, the other two watch in awe how the weapons clash against each other, although the last one just enjoys the upcoming victory.
It is in that night that something occurred what should not have happened; it is a sacrilege against the law, even the laws of the multiverse. Yet, the person himself is very real.
"Where, where am I?"
He can only hear the sounds of the night, however somehow, somewhere… there is something. Are those… swords? Yeah, those are swords for sure!, the person thinks, finally opening his eyes. He was laying on the floor, arms and legs stretched out on the ground while his bare face looks up into the empty sky.
"Why am I on the ground? I should, I should stand up".
However, as the person tries to move his legs, even move his hands to push the body up from the ground, a pain like a thunderbolt strikes him in his head.
"aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". He immediately falls down on the ground again.
"Damn, what the hell was that right now?", the man shouts out into the night, "my head, it felt like my head just burst."
Still, he has the urge to stand up, as if he just has to stand up right in this moment. The man moves again, but this time nothing hurt, he is perfectly able to sit up. As the person stares down, he just asks himself quietly: "What am I doing here?". He looks around and notices he has been laying on grass. A street is nearby and a church is on the other side of the road. It is peaceful around him; no soul is in a radius of fifteen meters, it is only him. The young man exhales on this and gazes at the church. "Should head there, maybe someone is in th-"
Suddenly, a picture flashes in his mind, a huge colossus with a strange weapon standing in front of a rather short girl. The colossus is extremely muscular, a normal human body would never be able to gain such a stature, in his eyes is only madness, there is literally no trace of sanity neither in his eyes or actions, he is a half-naked battle monster. The girl on the other hand wears something… like an armor, her fists are in front of her body, it looks like she is holding something in her hand, but where a sword should have been, is nothing. The blonde girl looks very determined and while the beast in front of her has no sanity left, she is very collected and calm. The humongous beast is about to swing the weapon as the knight takes her stance to block it.
"Wha- what the HECK was that?! Who were those persons, and… and...". The person, again lying on the ground, snappes out of his vision. Before he can finish his sentence, only one thought crosses his mind. She is going to die, she is going to die, she is going to die, die, die, die.
The young man is taken back to reality as he hears the weapons clashing again, now in a far distance. He slowly stands up and turns his head in the direction of the sounds, but out of the blue, a roar filles the night. "The beast!", the person shouts. Before he knows what he is doing, he clenches his fists and runs to the origins of the battle, he does not know what is happening, he does not know what he just saw or heard, but he knows, he just certainly knows someone was going to die, hence he acts out of instinct. It was pure instinct as he runs towards the battle.
"We have neither desire to converse, nor freedom to name ourselves. Our conversation is limited to blows meant to kill one another. Very well, I shall answer with a strike with all my might. Here I come. This is where you die, Berserker!". Saber takes her stance to attack, she is sure she can kill him. If he would die now, it would mean one enemy less to deal with before even the Grail War starts. Berserker is absurdly strong, but she would just pass past his attacks, after all he cannot strike very precisely, even though he aims surprisingly well for a beast that lost all sanity. Saber is ready to initiate the attack just as Berserker begins moving his weapon, but suddenly… suddenly a man appears before her; she froze within her movement.
"Wha-
Saber could only watch him charging towards Berserker as surprised as she is. He is wearing a red cardigan and short blue trousers with white cuffs and something yellow hanging down from his trousers as well as sandals, although the most noticeable thing is his Straw Hat with a red band. He does not look like a Servant, in fact he does not look like a normal person at all.
"Hey, you there GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU WILL DIE!"
This does not come from Saber, who is searching around for the one who said it. As Saber finds the person, she is even more surprised
"Shirou"
A loud metallic sound echoes through the forest and a gravestone flows away, right next to Saber, so she quickly turns around instinctively and is ready to parry any attack, but she is again surprised as she sees the scene before her. The man with the Straw Hat who rushed to Berserker just a moment ago is standing there in front of Berserker, separating Saber and Berserker from each other. Berserker launched an attack. Instead of getting hit and getting blown away, probably even dying before the corpse would hit the ground lifelessly, the man with the Straw Hat is simply standing there and parrying the weapon of Berserker just with the side of his arm.
He does not how, he does not know why, all he knows is that he is standing there blocking the large sword simply with his bare arm. The giant beast is looking down at him, fully surprised an irritated, but he on the other hand is just staring determined into his face while he is able to block the giant with no effort.
"Oi, let her go, big man or I will beat you down!", he exclaims.
Even though, he is not sure what he is doing-he even lied about beating him down, because he has no clue how to defeat such a beast or fight in the first place- the beast before him backs down.
"Hmm, interesting. I don't know why you're here or who you even are, but you sure seem to be on par with Berserker. With Saber and you it is very hard to defeat you, but Archer is somewhere hiding too for sure, however I don't think he's that strong. Berserker, let's go back."
It was the voice of a little girl, she is standing some meters away, directly looking at the man with the Straw Hat.
"Wh-what, who are you now!", but before he can receive any answers, the gigantic beast starts moving away, thus confusing him even more.
"Wh-what is even happening here, why are you going now, I thought you were trying to kill me!
The irritation of the Straw Hat is obvious as the so-called Berserker casually walks away as if nothing happened.
"So, you are retreating?", another girl's voice asks.
This time she sounds older and as the Straw Hat spots her, he notices that she is standing next to another boy with auburn hair who is looking down at him as confused as he himself, although his face reveals also a tad of fright. The Straw Hat then remembers that, as he was running towards the Berserker, he was hearing someone to stop. It must have been him. He simply grinns at him, but before the boy can say anything, the other little girl takes the advantag.
