I do not own any of the respective characters and all rights go to the respective owners.
And a massive thanks to Axel Emiya for Betaing the story.
A Bladed path of crimson
# Getting used to it.
"Good morning young master. It's time to wake up." Doing one last push up before looking up towards the door being opened. Shirou Gremory saw one of the maids walking in excusing herself with a neutral expression, before seeing Shirou on the ground. "Oh, I see you are already awake. Do you want me to ready you a bath?"
Standing fully, he gave a small smile. "Good morning, Mariel." Walking towards a towel, laying over a chair. "Oh, and yes! That would be much appreciated, but we have talked about this, Shirou is fine."
"Very well, young master. Your bath will be ready in a minute." Bowing, she walks out of the room and closes the door.
"And she did not listen again." Laughing awkwardly, he begins to dry his hair before walking past a mirror, stopping in front of it, he begins inspecting himself and sees a young boy with crimson hair, fair skin, and an odd coloring of amber eyes, with a silver ring around the pupils. "7 years already, huh."
"Young master," Mariel called when entering, not getting him to shriek like a little girl at all and he would deny anyone saying otherwise. Having a small smile adorning her face, she continues. "The bath is ready to be used."
Coughing into his hands, he speaks. "Ah, thank you." Before walking towards a bundle of clothing sitting on the table, before hearing a small "Ah" from Mariel. He turns his head. "Anything wrong?"
"No nothing. I'll be leaving now then." Shaking her head, turning around to walk away before stopping remembering something. "Ah, also. Breakfast will be ready at the dining hall in 30 minutes." After saying that, she fully leaves for her duties after receiving a nod from Shirou for confirmation.
Afterward, Shirou leaves to take his bath.
After finishing his bath and getting himself dried off, he begins to think back on the years after his reincarnation. He could not really remember much from the first year or two, because of the still infant mind not being able to handle the load.
"At least I didn't have to be consciously doing the feeding and potty training." He shudders thinking about that, before beginning to dress. After finishing, he picks up the dirty clothes and puts them into a pile. "While I can't do the laundry myself, I can at least make it a bit easier for the maids."
After finally beginning to remember who he was, it was surreal finding out what he actually was, a devil. An honest to God 'ow' biblical devil. That took some time getting used to but learning that not all devils were as bad as the bible said, did make it better.
The thing that was probably the weirdest was having maids and butlers doing all the housework for him. After living his whole life doing everything himself, it really did feel jarring, but he was getting used to it somehow.
"There." After finishing putting his clothes in a pile, he walks out the door and begins walking down the hallway, towards the dining hall. After walking for a bit, he spots the oh-so-familiar mop of crimson hair with a cowlick, that belonged to his sister. "Rias." She turns to see him walk up to her. "Good morning, did you sleep well?"
"Ah Shirou, good morning." She smiles before continuing. "Yes, I slept really well, and you?"
"It was nice." A small smile adorned his face while nodding.
They begin walking together afterward, small talking and saying good morning to some of the workers they pass by. After a while, they reach their destination. Opening the doors, they see their parent sitting at the end of the table having a conversation before seeing them enter through the door.
"Good morning you two." Zeoticus Greets them.
"Good morning, Father." Both Shirou and Rias reply at the same time, walking over to the table and taking a seat. After both of them sit, they began to eat.
While eating, Zeoticus turned to his kids and began speaking. "So, I there's something I would like to say. Firstly, is we will be having dinner with the Sitris over at their place later in the evening."
After saying that both Rias and Shirou looked at each other before nodding. Knowing it's because both families are on friendly terms, thanks to Serafall and Sirzechs being good friends. "And secondly, I got some news from your brother Sirzechs."
"Oh? What is it?" Rias asked.
"This is not something that hasn't been disclosed to the public yet, but Grayfia is pregnant," Zeoticus said while taking his glass to drink.
"Really?" Shirou turns to his father, with surprise on his face. "That's great."
"Yes, so when your brother comes later today to join the dinner. Remember to congratulate him." Venelana chimes in, and both Shirou and Rias nodded. "Also, there is something I wanted to ask you Shirou. How is it going with your magic training, any luck?"
