Preface:

All versions of Emiya Shirou that feature in this story will be based on Fate/Stay Night's routes, and the canonical possibilities of the ways in which Emiya Shirou might turn out, or the logical extreme versions of those canonical possibilities.

This is just the short build-up and prelude to the story, getting the introductions and the mandatory Lancer battle out of the way.

It's still important, though, since it introduces Saber and teases what Saber's capable of. Chapter 2 is when it really starts to get good, though, using chapter 1 as a build up.

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Chapter 1 - "A Knightly Hero" (The Prelude)

Of all the ways Emiya Shirou thought he might meet his end, dying by the hands of a western psychopathic stalker wielding a crimson red spear was not one of them.

"Well, it's been fun, kid." The man in blue said, slowly bringing his spear down, "But it looks like this is where your luck runs out!"

Shirou's whole life began to flash before his eyes - Being rescued by Kiritsugu, promising to fulfill his wishes and become a hero, Fuji-nee, Issei, Shinji, Sakura...

'No, I can't die yet...! I still haven't become a hero! I still haven't saved anyone yet, not even a single person!'

Faced with imminent death, Shirou's heart called out its true desires:

'I want to live! I want to become a hero that can save everybody!'

And as if in response to his heart's cries, there was a flash of light, and a hero appeared.

*CLANG*

The sound of metal on metal rang out as a sword intercepted the spear aimed for his heart.

"Tch!" The spearman in blue clicked his tongue as he was pushed back, "So this kid was a master, too?"

Standing in front of Shirou was a knight, clad in blue and golden cloth and silver armor, wielding a sword of golden aura. Just looking at the swordsman's back, Shirou felt a great, reassuring presence. The presence of a hero. The knight turned around, and faced him.

"Servant Saber, at your service. I ask of you, are you my master?"

His presence and his voice carried a certain regality to it, as if he was some sort of noble or a king's knight. But it was the knight's face that shocked him the most - it was his own face! But it looked more mature and wise, as if hardened by years of training and experience.

"I...ah..."

Shirou was at a loss for words, but the knight apparently took that as a "yes", as he turned back around to face the blue spearsman.

"Kind of you to wait, Lancer." The knight remarked.

"Well, I've been looking for a good fight lately," Lancer replied, grinning and twirling his spear, "hunting down helpless civilians doesn't really suit my tastes."

"Judging by that sword, you're King Arthur?" Lancer asked, "Not what I'd have expected a fellow hero from the same isles to look like. You look almost like you'd be a hero from this Island-Nation, instead.""

"I wonder?" Saber taunted, "Maybe I am King Arthur. Or maybe it's some sort of camouflage ability, and I'm just a faker? Why don't you find out, Lancer?"

"Heh, well, that would explain look like the kid over there," Lancer noted, "and the last enemy I just squared off against, come to think of it."

"But," Lancer continued, drawing out his words in an excited tone of voice, "assuming you're not just an imposter, then this should be a good fight!"

Lancer grinned ferally.

The two of them stared each other down, neither moving an inch. The pressure in the air was tangible, both fighters sizing up their opponent.

And then, in an instant, the knight was in front of Lancer, striking with a quick downwards slash, which was immediately parried.

Lancer grinned. "Well, at least you're a Saber that actually uses swords!"

"Yeah," The knight, Saber, replied, in-between strikes, "Archers who use swords piss me off too!"

That took Lancer off-guard for a slight fraction of a second. Not enough to deal a good hit, but enough of a distraction to deal a heavy blow, and force Lancer back a good distance.

Lancer stopped grinning, and took a moment to assess the knight. "...And how exactly would you know that? You a mind reader or something?"

Saber smirked. "Well, I have my sources. Not that I'd tell a mad dog like you."

Lancer grinned again, this time far more ferociously and with a fiercer look in his eyes than he had before. "So you even know who I am, huh? Well, in that case, there's no need to hold back!"

Lancer charged forward at incredible speeds, thrusting his spear at Saber with intense force and ferocity. This time, it was Saber who was forced back, though he still managed to black every blow that came at him. Still, this time it was Saber who was forced on the backfoot, staying on the defensive, and lacking the necessary power and speed to create an opening.

'Damn! This is tough!' Saber thought to himself, 'If I had more mana to support me, I would be able to match him and maybe even overpower him, but as I am right now, I can barely keep up with his attack speed! How did Artoria make this look so easy?"

Thrust after thrust was showered upon Saber, and Saber managed to parry most of them, but a few of them got past his defenses, and left scratches all over him. Not enough damage to seriously wound Saber, but after an exchange of a few hundred blows, it was enough to cause a slight lag in Saber's actions, which was more than enough for Lancer to begin overwhelming him.

