I do not own the Fate franchise, it belongs to Kinoko Nasu.

Narration

"Speech"

Thoughts

(*Author talking*)

Ch 2: Boy meets boy, boy and boy

Rider had no idea what would happen, the moment she gave the signal to that old man. Seeing that they were transported somewhere, something that absolutely no modern magi would be able to do, her suspicion on the misterious fellow increased dramatically.

He must have appeared near me using the same method. Just what is he?

But she was relieved to see that the man had kept his word (even if they had signed a geis), as the three of them were safe and sound. Because if the old man really wanted them dead, he could've transported them into the crater of an active volcano, for example. Or into space. Or at the bottom of the Mariana trench. The possibilities were endless.

But he didn't do any of that, so that meant he wasn't going to kill them, at least.

That also explained how he needed her to trigger the alarm bounded field, as he litterally couldn't bear any ill will towards Shirou and Sakura, else he got his circuits fried. Luckily, the field triggered as soon as Rider feigned killing intent inside it. Controlling her thoughts and emotions was quite easy for her if she really put her mind to it. Except when n°1 was involved, but that was a special case. I mean, who wouldn't get disappointed if they couldn't ride that awesome bike. Especially if they had an A+ rank Riding skill.

Continuing down the narrow corridor, these were the thoughts that passed into Rider's mind. She could never have imagined what lied at the end of said corridor.

"There's... three... other... Senpais..."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was looking at. There were three other versions of Shirou, each with their own companions, and they had different reactions to her group's arrival.

Two of the Shirous were really surprised. But the third one...

"Sa... Sakura... is that... is that really you? But I thought..."

The Shirou in question was a bit different from the others. A small patch of his hair had gone completely white, while the skin in some places around his body was more tanned than the rest. Also, there were bandages peeking out from the sleeves of his shirt. He was now slowly inching forward towards her.

"Se-Senpai? What do you mean?"

"I-I thought you were... I thought you were killed at the beginning of the war..."

That raised an alarm bell in all of their minds.

"W-what? I've been killed? B-but, I'm right here, so th-that means you are mistaking me for someone else..."

"No. You are definitely Matou Sakura, aren't you? H-how..."

"Y-yes, I am Matou Sakura, but... I never died... wait, stop!"

Confused out of her mind, Sakura grabbed her Shirou's arm and placed herself behind him. Meanwhile, Shirou was staring at his other self.

"Who are you? How do you know Sakura? Why are you saying she was killed?"

"Me? I'm Emiya Shirou. Who are you, who resurrected her and altered her memories?"

"Emiya Shirou? No, that's impossible. First of all, you can't be an Emiya. Dad never adopted any other boys my age. Second, I am Emiya Shirou, even though you all look a lot like me... Wait, Saber!? How are YOU here?"

Now it was this Shirou's turn to slowly inch forward.

"Y-you're not even black... but, but how? Did someone else summon you?"

As the situation began to turn into chaos, with people from different groups began recognizing each other and freaking out, Shirou felt a tug behind his back. Illya was hiding behind him, with his body shielding her from view, the more childish side of her personality taking over as he felt her tremble anxiously.

"Don't worry Illya, it's gonna be alright."

"...okay."

He felt her relax a bit, and directed his gaze towards the chaos.

Man, how did things end up this way...

One hour earlier...

"Shirou~! Is dinner ready yet?"

A hungry tiger barged into the living room, shouting her trademark words besdides "Don't call me Tiger-sensei!". Behind her, a little girl was struggling to catch up on her tiny legs.

"Taiga... Don't... ha... run that fast... ha..."

"Illya? Are you ok?"

"Ha... Yes... Shirou... Taiga made me run here... ha... all the way from the... ha... shopping district..."

"Wha- Fuji-nee!"

"What? A girl her age must do exercise once in a while! Or do you want her to become weak and fragile once she grows up?"

Shirou sighed. His caretaker obviously didn't know that Illya would remain weak and fragile for the rest of her life, no matter how she eats or moves. Such was the fate of a homunculus, after all. He was searching left, right and center for a way to extend her life past the predicted one year, but had no success so far.

"So! Shirou! Is dinner ready?"

"Yes, Fuji-nee. Help me bring it to the table please."

"Roger!"

As carefree as ever, Taiga rushed into the kitchen and grabbed two trays of food and brought them to the table. Illya had already sat down in the spot next to Shirou's.