"Sigh, sadly not. Whenever I try using the power of destruction, it just blows up in my face. The worst part is that I know it's there, but it feels like there is something that stops me from using it." Letting out a frustrated growl, before sighing again, clenching his fist. "But I wouldn't do me any good to get frustrated, I just got to work with what I have."
"Maybe it's also a good idea to look at other places, instead of only that in front of you." Venelana gives a small smile, trying to reassure her son. "But I will say it's weird, your brother and sister didn't have any problem getting control on their power and neither have I heard anyone from the Bael having this issue."
"Well, I guess that's just my luck, huh," Shirou says in a sarcastic undertone, before beginning to think. 'Maybe it would be a good idea to go ask them about that, it is one of my strong suites and I have been doing it in secret.' After mulling over the idea in his head, he nods to himself before turning to his parents. "Talking about other places to look, I have been interested in looking into maybe training with a sword. It could maybe be a good way to mitigate my problems with my magic."
Zeoticus looks at his son surprised before thinking it over. "That could maybe work, what do you think Venelana?"
"Hmm, I don't know. I haven't seen many pureblood devils wielding bladed weaponry." She looks towards Shirou, seeing him looking at her waiting for a response. She gives a small smile before turning towards Zeoticus. "But It cannot hurt to try, at worse it will not suit him and if he does end up enjoying it, that wouldn't be so bad."
"Then I guess we agree on that and all we now need is someone to teach him." Zeoticus thinks before turning to Shirou. "We could maybe ask Sirzechs when he comes later if his knight is willing to do it. If I remember correctly, he was a famous samurai from Japan."
After everything was agreed, all returned to eat while having some small talk.
Shirou was in the process of getting ready for dinner later in the evening when he began thinking back to the conversation. 'It was a good thing they agreed, don't know what I would do if they said no. Now my only problem is how I will go about it, I'm still not sure if I should reveal my own magecraft into the mix, especially not when it's similar to the Sacred gears Blade blacksmith and Sword birth.' Shirou begins to grumble at that thought. Sacred gears, the gift to humanity from the biblical god to defend against the other races that sought to use them. 'In terms of strength and abilities, some of them are only as strong as some above-average mystic code, but it's the stronger ones that scare me. Some of them are on par with high tier Noble phantasm.'
After being done getting ready, he leaves his room after having placed his old clothes in a pile for the maids. Once out of his room, he begins walking down the hallway towards the designated meeting spot, while still in his thoughts. 'And the strongest of Sacred gears called the Longinus are even said to be able to slay gods. Something that is on par with the likes of Excalibur or Kusanagi. That's not something that should be given to just anyone, but it is, and I don't understand why.' He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice when someone showed up out of nowhere.
"Ah, Shirou! it's good to see my favorite brother. How are you doing?" An excited Sirzechs ask walking over to Shirou, surprising him.
"it's good to see you to brother, and aren't I your only brother?" Shirou raises an eyebrow while giving Sirzechs a good-natured smile.
"That doesn't mean it's not true." Sirzechs chuckles, before walking up and giving Shirou a hug while picking him up. "Heard from Mother and Father that you're training in the power of destruction is not going well. Do you have any idea as to why?"
After having gotten used to getting picked up over the years, he only gave an irritated look at Sirzechs, who in turn chooses to not notice. Sighing he returned back to the topic. "No clue, it just doesn't want to work at all. Anything I try to do, to get it to work just blows up in my face, again and again, it's like there's something keeping me from doing it."
"Hmm, that does sound like a problem, sadly there's nothing I can help you with, that you haven't already tried." Sirzechs shakes his head afterward, before turning to his brother. "But enough of that. It's not every day I get to have a break to have dinner with everybody. So, let's not dally and join with the other."
Receiving a nod from Shirou, Sirzechs went on his way towards the designated meeting spot with an annoyed Shirou in his arms. After a while they get to the front door of the castle and look around, they find out they are the first to come.
"Looks like the other is not here yet, I thought Grayfia said she would wait on us here?" Sirzechs looks around after having placed Shirou down on the floor.