Lancer, now assured of his victory, took a moment to scoff, clearly unimpressed by Saber's performance. "So much for Saber being the strongest knight class! Huh, King Arthur?!"

With one final strong strike, he knocked Saber off-balance, and got into position to use his Noble Phantasm.

"It's about time to end this!

"Trace on!"

"GAE-"

"Rho Aias!"

"BOLG!"

In an instant, Red Spear collided against Red Shield, the force on the impact so great that it caused both Saber and Lancer to slide back a bit.

One, two, three - the spear tore through the first few layers of the shield like paper, piecing through them at incredible speeds, but losing a bit of momentum in the process.

Four, Five - The spear continued barreling on through the 7-layered shield, though now at a significantly slower speed.

Six,

And Seven - The spear had finally reached its limit, and lost its moment completely, coming to a halt before it could pierce through the shield's final layer and before it could harm Saber.

"Hah!" Lancer smirked as he quickly retrieved his spear in one smooth motion. "So you still had some tricks up your sleeves, after all. I guess this won't be as boring as I thought!"

Lancer prepared to charge forward again, to rush Saber before he had a chance to regain his bearing, but he suddenly stopped, mid-motion.

"What? What do you mean escape? It was just starting to get good!"

Saber didn't say anything, content to let Lancer continue talking to himself - he already knew what this flow of events would lead to, after all.

"But he already knows who I am, and I'm pretty sure this guy's on his last legs! It would be better to just finish him off right now!"

"Tch!" Lancer clicked his tongue again, clearly unsatisfied with the orders he was receiving. "Fine, I got it. I'll head back."

Lancer turned to Saber, irritation showing on his face. "Count yourself lucky, Saber. Looks like we'll have to finish this duel some other time."

And with that, Lancer parted, de-materializing and retreating into the moonlight streets of Fuyuki City.

[]

With the threat gone, Shirou stepped out into the yard, questions abound in his head.

"Thank you for saving me, um, Saber-san, was it...?"

Saber looked back at his younger self and nodded.

Seeing Saber's confirmation, Shirou continued, "If you don't mind me asking, what was all that about earlier? Why was that guy in blue stalking me and trying to kill me? And, it may just be my imagination, but you - are you...?"

Shirou didn't even knew how to properly phrase or finish the question, shaken as he was by the day's events (killed, mysteriously saved, almost killed again, and this time rescued by what looked an older, knightly version of himself).

Saber, seeing Shirou's confusion, took the initiative in answering his inquiries. "We'll have time to talk later. Right now, there's another participant heading over this way. I have to go to intercept them."

Saber turned to leave, but Shirou called out to him again. "Wait! Another "participant" you say...? That means you'll be fighting again, won't you?" Concern swelled in Shirou's voice, "Will you be okay? That Lancer guy said you were on you last legs, weren't you?"

Saber turned around for one last time and gave Shirou a reassuring smile. "I am a little worn down," he admitted, "but I'm still at 80% of my strength. Besides, I've still got plenty of tricks up my sleeve. It wouldn't do to reveal all my cards this early in the game after all."

"Will you be okay, though?" Shirou asked again, still a bit worried.

"Yeah. This'll be more than enough for those two." Saber assured him, "Just wait here for me, for a little while. If you follow after me, you'll be putting my life in danger too. I'll be perfectly fine."

Saber knew more than anyone else that telling Emiya Shirou to stay still or that he'd be a liability would only have the opposite effect, and cause Shirou to come chasing after him immediately. But with this, Saber knew he should be able to buy at least at little bit of time (before Shirou came chasing after him foolishly anyway).

And with that, Saber left, turning away and jumping atop the walls of the Emiya Estate, rushing towards the quickly approach Master and Servant duo.

'I've been wanting to see you two again, Rin! "Archer"!'

[]

Author's notes:

So I tried to get through this pretty quick, but it does serve as a pretty nice prelude.

Saber's "Rho Aias" is actually conceptually weaker than Archer's here (by about 1 rank or so), but it performs similarly (slightly better) here because Saber reinforced it to a greater degree. That and more importantly, and Saber also has a much better luck stat than Archer, so Rho Aias wouldn't have pierced his heart anyways, and and as such, the strike's not as powerful as it could be.

I also have other works you can check out, stories based on Fate/Stay Night and One Piece. Not that many right now, but there will be more in the future. So feel free to check them out.

(This is the only Fate/Stay Night-based work right now, but there will be others, eventually).

If you liked it, please feel free to comment, like, and favorite, and share it with your friends. Thanks.