A few things of note:
Kiritsugu's actions are a bit different from canon. The changes will have a great effect on both Shirou's character and on the setting in general. In addition, the time period that this story takes place in will be different from canon. The events of this story will take place around the years 2015-2020, give or take.
A little over a year has passed since Emiya Kiritsugu died.
Not a whole lot has happened since then.
Even after his father's passing, Shirou still continued his training. The boy took to heart the things that Kiritsugu had previously warned him of in regards to the moonlit world. Earth was a dangerous place, one teeming with slumbering Phantasmal Beasts, deranged Magi, and merciless Dead Apostles. In the grand scheme of things, humanity ranked pretty low on the totem pole.
In fact, humans were little more than prey for some of the monsters that lurked beneath the veil.
It didn't just stop there either. Humans also killed other humans. War, terrorism, murder… mundane conflicts were just as bad as the magical ones. After all, there was no species on Earth better at killing humans than other humans.
Shirou had his work cut out for him. It was why he trained so fervently.
Unfortunately, his training bore mixed results.
Despite all of his hard work, Shirou's progress was largely limited to the fundamentals. His Reinforcement Magecraft, for example, had improved tremendously in the year since his father's passing. The trick was scaling. Reinforcement works by filling the openings of an object with Magical Energy, thus strengthening its purpose of existence. By filling openings of a deeper level, the resulting effects will likewise be greater.
Take, for example, a sweater. When reinforcing an article of clothing, most practitioners target the gaps in the fabric. An even greater effect can be achieved by targeting the space between molecules.
While Shirou was not yet at the level of reinforcing the gaps between molecules, his progress was nonetheless impressive. His end goal was to reach a point called Almighty Reinforcement, where an object is reinforced to its absolute limit. Kiritsugu had once informed him that complete mastery of Reinforcement was all but impossible to achieve. Still, that did not stop him from trying.
Shirou's improvement of Reinforcement Magecraft was somewhat dependent on his improvement of Structural Analysis. Fortunately, the latter was his best spell.
In fact, because of his skill with that particular spell, Emiya Shirou could be considered a theoretical expert in theoretical knowledge.
As a training exercise, Shirou often forced himself to analyze complicated objects, such as machinery or books. He would then project said object with Gradation Air, which was just another term for Projection Magecraft. Through this process, Shirou learned of his affinity with swords. For some reason, anything that even vaguely resembled a sword just came easier for him to analyze and project.
That's not to say that he neglected his training with non-sword-shaped objects though. His most frequent targets for practice were the Magecraft books that Kiritsugu had gifted him prior to the man's death. After repeated training, Shirou was fully capable of projecting each and every book with one-hundred percent accuracy. He was comparable to a walking library.
Shirou planned to further improve his training by practicing on electronics next. Being able to project a working smartphone would certainly have its uses…
Aside from the fundamentals, he hasn't really made much progress with any of the other branches of Magecraft. His mastery of bounded fields has shown some improvement, but that was pretty much it. Just like Kiritsugu had once told him: Shirou simply wasn't cut out for traditional Magecraft.
Still, that did not mean he was just going to give up. This year, he planned to add Alchemy to his Magecraft curriculum. That particular branch of Thaumaturgy was a bit removed from the five great elements, so he had high hopes. Plus, the Einzberns specialized in Alchemy. If he wanted to fulfill that particular promise with Kiritsugu, the more he learned of that family the better.
Of course, all of that was for later. Shirou had a bit more pressing matters to deal with right now than his progress in Magecraft.
"Where am I?"
The auburn-haired thirteen-year-old wondered out loud. Golden-brown eyes warily scanned the surroundings, hoping to find something, anything even remotely familiar. Unfortunately, no matter how much he searched, nothing really clicked. It was all foreign. None of it made sense to him.
Emiya Shirou stood in the middle of a gloomy forest.
Before this, he had been at home, in Fuyuki. Today was supposed to be his first day of middle school. One moment, he was in his kitchen, preparing his lunch for the day, when suddenly, he found himself here, in the middle of an unknown forest.
Was it teleportation?
From what Shirou knew of Magecraft, teleportation was a complex process that not many Magi could reliably pull off. Different branches of thaumaturgy had different methods of achieving the phenomenon, but by and large, it was considered a high-tier spell, the type normally restricted to prominent magus families and powerful individuals from the Association. Why would someone use such a spell on a nobody like Shirou?
The more he thought about it, the more it confused him. For now, he decided to focus on the here and now. After a moment of hesitation, Shirou decided to explore the forest. It would do no good to just sit in place and wait for something to happen.