"Maybe she went ahead to say hi to our parents. Since that you're here and all?" Shirou answer, looking at Sirzechs looking down the different hallways. Shirou remembered something from breakfast. "Oh yeah, congratulation on Grayfia's pregnancy."
"Oh? Thanks, Shirou, guess they already told Rias and you. Guess that's no surprise." Sirzechs turns to Shirou. As he was about to continue, they hear down one of the corridors Rias calling out to the
"Big Brother! Congratulation!" A Small Rias runs up to Sirzechs before getting lifted up into his arms. Zeoticus, Venelana, and Grayfia come from the same corridor.
"It's good to see you too Rias." After receiving his hug Sirzechs, with Shirou looks at the newcomers. "Mother, Father."
"It's good to see too, Sirzechs. How is it in the office, hope they don't treat you too harshly." Zeoticus ask with a welcome tone.
"It could be better, there have been some weird activities going on in the Underworld that we don't know what is. So that's creating even more paperwork than usual" Sirzechs gives out a deprecating sigh. "That's also why we got here so late, Grayfia wouldn't let me out before I finished it."
"And I believe, I also said that if you used more of your energy on finishing it instead of complaining, we wouldn't be late." Cites Grayfia, making Sirzechs give out a scared chuckle.
"He never learns. He did always slag on his paperwork, even as a child." Shakes a disappointed Venelana.
"Please don't say that mother, I at least finished it. Doesn't that count for something, don't you think so Shirou?" Sirzechs gives a pleading look towards his brother, hoping for a bit of backup.
"Hmm? Sorry didn't listen, all I got was something about my brother being a slouch." Only to be betrayed by him, while the others in the room began to laugh.
"How about we get going instead of going after Sirzechs?" an amused Zeoticus suggest.
"That sounds like a good idea." Sirzechs Sighs, before turning to Rias in his arms. "What do you think Rias, ready to visit the Sitris?"
After getting an affirmative answer from Rias, they all begin to walk towards their transport, before getting going having small talk while on the road.
Small talk ensured after a while, and the conversation spun into Shirou asking Sirzechs about having his knight help Shirou train. "So, you want to try the way of the sword now that your magic is not working?"
"Yes. Now that I can't get a handle on my powers, I thought maybe trying something that's always interested me could work." Shirou answers the question immediately. "If it is not too much to ask brother?"
"Don't worry, it's no trouble at all. I will ask him when we get back."
"Thank you."
"Now that, that's over. Do you have an idea of what to call the baby?" Venelana asks and with that, the conversation derailed into all sorts of topics that Shirou didn't really care about, opting to stay out of them.
When they finally arrived at the Sitri castle and were leaving the vehicle, they were met by the head of the Sitri clan and his wife.
"Zeoticus, it's good to see you, my friend, how have you been?" asked none other than Sohnano Sitri, the head of the Sitri clan. A bespectacled man looking like he is in his late 20's with blue eyes and black hair split down the middle flowing to either side of his head, an anchor styled goatee and wearing a navy-blue vintage tailored suit, holding a cane in one hand, everything adding together giving the air of refinement and class.
"I'm doing great Sohnano, and you?" Zeoticus walks over giving a firm handshake to the Sitri head.
"I'm doing well Zeoticus." He returns the handshake while his wife walks forward towards Venelana.
"I'm glad to see you, Ana. Hope you're doing well." Venelana walks over and her a hug
"I'm glad to see you too Vena, and I'm doing quite well, and you?" The demure voice of Annabeth Sitri replies. A beautiful woman with a petite body, long Blackish-blue hair cascading down one side of her face and back, violet eyes, and wears a sapphire-blue dress, everything adding to her beauty.
"I'm doing fantastic, just found out some great news. You would believe it." Venelana began to chat with Annabeth while walking into the house together, Grayfia bowing to her king before following behind joining on the conversation here and there.
"Well looks like our wives just went ahead of us?" an amused Sirzechs says, raising an eyebrow.
"It would seem so, seems like they never change." Shaking his head, Sohnano turns to the two redheads and the kids. "Guess we should follow their example and walk in, it wouldn't do us any good just standing here."
