Let's do this.
XxChapter 2 StartxX
"Emiya-kun, on your left!" Rin shouted, running forward with Saber in her arms.
Shirou responded to the callout swiftly, turning his attention and firing a nameless blade at the wolf-like creature attacking him. They were coming out in droves, and seemed to go after Saber directly of all things. They were at quite the conundrum. Reach the village and bring these beasts, or stay and risk Saber disappearing while they cleaned them up. And even then, it wasn't a given that they COULD do such a thing, and stronger variants of these creatures could exist and attack as well.
Shirou was in a bad spot personally, as well. His mana supplement crest he'd gotten from Rin needed recharging. Even firing weapons in a manner similar to Gilgamesh on a small scale would run him ragged, and Rin needed to save her own mana for when she tended to Saber. A bear like monster then barreled through the crowd of werewolves straight towards Saber again.
"Dammit!" Shirou swore, moving as quickly as possible to intercept the beast. Reinforcement made it possible, but the more he had to do it the faster he wore down. It made a downhill battle go downhill even faster. "Trace On!" The faker commanded, forming two more blades above his head as he skidded to a stop in front of the charging bear. On his mental command, they flew forward with remarkable accuracy and punctured each of the monster's forearms, making it cease its charge and stumble forward onto its face. Obviously enraged, the bear rose onto its hind legs to deal with the interference to its goal only to see the human before it gone. Looking down, it finally noticed Shirou had already closed the distance, a longsword in his only hand. A swift slash laterally had the bear's hind legs severed, and it finally fell flat with no way to get up, allowing the red-haired teen to take the same long sword and stab it through the monster's head, ending its "life" and allowing it to disperse like its brethren.
Shirou quickly removed the sword without hesitation and turned around to throw it at a werewolf that had gotten too close to Rin and Saber for his comfort; an impressive throw to any who saw it. Shirou was realizing that his normal style was no good, even when heavily adapted to one arm, in his current state. He needed to adapt himself, and find a new way to fight the most efficiently with one arm.
"Emiya-kun!" Rin yelled from the distance. "Saber says to use more 'heft', to compensate for your missing arm! I don't really get it, but she thinks it will help!"
Heft? Saber was of course his traditional teacher of swordsmanship during the Grail War. His mimicry of Archer's style was just that—mimicry. The only fundamentals in his head came from Saber, and she knew what she was talking about when it came to the art of the blade. Heft? His normal style was to just do what Archer did and try and bastardize the "false openings" style. But did these monsters even look for openings in a sword stance? Probably not. He also dual wielded to allow for speed, and to react from multiple angles. Once again, not an option. Heft? He couldn't even fire his Projections like Gilgamesh without more mana, and he was running low from his last major fight. The only option left was to just go broke on a single weapon and—!
Shirou grinned. He then traced what looked to be a greatsword too big for any one man to wield, with a straight edge and a sharp angle towards the front. Another sword from the King of Heroes' armory that made veritable explosions when used the overpowered Servant's preferred way. Shirou reinforced his remaining arm to extreme degrees and managed to hold the monolithic bundle of steel with one arm. He had dropped reinforcement on his body for defensive measures, and hit what he considered his maximum on his arm. Trying any more to strengthen it could reach the limb's limit and basically explode it from the inside out. Such were the dangers of Reinforcement magecraft, yet another foolish specialization for the Faker to choose. But thus was the life of a Magus. To walk with death.
Shirou turned his body sharply and pulled his greatsword with him, the momentum allowing it to carve through multiple werewolves and send winds flying in the general direction of the swing. If speed was no longer his option, pure power would have to suffice. Take a large weapon and make use of heavy movements to carve through even the toughest enemies. Heft was indeed a good idea! Feeling like Berserker using his giant axe, Shirou carved through even the odd bear creature with relative ease, but overwhelming power. Finally, the village Shirou had seen was nearby, but there were walls surrounding the whole thing. Where was the proper entrance? Rin could probably jump it, but that would lead to a lot of questions.
Luckily, what looked to be a gate was only a few yards to the right of where they arrived, and Rin immediately began banging on it and attempting to open it with one hand, the other keeping Saber secure. "Is anybody here, dammit? Open up already!"
Shirou took no time of his own to request aid, allowing Rin to handle it. He was still focused on the horde of beasts attacking in waves, no rest in sight. He was tiring out, and had even taken a few swipes here and there, fresh blood adding to the already present dry blood on his clothes. It was bound to happen, but Shirou screwed up. The heavy swings took their toll on his stamina and physical body both, leading to a sprained ankle on a particularly heavy spin. He tripped forward, only to feel the wind of a werewolf leaping over his toppled body straight towards Rin and Saber. He tried tracing a blade to fire, but his reserves wouldn't cooperate. The greatsword was all he had in him.
"Tohsaka!" He screamed, fearing the worst...