He picked a random direction and began walking. The sound of twigs snapping underfoot echoed through the still air. A frigid wind swept through the leaves and ruffled his hair. Shirou shivered. He was starkly reminded of just how underdressed he was for this type of environment.
Shirou was still in his pajamas. He also had an apron on and a kitchen knife in hand. For the sake of precaution, he reinforced his knife and clothes. Unfortunately, it brought him little comfort.
The deeper he ventured into the forest, the lower his mood dropped. There was something wrong with this place. All the trees looked like they've been dead for centuries. Ugly, gnarled trunks with ash-colored bark and sandpaper leaves. The soil beneath his feet was cracked and dry. The entire forest felt lifeless, like a hollowed-out husk of something that was once alive and prosperous.
It was unnerving.
There was something else too. Chunks of congealed darkness. They were all over the place— random mounds of inky black scattered all across the forest floor. They sometimes sizzled and sometimes twitched. He didn't think they were alive, yet for some reason, they resembled animal corpses.
Structural Analysis gave him zero valuable feedback. It was like staring directly into a bottomless pit of nothing.
It was frightening.
Shirou felt compelled to stay as far away from the darkness as possible. It was an instinctive feeling; Kiritsugu had taught him well enough to trust his instincts.
He continued walking. Truth be told, he did not know for how long he walked. Shirou lost track of time a while ago. More than once, he thought about retracing his steps and going back to where he started. Every time, he somehow convinced himself to keep pushing forward. His actions were eventually validated when he suddenly heard a noise coming from deeper into the forest.
Shirou stopped. He poured magical energy into his ears and reinforced his ability to hear.
The young magus heard the sound of distant fighting.
Frantic movement, the stomping of feet far too heavy to be human. There was more than one pair. It was a crescendo of chaotic noise. Ugly, loud, and faintly reminded him of the quiet pitter-patter of rain. Amidst the clatter was the sound of steel. Sharp and dangerous, it sliced cleanly through flesh— or at least, something that sounded a lot like flesh.
A beat later, meaty thuds echoed through the forest. It was the sound of bodies hitting the ground, followed by… crackling? Hissing? It was hard to tell the last part.
Whatever it was, Shirou had heard enough. With little hesitation, he ran headfirst towards the noise. The forest passed him by in a kaleidoscope of blacks and greys. A few seconds later, he arrived at the edge of a clearing.
A small gasp escaped his lips. The sight before him was utterly captivating.
It was a sea of writhing darkness. Shadows given physical form and contorted into horrid facsimiles of life. Bony protrusions covered some of the creatures like crude armor. Each creature possessed a pair of burning red eyes that shined with malevolent light.
The legion of monsters blanketed nearly every inch of the clearing and expanded far past the eye could see. There were thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. Strangely enough, Shirou felt no fear. Rather than the monsters, his attention was solely focused on something else.
A white wraith.
That was the best way he could describe it.
The thing was humanoid in shape and moved like the wind. Its presence seemingly flickered in and out of existence, as it made short work of the monsters around it. Occasionally, the thing shimmered with a faint silver light, although that might have just been his eyes playing tricks on him.
It moved far too fast for Shirou to properly perceive. Belatedly, he poured magical energy into his eyes. Using Reinforcement, the young magus enhanced his dynamic vision. Only then was he able to grasp some of the wraith's finer details.
Surprisingly, it was human; a small woman dressed in a tattered white cloak. If anything, this revelation left Shirou in further awe.
A single person, standing up against a horde of nightmares made manifest. Such a thing should have been impossible. Even Kiritsugu, the one person who he looked up to the most, would have been incapable of such a feat. After all, stuff like that was reserved strictly for myths and fairy tales.
Was that what this place was? Had Shirou somehow wandered into a fairy tale?
Even with his enhanced vision, the reaper (for what else could he call the woman) was still too fast for him. At times, it looked as if she had teleported from one end of the battlefield to another.
Constantly in motion. Never stopping, never retreating. Her very presence ushered forth death.
As expected, Shirou was drawn to her weapons.
Even if he could not properly see them, he knew for a fact that she wielded at least two. One in each hand, probably a matching pair. Her weapons were a constant blur of kinetic motion. After a few seconds of fruitless scrutinizing, Shirou uncharacteristically clicked his tongue. He desperately wanted to take a proper look at her weapons. Unfortunately, self-reinforcement was still a work in progress for the young magus. Not being able to see the reaper's weapons in action greatly frustrated him.
The only thing that he could properly make out was a blur of color. Both weapons shared a similar color scheme of black and white. The left weapon had a bit more black than white, while the right weapon had a bit more white than black.
Since the weapons were unavailable, Shirou shifted his attention back to the woman in white. For a while, he simply lost himself in the battle.