"Yes, let's" Sirzechs nods, as everyone begins to follow the Sitri head through the door and into the lobby. "Also, if it's not too rude to ask. Where are Serafall and Sona?"
Sohnano lets out a tired sigh before speaking. "Serafall didn't want to wear anything formal and instead choose something she thought was 'cute' and wouldn't change her mind no matter what I tried, it devolved into her even dragging poor Sona into it."
"That's Serafall for you, never wants to conform to any kind of standard if she can get away with it." Sirzechs chuckles.
"That we can agree on, poor Sona ran screaming through the hall last I saw of her." Shaking his head, Sohnano turns to Rias and Shirou. "Will you two be so kind as to get Sona? If I know her, she would have run into her room and locked the door. Which wouldn't really work on Serafall and walked in either way if she so desired it."
Rias and Shirou look at each other, a second later they both bolted down the hallway towards Sona's rooms, Shirou yelling back "Thanks for the info!"
As they were running, they got tenser and tenser before Rias finally caved and look towards her brother in front, asking the question. "So, what do you think it's going to be this time?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, the thing Serafall has forced Sona into this time. We have already seen a teddy bear costume, a frilly princess dress, and my most favorite the magical girl outfit."
Looking back at his sister, Shirou gives her a deadpan look. "I feel like you are only here to get a kick out of Sona."
"And you're not?" Rias tilts her head.
"NO!" Shirou shouts back. "I just don't want it to get out of hand, that's a- "
"NOO!" Hearing a scream coming from the door stops the conversation completely as Shirou runs through the door in haste.
"I think you had your fun Seraf- Pffft." Only to someone run into him full force, knocking him down on the floor. When he opens his eyes, only to see Sona laying on top of him with only her underwear on and her looking straight back at him, screaming Sona Slaps Shirou across the face sending him flying to the other side of the hallway.
"Tch, tch, tch Shirou, that's why you never barge into a lady room," Serafall says shaking her head while comforting a crying Sona.
"I have to side with Serafall on this one Shirou. You don't just barge into a lady's room." Rias shakes her head disappointed.
"Oh, come on! I heard Sona scream and thought she was in trouble, what would you have wanted me to do. Just stand outside and wait?" Shirou shouts back, a red print of a hand on his cheek.
"My, Shirou being the white knight, isn't it too early to swoon the ladies little man." Serafall places both hands on her chin while swinging back and forth. "At least let me keep Sona a little longer before you steal her from me."
"Please just kill me already, haven't I already received enough torture already?" A crying Sona mutters.
"Wha!?" Shirou recoils back at Serafall's comment and blushed, while Rias was laughing. "You know what, forget it. I'm going to the dining hall."
"Oh, please stop, I can't handle it anymore, haha." Rias begins to buckle laughing. "Haha, brother please wait, haha."
He was already gone, muttering about his luck and woman being troublesome.
Dinner ended up being a quiet affair other than a few questions towards Shirou about the slap mark on his face, which he didn't want to comment about, getting a laugh out of Serafall and Rias, with Sona blushing at the memory.
It was after dinner and everybody began to converse casually that Sona dragged Rias into a game of chess, which became many.
"Dammit, I lost again. How many is that now?" A frustrated Rias asks.
"That would be your 16th loss." Sona casually says while drinking some tea.
"You were close sis, maybe you should try again?" a Smirking Shirou comments at the sideline.
"Shut it, brother! If I was so close, why don't you try it yourself?"
Shrugging, Shirou smirks. "Why should I, I get enough entertainment from watching you try."
Getting mad Rias turns to Sona. "What do you think Sona, why don't you play a game against Shirou, it was him that walked in on you."
"Hey! That was an accident, and you know it!"
"I think it's a wonderful idea Rias." Sona places the teacup down and looks at him, giving him the signal that he got no choice. "Wouldn't you agree Shirou?"
"Fine, then let's get this over." Sighing Shirou sits down in front of the chessboard.
The game of chess began with Shirou sending out one of his white pawns and the game followed from there, with both sides taking pieces here and there with Shirou being the more aggressive of the two. The game continued for around forty minutes before Shirou eventually found an opening and somehow won.
