Chapter 2-

Disclaimer: I own nothing outside my ideas and madness.

Authors Note: HOLY SHIT! Guys, I can't believe this honestly: 28 favorites, 38 Follows and 7 Reviews! This is what I woke up to after posting my story 8-9 hours earlier, and it just keeps growing! And when I put the finishing touches now, we are at 87 Favs 145 Follows and 17 reviews!

I have no words to thank you all so I will just do it with a chapter if that's fine with you all!

This is sadly unedited so I will post an edited version soon.

Reviews will be answered at the end unless it's a spoiler of course.

-Shirou's pov-

-Forest riverside, dusk-

Staring at the woman before me, I could see her cheeks grow slightly pink, clearly proving her embarrassment; my own cheeks heating up alongside hers.

She was as gorgeous as Saber, the setting sun giving her what seemed to be a glow-. No, she did faintly glow silver. Before I could open my mouth however she suddenly pulled a bow and arrow out of seemingly nowhere. Knocking it on her bow and pulling it back fully in less than a second, before letting go.

It was only my training with Saber and my experiences during the Holy Grail War that made me able to jump away, landing beside where I put my clothes. This was bad… She had already let loose three arrows after me, forcing me to roll to the side, getting up on my knee as the hammer within my mind strikes down; firing off my circuits as they start reinforcing my body. We had 20 meters between us. I can cross this distance in just two steps with this body.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking me?" I asked her, ready to move if she continued her assault.

Before I could move, however, she seemed to calm herself even if her cheeks grew redder. Bringing down her bow slightly, she spoke "Can thee put on some clothing before we talk? I don't want to look at a naked boy." She spoke the last words with a certain amount of irritants, but I ignored it.

Walking slowly towards where I put my clothes I saw the bow woman avert her eyes away from me. She was clearly relieved when not having to see me as I dried myself off or dressed.

As I finished, I said: "You can look now, but keep the bow down." A brief look of annoyance had been her response before she sighed and looked at me, keeping the arrow on the bow without drawing it.

"Who are you? And what is thee doing here?" She asked, ignoring my own questions in the process, surprisingly speaking English even if she understood what I said earlier.

I watched her for a few seconds as I continued reinforcing my body just in case, Kotomine having left a sour taste in my mouth.

My lack of an answer seemed to annoy her, but she stayed silent, not saying a word in return. We had continued looking at each other for a few seconds before I caught a movement behind her, a giant black hound stalking towards her.

I moved. I didn't even think about it as I dashed towards the beast, not even acknowledging the arrow piercing into my shoulder. The young bow woman had already started rolling away, but I ignored her. Tracing Caliburn would take too long. I instead punched the hound when it pounced on me, clearly surprised by my sudden movements, but not enough to stop its own assault.

Crack! The great hound howled in pain after my fist made contact with its head, making it break. It was effortless, too easy. A child's fist shouldn't be able to break the bones of this giant beast. Ignoring this, for now, I struck it again.

Another crack was heard, the beast, now damaged and disoriented. It didn't underestimate me anymore as it jumped back, landing awkwardly but out of reach.

Just as I was about to dash at it three arrows pierced it, going through the eyes of the creature and into its heart, causing it to drop down: Dead before it hit the ground.

"I did not need for thee to "save" me. I could have handled it easily," came a voice from behind me, less hostile this time. As I turned to face her, she had put away her bow and arrows. However, she still seemed to be cautious of me.

"I couldn't let a girl be attacked from behind," I answered, as I tried pushing out the arrow, already feeling Avalon's power coursing through me to close the wound. However, this seemed to only bring back her irritation.

"Well I don't require a boy defending me," she said, a glare in her eyes. She reminded me of Saber to an extent. I knew forcing this would merely cause her to be even more against it, so I changed the topic.

"My name is Shirou, Emiya Shirou." If she was puzzled by my name, she didn't show it. However, she seemed to remember something foul.

"You are Japanese? Regardless, I will have to rapport back to my mistress that it was merely a half-blood that disturbed the forest." She muttered the latter part to herself, but my still enhanced ears could overhear it clearly.