It was a level of combat prowess that he did not think was possible. The monsters were relentless. They came in endless droves, their teeth bared and their claws at the ready. The reaper met the horde with unflinching resolve. With a single motion, she slew a dozen beasts. Within a single breadth, she slew two dozen. With a bit more effort (and some weird silver light), she slew hundreds.
A part of him wished for the scene to last forever. Regrettably, all things must come to an end.
Slowly but surely, the army of monsters decreased. From tens of thousands to thousands. From thousands to hundreds. From hundreds down to a sparse few dozen. On the other side, the reaper was slowing down. Gone was the wraith that brought forth instant death. In its place was a tired woman on shaky, trembling legs.
For the first time since Shirou's arrival, the woman had stopped moving.
She stood in the middle of the clearing, her back hunched over as her chest heaved heavily from exertion. Lumps of sizzling black dotted her surroundings. Shirou only just now realized that they were in the process of dissolving.
The nameless woman planted her weapons on the ground and used them for support. Shirou took note of their appearance. It was just as he had predicted. They were a matching pair.
Two double-edged long swords of equal make and design. The only difference was the color scheme; one sword leaned towards white, while the other black. The blades were about 120 cm long, just a little bit longer than the standard European long sword. They were definitely not the right-sized swords for dual-wielding. If he hadn't seen them in action, then he would not have believed it possible for someone so small to use them with such deadly proficiency.
The nameless woman's weapons were not as sleek as the ones from his world. They were bulkier, with a lot of mechanical parts that he honestly did not know the function of. Shirou was tempted to use his Magecraft to analyze the swords but before he could do so, the fighting resumed in full force.
There were less than a dozen monsters remaining. With a strained grunt, the woman rushed forward. At this point, Shirou no longer needed to enhance his vision with reinforcement in order to keep up with the action. Along with her stamina, the woman had lost much of her speed. Still, the skill remained.
She made quick work of the first two monsters to cross her path. Three more tried flanking her side, but the woman deftly avoided them with a sharp pirouette. With a flick of her wrist, she slew the three beasts. Unfortunately, another one caught her off guard.
The beast vaguely resembled a giant ape. It snuck up behind her with surprising speed and swatted her to the side with a barrel-shaped forearm. The woman skipped across the ground like a pebble across a still lake. She crashed into a nearby tree. The impact released a burst of light. A second later, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the air.
She tried to get up, but her body refused to listen. It was as if all the strength had suddenly left her body.
A new trio of monsters closed in on her. The woman hurriedly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a heavy stomp from a creature that looked a lot like a bipedal elephant. She gritted her teeth and with a burst of motion, lunged forward. Two seconds later, three new corpses decorated the forest floor. Unfortunately, the woman had apparently expended the last of her reserves. She collapsed onto the ground in a broken heap.
Shirou felt his breath catch in his throat. Maybe it was because of the sheer awe that he had felt for her skills, but up until now, the mere thought of her losing simply had not registered within his mind.
Glancing across the battlefield, there were only two beasts remaining— the giant ape from before and a creature that greatly resembled a Sabre-tooth tiger. In perfect unison, the remaining duo lunged forward.
It was at this point that Shirou could no longer stay idle.
He did not have the time nor the luxury to meticulously use reinforcement Magecraft on his body. Instead, he flooded his limbs with magical energy, hoping that routine and familiarity would do the rest of the work for him. Shirou felt something in his leg pop. It was excruciatingly painful, but the young boy forcibly ignored it. With inhuman speed, he rushed forward.
Nobody noticed him until it was too late.
With a reinforced knife in hand, he jumped at the first monster— the ape with the barrel-shaped forearms. Shirou used its massive limbs as a springboard and threw himself straight at its head. He plunged his kitchen knife into its eye socket. A wet squelch echoed through the forest. The ape spasmed before its body lifelessly slumped forward.
Unfortunately, Shirou did not escape unscathed. As he attempted to retrieve his only weapon, he was blindsided by the last remaining beast.
Sharp claws sliced through flesh. Blood splattered the forest floor as Shirou was tossed to the side like a broken ragdoll. His only weapon slipped out from blood-soaked fingers.
The young boy let out a sharp wince. The injuries were deep, probably not fatal but they certainly warranted a closer look. Unfortunately, Shirou had far more pressing matters to attend to. The cat-like monster pounced on him.
With fangs that were far too large to be anything natural, it bit down on the crook of his shoulder. Shirou let out a garbled scream. He felt his collar bone shatter and at least one of his arteries rupture. An unintelligible noise leaked out from his lips. The horrifying sound of a dying thirteen-year-old echoed through the forest.