"Checkmate. Huh, that's a surprise, wasn't sure my plan would work." Shirou looks up to see Sona with wide eyes. "Are you okay Sona?"
After getting questioned she looks up before frowning. "That was risky a risky move Shirou, if I hadn't placed my rook there you would have lost."
"I know, that was what I was gunning for." Shirou shrugs, turning to Rias. "There I won, happy?"
Looking at him, she frowns. "You were lucky."
Sighing, he agrees "Yeah, guess that was a large part of it."
"Again," Sona mutters while the siblings talked.
"Hmm?"
"Again. I want a rematch." Sona looks at Shirou seriously.
Getting a little surprised by her intensity he accepts without fully knowing it.
Afterward he lost, again and again, every strategy he tried getting crushed and when he tried to change his strategy, she would discover it and crush it again. After a while Shirou Just gave up the thought of winning, and just tried things he wasn't sure was good or not, some worked better than others, but Sona was brutal in every game, ending in a number of games being 8, with 7 of them being Sona's win.
"Rias, Shirou. It's time for us to go home." Venelana called out to them receiving a thankful sigh from Shirou.
When Shirou was rising Sona spoke. "Thanks for the games, they were fun."
Looking back, he gave a small smile. "No problem, should it be another time."
"Bye Sona, see you later." Rias waved goodbye as they left the room, leaving Sona alone with her deep in thoughts.
When they got home to the Gremory castle, Shirou gave the excuse of being tired and excused himself out.
After entering his room, he made sure to lock the door and ran over to his bed before getting ready for his nightly ritual. After getting himself comfortable, began to relax and closed his eyes, entering a meditative state and when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a different place, the place he knows all too well, something he have carried with him for as long as he can remember, something that reflects who he is down to a fundamental level, the very manifestation of his soul given form. Unlimited Blade Works, or what of it that is still his own.
As he looks around, he can see the world-changing, not by much almost impossible to see with the naked eye, but he can feel it and he knows what's doing it. Looking up he sees what looks like shards of glass floating, but they have something in them that he cannot see, but he knows they will be revealed upon the shattering of the glasses, which they do either by themselves or if something triggers them to do it, but he already has an idea of what those shards hold, something special, something that is the cornerstone of a person, and that is memories.
After his reincarnation, a lot of his memories from after the Grail war was fractured and incomplete, he knew of the general gist of what he did doing his life but could not remember it in detail, and only when he grew up, did they come back, slowly but surely, the shards shattered to reveal them. What he did not expect was that his own memories weren't the only ones in them, something more came along with them, memories not his own, of paths he did not walk, of life's he did not live, they come rarely if ever, but when they do.
He becomes scared, scared of becoming someone else, scared of losing who he is, and becoming more like him, no not him, them. Those who balance life on a scale, whose who will sacrifice even those they love if more people will live from it, even if those people would be strangers. That is what he is scared of becoming, a Machine.
And here we have chapter 2. Thanks to all those who favorited and followed this story, even with all these mistakes, and about getting a Beta, I'm am in the process of trying to get one, but choose to release this so I can begin the next chapter.
I will fix my mistakes when I have gotten my hands on a Beta who has taken a look at it.
In the meantime, let's look at this chapter.
I used this chapter to mostly set up things to be used in the future and give a glimpse of Shirou's everyday life. I wanted to make it feel like he is intergrating, but is still not used to this new life, I'm not sure if I did a good job though.
Now for future chapters.
The next chapter will be another time skip to Shirou being 12, and will also be started for a story original arc, that I hope people will be like.
now to answer some questions that won't spoil too much.
Q: What route is this Shirou from?
A: This Shirou is from a route closest to the Fate route, but with some changes, for example, Shirou keeping Avalon after the Grail war, and others that will be revealed later down the line.
Q: Why the name Shirou?
A: Because it's easier for me as a writer, I'm a newbie and didn't want to get into the trouble of giving Shirou another name (already have enough trouble not writing Emiya instead of Gremory xD)
That's about it really.
Thanks for reading.
Ashenlite out. Peace.