XxBreakxX
The town of Ansel was a quaint little place on the edge of the border between Vale and Mistral. It sat on the Valean side, well protected by high-quality encampment walls and a strong active militia. They even had a resident Hunstman, who was currently on patrol himself. Said man was tall, with short blonde hair and an equally blonde short beard. He was heading through the marketplace when the alarm sounded. His hand went straight to his Scroll, bringing up the defense grid sensor, his access as a Huntsman allowing him to see where around the city wall the alarm was triggered. The western gate, luckily quite close to his current position. He pocketed the device and drew his sword, long silver steel with what looked to be a firearm component on the underside. It was not held traditionally, and was angled downwards with his arm to his side. He ran quite fast towards his destination, and saw a few members of the local militia who were on duty loading their rifles. Upon noticing the Hunstman, one of the men turned to address him.
"Nicholas! We've spotted a horde of Beowolves and Ursai across the treeline. They triggered the sensors about three minutes ago. If they keep a full charge they'll be here soon. There weren't many though, so we should handle it fine without you, sir."
Nicholas contemplated the information he was given. "Something doesn't feel right. Here's a lesson on Grimm for you, Tobias. There's always a catalyst to their appearance. Something is going on here that's leading them to us, or..."
"Somebody is leading them straight to us?" Tobias figured.
Nicholas nodded. "Just so. Open the gate so that I can-"
"I can see them! They're... they're chasing some people!" A militia member looking over the wall yelled.
The blonde Huntsman wasted no time, jumping straight up to the elevated walkway that allowed them to overlook the defensive walls in an impressive display of physical prowess. He moved next to the guardsman and gestured for his binoculars. The man complied quickly, and Nicholas took a look towards the distance. What he saw surprised him.
A woman was running with exceptional speed towards the gates even while holding another person. Beyond the body structure and a vague glimpse of their clothing, he couldn't make much of an ID. As she got closer, he noticed her to be quite young, perhaps in her late teens, and the other figure she was holding was a young girl with blonde hair much like Nicholas' own. In fact, as he looked closer, it seemed the black-haired girl's legs were... glowing light blue? Perhaps a Semblance of sorts? All thoughts on the matter ceased the moment he saw a third figure bringing up the rear. A red-haired teen with one arm hefting a massive greatsword around, expertly but brutally felling Grimm with every stroke of the blade. His wounds were unclear from such a distance, but the the red staining his clothing was undeniable. Before Nicholas knew it, the black-haired girl had arrived at the gate and started banging and yelling. Almost in slow motion he saw the boy stagger and fall, while a large Beowolf leaped towards the young girls.
Nicholas threw aside the binoculars and jumped.
XxBreakxX
The werewolf was mere feet away from Rin before a figure descended upon it, blade in hand and straight through the beast's skull. The man rose quickly and pointed his blade at Shirou, firing high-caliber bullets of all things from a chamber near the hilt. With pinpoint accuracy he managed to shoot a few additional creatures pouncing on Shirou, sending them to the ground to disappear with the others Shirou had already killed. Rin turned around and looked at the blonde man, almost more startled than anything.
"Who are-"
"No time!" He interrupted, just as the gate began to open by sliding upwards. "Get through. I'll grab your friend and my men will cover you!"
Rin was hesitant to leave Shirou, but knew her priorities and entered the city. She was immediately met by what looked to be guardsman who offerred to take Saber off her hands, but she adamantly refused at every turn. "Please, I know what she needs, can you just give us a room to rest at an inn or something?"
"But ma'am, you're injured, and she doesn't look so good. A doctor would be better for..." His words were stopped as he looked into Rin's eyes, now glowing slightly. "You should take us to the inn."
That did sound like a good idea now that he thought about it. Yeah, he should do that.
"Follow me then, ma'am." He said, leading them towards their destination while the other guardsman climbed to the upper area of the wall to shoot from.
XxBreakxX
Shirou was definitely thankful for the save, but didn't want to be completely shown up. His sprain was momentary at best, as his healing factor was high for even the average combat magus. Back on his feet he joined the man who saved Rin and Saber in combat against the beasts. Although he got back into the thick of things quickly enough, he spared a glance to see his battle partner's weapon. It's name was "Lion's Pride" and was a... gunblade? His Reality Marble was having trouble fully processing it. The forging of the blade using Mistrali steel, the exact length in centimeters, all the way to the owner Nicholas Arc. Where his Structural Analysis started to fall apart was at the firearm component of the weapon. He couldn't trace its innards nor could he process the type of ammunition it used. Strange.
Eventually, riflemen perched atop the village walls began to take fairly accurate shots at the monsters, thinning the horde even more, until for some reason they just... stopped coming. He strode up to Nicholas, who tore his blade from the body of one of the few remaining creatures. "Thanks for the assist, sir. It was looking pretty bad."