"Hey Fuji-nee. Where's Sakura?"

"Ah, she had to head home earlier today. Munch munch. Her grandfather called and asked me to take her. Munch munch. He came to school to pick her up. Munch munch. He seemed nice actually. Munch munch. He was very polite."

"Is that so."

Shirou's thoughts drifted towards the past month, right after the War had ended.

Tohsaka had a pretty long call with a delegate of the Association, discussing the events of the war. Mainly, the corruption of the Grail and Kotomine Kirei's violation of the rules. She was livid after that, which meant she was obviously gonna take it out on Shirou. His head hurt for a while after the beatdown. Shirou grimaced as he recalled the sensation of her punches.

"What's wrong Shirou?"

"Ah, it's nothing Illya. Just bit my tongue a bit. No biggy."

When the war ended, since Illya had no place to go to, he offered to let her stay at his house. Taiga did not permit that, so she had Illya stay with her father. Old man Raiga, as both Shirou and Kiritsugu before him liked to call him, was really welcoming and treated Illya as his granddaughter.

"Sigh..."

"What's wrong Fuji-nee?"

Taiga put on a sad smile.

"It's just that... it feels like there's something missing here... It's only been a month since Saber-chan returned to England, but it feels like a year..."

"Ah, you're right. It does feel longer than a month. But Fuji-nee, she had to go home eventually." As much as I would've liked for her to stay.

Shirou still hadn't forgotten any detail about her. Her imaged seemed burned on his memory, like data on a CD-ROM. Always there, unchanging. He still remembered vividly the moment of her goodbye.

As much as he knew that Saber was not meant to be there, as a Heroic Spirit from the Throne of Heroes, he still started searching for her. For a way to bring her back properly, and not as a Heroic Spirit. After all, only the living can bring back the dead.

Huh. Strange. Where did I hear those words? No, it feels like I was the one saying them, rather than hearing them. Oh well.

Shirou continued eating, and prepared himself for what would come after dinner. Which was hellish magus training, courtesy of a freshly livid Tohsaka, after fighting with Issei at school. She was the vice president after all, and she was needed to prepare the cultural festival, so she had stayed at school.

After dinner ended, he was doing the dishes, while Illya had convinced Taiga to let her stay at his house and was currently watching TV. He put the clean dishes away, and sat down next to her, who was watching a shounen anime.

"Yes! Go, Tiger Mask! Beat the crap out of him!"

"Huh, I didn't know Illya liked this kind of stuff."

Suddently, a green light enveloped them, and they found themselves in a room.

"What!? Did you do this, Illya?"

"No! I didn't! Where are we!?"

"I don't know!"

A voice came from a speaker right next to Shirou's ear.

"Please calm down and go through that door."

"Gah! Who are you!?"

"All the answers shall come to you if you go through."

Shirou noticed the door he was talking about.

"Illya, stay behind me."

"Okay."

With Shirou in the lead, the two of them went through, not knowing what to expect.

Back to the present...

When he entered the room, he was really surprised to see three other versions of himself, but what surprised him more was that behind one of them, Tohsaka and Saber were following along. At first, his mind was full of questions.

Saber!? What is she doing here? Does she remember me? Should I call out to her?

But then, analyzing the situation more deeply (he was able to do that thanks to Tohsaka's magus training), he noticed that Saber's parameters were a bit off from what he remembered, as they where considerably lower when he was her Master. So that meant that now she had a proper and capable Master, and he was looking at her true stats.

And judging by how Tohsaka is there, that Master is probably her. But Tohsaka should be at Homurahara right now. And I think that if she'd managed to re-summon Saber, she probably would've told me.

That meant that, no matter how much he wished for it to be true, that couldn't have been his Saber, and by extension that Tohsaka wasn't his Tohsaka as well.

Even if this reasoning was correct, that didn't change the fact that the room was descending deeper and deeper into chaos, as things like "What are you doing here, Rider!?" and the like started being thrown around. He had to do something to stop them. But before he could, a little girl behind one of the Shirous suddently started running towards him.

"Wait, Miyu! Come back, it's dangerous!"

The girl, apparently called Miyu, went around him and took Illya's hands into her own.

"Illya! Why are you with a different Onii-chan?" (*Ugh, that hurt me a bit. Team Ara Ara forever.*)

All the people in the room turned into Illya's direction, and their reactions were different from each other.