"Half-blood? I'm unrelated to demons." I said quickly, looking at her straight in her eyes. This, however, had bewildered her before she seemed to understand.

"The Japanese call everything with mixed blood for half-bloods? That would make sense..." She got an expression so similar to Tohsaka that my mouth moved on its own, offering her something unreasonable in this situation.

"Why don't we talk while eating? My stew will be done soon anyway and I made a bit much out of habit." If she was puzzled about my statement about half-bloods, this would seem to outright shock her.

"... I suppose we could do that… but have any of your parents been absent?" Her question seemed to carry some secret meaning. However, what that might be, was lost on me.

"They both died in a fire a few years ago," I say naturally, her expression turned apologetic. I could grasp why, but I was over it years ago, it didn't bother me anymore.

-Zoe's pov-

Afterward, we ate primarily in silence. I tried not looking at the red-haired boy, Shirou, during the meal. He was an… alright, chef, for a boy; so it wasn't too much of a challenge. He seemed content with staying silent after I had looked at his shoulder. What I had seen shouldn't be possible, I knew that my arrow had struck true but yet, I couldn't find any wound; Only blood.

I pondered what my mistress or sisters would have done in this situation. In all my time as a hunter, men have discovered us while we bathed, never the reverse.

How he has survived on his own I can't tell nor can I discern how he managed to merely appear from a tree. Who his immortal parent might be could give a clue but there is no way of telling. He resembles none of the gods besides my mistress, but she didn't have half-bloods, only the once adopted as hunters.

Finishing the dish, I sighed, this was going to take a while to explain...

-Shirou's pov-

-Road, the day after-

Who could have thought the greek gods were still around? They even had kids according to Zoë, the girl I met, all sent to a place called "Camp Half-blood."

She appeared to dislike the place but told me how to get to it, she also told me where I was; close to a town in West Virginia… I had ended up in the US... Why do I feel like this is Merlin's doing?

Following the river, we ultimately came to the city. We moved mostly in silence, neither of us having anything to speak of for the most part.

Once we had arrived in town Zoë sought out a car renter. I soon understood why my father told me I had to learn how to drive on my own, not let anyone else do it for me; Zoë pushed the car for all that it was worth and more, forcing me to reinforce the roof handle to not pull it from the roof.

"So Zoë… Why do you think I need to go to Camp Half-blood? If you hate it?" I ask between her sharp curves, not wanting to distract her even for a second when we travel at these speeds.

"That is easy, thee is a Half-blood." She answered evenly, almost as if she had said this many times before, not at all affected by how we practically drifted through every curve. She said it almost as if I should have known this already.

"What makes you so certain?" My question earned me a tired sigh that reminded me of my friend, Rin.

"Because," She said, "That is the only way thee could have handled that Hellhound with such ease, no normal human could do that." That made me keep from saying anything else about it, knowing it would only bring up questions I've avoided answering for years, even to my best friends. Only Rin, Illia and the other participants of the Holy Grail War knew I was a magus.

Taking my silence as confusion, she spoke. "One of thy parents were mortal while the other was a god or goddess. Usually, thee can tell from either skills the demigod possess or their appearance; even who their mortal parent is can help narrow it down even if you can't be certain."

"Why can't you be certain? If a demigod displays traits of Zeus, they are the child of Zeus right?" I asked, figuring it was quite simple if each demigod had traits you could recognize.

"Not exactly," She answered, slightly hesitant. "The child could be a lega- ehh, a descendant of a demigod or they could even be both at the same time. Besides, a demigod needs to be claimed to fully access their parent's domain."

That left a sour taste in my mouth, the way she said it. It practically implied it didn't always happen this way, if at all.

We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, my body slowly growing used to her… intensive driving, an understanding that, while possibly a speed junkie; she did know what she was doing.

"... Sorry…" Came a quiet voice after some time, quiet enough that I barely heard it.

"Hmm? What was that?" I asked her.

"... I'm sorry for shooting thee…" She said eyes kept straight ahead, her grip tightening around the steering wheel slightly.