The man in question gave him a hard stare. "You were lucky, son. From what I could tell, the Grimm were after the sick girl you were escorting. Negativity like that'll bring 'em in droves. If you hadn't to Ansel in time..."
Shirou looked away at the chastisement. "I know. We've been in the woods since late last night. We left as the sun hit apex after making sure we were hydrated. The... "Grimm" were unexpected. My friends, are they—?"
"I'll check." The Hunstman said, pulling out a... super advanced cellular device? Shirou'd never seen anything like it. The screen was holographic! "This is Nick. Grimm are clear and gates are secured. Any update on the refugees that got through?"
"Sir! They've been escorted under guard to the local inn to rest. Maron thought it better than interrogating them right away." A voice responded from the device.
Nicholas thought it strange the guardsman would opt for the inn over the clinic, but decided that the boy next to him needed it far more. "Sounds good. I've got an injured boy here who needs immediate attention. Surprised he could still fight, honestly. I'll be sending escorting him over personally. Over and out." He finished, closing the device.
Shirou sighed in relief. Rin was probably tending to Saber at the very moment. Things were going to be okay. It was a close call, for sure. He paused as strong pain lanced through the stub of his missing arm. He couldn't hold back a rough wince and grabbed over the pained spot with him remaining hand. He could feel blades shifting under the bandages he'd traced. No way he could let a doctor see this. He concentrated hard, and the blades began to recede into his body, slowly and painfully at that.
"You look like shit, boy." Nicholas commented. "I'm not gonna ask what happened, but I do expect you to follow me to the clinic." He instructed.
Shirou had no choice but to comply, and hoped that Rin and Saber would be find until he was able to reach them...
XxBreakxX
A horse galloped across the field of bodies. The man atop it wore brilliant silver armor, and had equally silver long hair tied into a ponytail. Any soldier who stood in his way was cut down. His skill from horseback was immense, but even that could not protect him forever. A spear found its way into his horse, sending him tumbling to the ground. He hesitated none, immediately rising and slicing through the culprit with his sword. He kept running, as if the battle itself had no purpose. He was seeking something, and would take down anything in his path to reach it. It seemed to take hours, but could have only been minutes, but the man eventually reached his destination: a hill of swords that atop it lay his worst nightmare.
"My lord!" He screaming, rushing up the hill almost sloppily. He stumbled in his hysterics, but eventually made it to the top. He looked down and saw the fallen form of his King, covered in burns and cuts, her own blood indistinguishable from that of her foes she had felled before he had arrived. The man immediately turned her over and held her up gently, noting that she was indeed still alive.
"Bedivere?" His King responded, opening her only good eye slightly to get the best look she could at her apparent aid.
"My lord, you... your wounds, we must—"
He was interrupted. "No... i-it's too late. We must... abandon myself, and secure Excalibur. If Morgan gets it... I..." She cut herself off with a hack of blood. "It's... somewhere c-close by... Please... return it to the lake..."
Bedivere was crying at this point, as if unable to fathom the death of his most respected figure in life. "I... I can't leave you here, my lord, perhaps if we... I..." He himself too knew there was no help for his King. She was too injured from her long series of battles. "If only your sheathe hadn't..." He couldn't finish, gasping for a steady breath. He looked towards his King resolutely. "If that is your will, my lord." He said, setting her down gently.
Her blade was easy enough to find, it's beauty apparent even among the veritable graveyard of weaponry the fields and hills had turned into. "I will return... thank you for everything... My King."
Bedivere then sprinted off into the distance, Excalibur in hand. It was then that the King actually managed to get to her knees of her own accord. "This... is not right." She said aloud. "Camelot... is a dream... and I awoke its demise..." She reached her hand towards the low hanging sunset. "Surely... there must be a way... I offer my everything... as the Once and Future King..."
ALAYA ANSWERS YOUR CALL, ARTORIA PENDRAGON
Artoria did not know when she had collapsed again, nor when Bedivere had returned, grateful to see her still breathing. Was it truly luck, though? She felt as though her wounds were frozen. Everything was moving so slowly. Even as Bedivere laid her against a tree in a beautiful forest on an isle of sorts... she could only breathe faintly, her thoughts leaving her.
WHEN THE TIME COMES, WILL YOU ANSWER HERS?
XxBreakxX
Rin awoke with a start. She quickly adapted to her surroundings, noticing she was in bed, naked, and most definitely not alone. Snuggled against her was the equally nude form of her Servant, Saber. Light snoring then caught her attention, and she looked to find the source of which, being Shirou. He sat upright in a chair, in clean clothes and fresh bandages, asleep at the foot of their bed as if he'd been there for a long time.
Rin smiled. They were safe. But that dream, what did it truly mean?
XxChapter 2 EndxX
I actually wrote a second chapter fairly quickly. Tell me what you think.