"Yes, due to this incident it is wise to go back, even you, Rin, should be able to understand this, right? Whoever he is, we must first find out which class he is and who his master his before engaging into a fight with such an opponent. It was really funny Brother, Bye bye!"
She sounded very innocent, even if she is somehow able to control that beast. The Straw Hat does not understand the situation, but he can only think of one thing and he just has to say this: "Hey you, little weird girl, do you maybe have some food?"
The girl turns around and looks down at the Straw Hat who is smiling. She simply responds: "What? No…, you seem disillusioned, don't call me weirdo, you are the one who is not normal!"
Then she turns around again and leaves with Berserker, who follows her orders.
She is right, are you a Servant? And from which class?"
The Straw Hat looks behind him, where the knight is still standing.
"Saber, he just blocked off Berserker with his arm, you should remain defensive, who knows if he doesn't attack you right now!"
The other brown-haired girl with twin tails and a red coat approachs Saber and the weird guy with the Straw Hat. Next to her is the other auburn-haired boy running.
"Saber, are you ok?", he asks the knight who answers: "Yes.. yes, I think so Shirou, but you should also get back. Rin is right, we should not get too close to him before we do not know what his intentions are".
"He just saved us, I think we should just ask him who he is" The girl with the red coat just smacks his head
"Are you pure dumbness? Get back. Archer, what is your opinion?"
"Ouch, Tohsaka why did you do that?".
"So, what are you doing here and what are your intentions?", the knight asks, ready to attack, although there is no sword visible.
"Are you an idiot? How do you want to attack me, if you have no swords or anything", the Straw Hat responds calmly.
"Huh, so you cannot see her sword?", the other girl asks.
"No, are you playing some gamer or so? Can you maybe… win food?", the Straw Hat asks excited.
"So, you don't know anything what is going here or who these persons are?"
"No, but I heard a fight going on here, so I came to end this fight."
Shirou looks seriously into the Straw Hats face. "Still, you don't look like someone from here around and you surely aren't a normal man either. You just single handedly blocked Berserker".
"To be honest, I don't have a clue how I did it, it just worked."
"So, who are you?".
Straw Hat raises his hand just about the height to shake hands. "Yo, I am… I am..", it was at this moment he realized: he does not know anything.
Shirou is surprised as the man before him raised his hand to shake it with his own. Who is he and is he our enemy?, were Shirou's thoughts. Just before, he saw into the Foreigner's face and his fierce glance when he parried Berserker's attack. But now, he looks like a friendly person who is absolutely innocent. He is slightly taller as him and does not seem to possess anything special or any magical item. Furthermore, he does not even know about the Holy Grail War, who Saber or Berserker are and the stranger even admitted that he has no clue how he blocked off Berserker? Just who is he, friend, foe, just a stranger to pass by?
"Eeerm, I just simply don't know who I am, I woke up on the ground and before that I don't remember anything!", the Straw Hat states.
"Wait, you don't have any memories?", the brown-haired girl questioned, "Yet you managed to fight Berserker? This is too ridiculous, you're bluffing, so we are distracted. Maybe you're assassin!".
"But Rin, it would be more than weird that an assassin shows himself and I don't know any assassins who are so strong".
The knight lowers her clenched fists as she pointed this out. "Huh, but who are you guys anyway?", the Straw Hat asks bluntly.
The girl with the red coat replies angrily: "That's none of your business, you're maybe not an assassin, but you for sure are an enemy, I mean you just sudd-"
"Oi, you know do you have..", the Straw Hat interrupts as the others look at him, Saber regains her battle stance and the others prepare for an attack, "any food? I'm damn hungry and I thought you maybe have something to eat".
For a moment, everyone was paralyzed as they did not realize what he just said and the knight just asks slowly: "What... did you just say?"
"I'm hungry and asked if you have any food", the Straw Hat repeats. The brown-haired girl views the Straw Hat with a slightly annoyed expression, only saying:
"I-is this guy an airhead?", but then he just starts laughing.
"What is wrong with you", Saber asks.
"You guys, you're funny".
Shirou relieves his stance and looks at both, the knight and the other girl. "Saber, Rin, I think we can trust him." Then he mentions to the Straw Hat: "I don't know who you are or if you are a friend or foe. However, it seems like you lost all your memories, thus I cannot see you as my enemy. We have food at home, do you want to come to me and eat with us?".
The Straw Hat stopps laughing and responds happily: "Really? Sure, I'll come with you."
"Shirou!", both girls whisper.
"Don't worry, it's my decision and I will take any responsibilities. I don't know, but he just doesn't seem like an enemy, I have just this feeling that we can trust him."
"But Shirou", the knight retorts.
"Don't argue, Saber! I'm sure, he is a good person"
"…I understand, Shirou"
The knight nods hesitantly towards him and lets whatever she is holding go and her armor somehow disappears, too.
"Well, I mean if something happens to you, it will benefit me and if he is a good guy, maybe we will get some information from him. I don't really care what happens to you", the brown-haired girl mentioned.
"So, you agree, Thosaka?"
"I… Fine, it's ok for me, Archer also says it is… acceptable".
"So, it's settled then, you can come with us", Shirou finally tells the Straw Hat. He himself smiles broadly and just speaks: "Ah, finally I get some food, I'm so damn hungry after all this!"