Shirou fought for his life. He desperately tried to project something, anything that might be able to let him live. Unfortunately, no matter how many swords and weapons he cycled through, none would come to his aid. Projection was a systematic process that required a number of steps in order to properly execute. Right now, Shirou's mind was simply far too jumbled, his thoughts far too frantic.
In his desperation, he reached out and grabbed onto the tufts of black fur that covered the creature's giant maw.
He poured Magical Energy directly into the monster's cranium, a process very similar to Reinforcement Magecraft. It was a sloppy attempt. Neither the grace nor the practiced discipline that Shirou normally utilized was present. Instead, it was chaotic and frenetic. The last, desperate struggles of a man dying.
Still, that was the point.
Reinforcement Magecraft was notorious for its high difficulty of mastery. Improper use of Reinforcement can result in a very severe backlash. Think exploding limbs and bursting blood vessels.
Right now, it would be more accurate to say that Shirou was simply pouring his rampant Magical Energy directly into the creature's head. And it worked.
A few agonizingly slow seconds passed before he felt something pop.
An ink-like substance splashed across his face. Shirou looked up. A part of the creature's head had straight-up exploded due to magical overload. After a moment, the creature's corpse went still. Its jaws loosened as it collapsed on top of him.
Shirou let out a painful wheeze.
The weight of the corpse was unbearable, especially with his current injuries. Shirou was more than certain that he was going to bleed out. A part of him felt sad. Dying now meant breaking all the promises that he had made to Kiritsugu. Still, another part of him was happy. Through his own actions, he had saved another. He was going to die, but at least he would die a hero.
Wasn't that something worth celebrating?
Dimly, he was aware of the fact that the corpse on top of him had begun dissolving. Shirou did not think it would dissolve in time. As unconsciousness slowly took hold, through the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the woman from earlier. She rose to her feet, her head swiveling around to inspect her surroundings.
It was just for a moment, but dim golden-brown eyes met a pair of frantic, bright silver.
Summer Rose was utterly confused.
She had been moments away from death when suddenly, a child ran out from the tree line and saved her. Inwardly, she wondered what a child was doing out in the heart of the Grimmlands. Could this be a potential trap by Salem? It was the only thing that made sense to her. After all, no child could survive in a place like this, not when Grimm literally dotted the land like weeds in an overgrown garden.
Worry and speculation for later. Right now, she had more pressing matters to deal with.
Summer Rose forced her body into motion. She ran to the child and with the last of her strength, she shoved the dissolving corpse off of him. She stared down at her savior and couldn't help but let out a wince.
The child looked to be on the cusps of adolescence. He was probably a good five or six years older than Yang. Unlike her daughter, however, the boy did not have his aura unlocked. How else would you explain all the copious amounts of blood that covered nearly every inch of his broken and mangled body?
Then again, when a kid not even old enough for combat school faces off against two A-ranked Grimm, aura or not, this was the expected result.
Without a doubt, the boy was dying.
Summer Rose could not let that happen. It didn't matter if this situation was unusual. It didn't matter if this was a possible trap orchestrated by Salem. The boy who had saved her life was dying. As a huntress, as a grateful mother of two beautiful children, she could not let that happen.
Summer knelt beside the boy's cooling body and gently rested her hand on his chest. With the last remaining dregs of her aura, she recited a familiar chant.
"For it is in courage that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of hope and justice to defend all others, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder, protect thee."
For a moment, there was nothing. She feared that her current aura reserves had been too low to make a difference. Then, she was met with the strangest sensation.
The sound of grinding gears echoed through her ears. The smell of rusting metal and the heat of a stoked flame. Swords, innumerable in number filled her vision. In front of her was an endless world of steel, blood, and smog. For the first time in her life, she felt so incredibly helpless. She blinked, and the world of steel was gone. The oppressive feeling bearing down on her chest had also vanished. She was back in the Grimmlands, her eyes locked onto the broken and bleeding body of the boy that had saved her life.
She noticed a silvery-white glow emanating from the boy's body. It reminded her vaguely of moonlight and glinting metal.
The glow slowly began to recede, just as the boy's newly unlocked aura frantically worked to keep its host alive. His eyes fluttered, just as hers began to droop.
With the last of her aura now gone, Summer Rose was suddenly hit by a wave of fatigue. Resistance was all but futile. Without another word, she slumped forward. She was already unconscious before she even hit the ground.
Author's Note:
The show never really went into detail about Summer's weapons and/or semblance, so I thought up my own. Twin long swords that mechashift into a giant bow. I know, it's a bit on the nose, what with the similarities between her weapon and Shirou's normal choice of gear, but bleh! It's my story.
As for her semblance, it's just like Ruby's, with maybe some slight differences.