"You thought I was striking at you, so why would I criticize you?" This seemed to relax her, and we fell back into silence.

-Shirou's pov-

-Side of a forest road, late afternoon-

Zoë dropped me off a few hours later in the middle of a forest road, apparently having to go back to the other hunters. We said our goodbyes and then we parted ways.

That was two days ago and nothing major happened during that time, except my nose had started to calm down enough that I don't have a headache. Continuing down the road, I moved behind the tree line. I couldn't be seen from the road by any passerby, even if people rarely-

"H-help…"

A quiet voice, no higher than a whisper, was carried on the wind. Anyone hearing it would simply disregard it, far too quiet to be anything beyond imagination. I didn't stop to think about something like that as I was already running deeper into the woods, following where I heard the voice.

I arrived in a clearing, the wind gently moving the grass and rustling the leaves. There, gasping for breath, was an attractive girl clad in what seems to be a dress of black and green leaves. Her face, like her dress, had a greenish and black hue to it that seemed sickly. As I moved closer I realized why.

The black parts of her dress and body growing as she let out a strangled scream. Whatever it was, it was afflicting her.

When I crouched down by her side, she suddenly noticed me and shrieked in fear. Crawling backward as best she could while covering her head, she mumbled over and over in a language I couldn't understand.

… This was bad… I can't help her if she is this afraid…

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you; I'm here to help," I say as soothingly as I could manage, moving slowly while showing my hands to her. She continued to move away as far as she could but slowly started to open an eye, looking at me warily.

"Y-y-you a-ar-aren't l-l-l-like h-h-him, r-r-right?" The genuine terror and agony in her eyes told me I couldn't allow her to suffer any longer...The image of the corpses in the church appeared in my mind… I won't tolerate someone to suffer like my brothers and sisters from the fire.

"Of course not, I don't even know who he is," I answered while slowly getting closer, her lack of attempts to get further away urging me forward.

"O-o-okay, y-y-you d-don-n't feel l-like h-hi-!" Before she even finished her sentence she let out another scream before passing out, the black corruption rapidly enveloping her…

Authors note:

To clear up some things reviewers have asked, here we go:

Suzululu4moe: Thank you so much for pointing this out! It should be fixed now.

Kayen1024: Glad you noticed! To answer your questions, she didn't cause this version of them didn't fall in love; I wanted to keep shipping opportunities open you know? But yeah in this they are as close friends as anyone can be, close enough that if the thing with the mud didn't happen they could, in theory, reach the true end of the route. And yes, Percy will have been at camp as this is book two but this is a while before he went there.

Sasoi-sama: Thank you, that was the point of it, I hope I didn't drag it out here and hope you enjoy!

Tsukishiro Sayuki: Indeed lol.

Qrow454: I didn't have to but chose to, plus got a reason for it later.

Gennychi: As the chapter revealed, it was Zoë Nightshade, hope she was less OOC now, just felt like if she did come across a scene like that she would at least be blushing because of embarrassment/shame at doing the same thing she hates men doing plus it isn't quite something you expect.

AriFrost: Yeah, that is why I picked him as I actually want to give the other character a reason to not just go "Hey send Shirou, he can spam them with nukes and this will be over". Sadly, as I said to Kayen, they didn't fall in love as otherwise, I feel I shouldn't/couldn't make him have a relationship with another girl.

DarkElucidator & beingLazy: Yes indeed haha.

Guest: Well sorry you feel that way but he was only naked cause he was bathing, he had clothes on otherwise even if they might be damaged/dirt.

To everyone asking me to continue, if I will continue or just said that the chapter was good, thank you all of you! I won't abandon this for a long time but won't be able to update it rapidly as I'm still in school and have loads of homework and shit to do so it will probably be only once a week for now.

Sorry for bloating this with all comments but I just wanted to respond so everyone is on the same page, have a wonderful day!

2,144 Words

Finished and uploaded: 2020-01-24

Edited #1: 2020-01-30

Edited #2: 2020-02-14

Edited #1 by: ElipticsShadow-chan

Edited #2: Me