The Shirou with white hair tilted his head a bit, as if confused.

The Shirou-Tohsaka-Saber group were considerably surprised.

The Shirou-Sakura-Rider group however...

"ILLYA?"

Forget inching forward, Shirou had started to run towards her.

"Sheesh, why does it feel like 'calm down' have become the words I speak the most lately... Hey. Calm down."

Suddently, an old man appeared in front of the running Shirou.

"M-Master Zelretch!? Of course, why didn't I think of that..."

Tohsaka facepalmed so hard that a slap sound was echoing in the room.

"Hey. What was that supposed to mean."

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, Master."

"Very well. Now, let me explain how you all have ended up here. Long story short..." and he pointed at each of the Shirous, "...you four are essentially the same person, but each of you represents a different path that person could have chosen. For three of you, the divergence happened in the 5th Holy Grail War, but for the other... well, how about you describe your father?"

Zelretch pointed at the Shirou in the Tohsaka-Saber group.

"M-me? Well, my father was Emiya Kiritsugu, a freelance magus. He saved me from the fire caused by the fourth Holy Grail War, and then retired and taught me magecraft in our home in Fuyuki."

Two heads were nodding, while a third one was confused.

"W-wait a second. Retired? Kiritsugu never retired. He was always searching for a way to save humanity."

"""What!?"""

"See, his discrepancy..." and then pointed at the white haired Shirou, "is from far earlier than the War."

"I see... so that's why another Saber's here, and there's also Rider... wait."

Shirou pointed at the Sakura-Rider Shirou.

"So does that mean that you are Rider's Master?"

"No, Sakura is."

"WHAT!?"

Two groups shouted in confusion.

"Enough! I'm glad you get it, but there are obviously differences between your timelines' events. Just look at that guy!"

'That guy' being white-haired Shirou, who was just looking at the scene as if not knowing what to say.

"Ugh. Whatever. You guys are from different timelines, so I'll give you an hour to sort the differences between them. I hope there won't be any more 'calm down's on my part..."

Oh boy was he wrong.

"You let Illya die!?" "Tohsaka is Sakura's sister!?" "You did WHAT with Saber!?" "Archer is ME!?" "Black Saber?" "What the hell are class cards?"

The list goes on and on...

After an hour, the Shirous were pointing at each other Spiderman meme style.

"For the love of- SHUT UP! I know I said to sort it out, but I thought it would've been quick and easy... Now, to the next problem. Who in here is Emiya Shirou!?"

Four hands go up.

"You see the problem?"

""""Yes..."""" All four of them nodded in synch.

"So, we need a way to name and tell you guys apart. To do that..."

Zelretch snapped his fingers and a bunch of letters appeared on each of the Shirou's shirts. On the Shirou with Illya the letters were FA, on the Tohsaka-Saber Shirou the letters were UBW, on the Sakura-Rider Shirou the letters were HF, and on the Miyu Shirou the letters were MV.

"Excellent. From now on, to name you I'm gonna use the letters on your shirts. Any questions?"

FA Shirou raised his hand.

"Yes, FA?"

"Do these letters have a particular meaning?"

"No, not really. Any more questions?"

HF Shirou raised his hand.

"Yes, HF?"

"Why are we here?"

"Well, to have you four fighting each other of course."

Ch. 2 End

Omake 1: Party

DISCLAIMER: These Omake make no sense whatsoever, and are completely out of character. This one in particular came to my mind at 4 am, while my sleep-deprived self was drifting between dream and reality. Please enjoy.

"So, now that we're all together, why don't we have a party?"

"Illya-chan. That's a GREAT IDEA! I'll bring the sake."

"Good, Taiga."

They looked at the four Shirous.

""""Okay, okay. I'll do the food.""""

"Funny you thought you guys had a choice" said Tohsaka.

"Ah, a party. Never had an all out party before" said Saber.

"A party with Senpai..." Sakura's eyes had stars in them.

"I wonder how the people of this age have parties" said Rider.

"Onii-chan, can I come too?" said Miyu.

"Yes, you can, but be careful. These things tend to get pretty rough."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"We'll have the party tomorrow at my castle!" Illya says confidently.

One day later...

"Let the party begin!" The host cheerfully declares.

"Yay!" Everyone started eating and drinking various foods and drinks (with or without alcohol) and having fun. Suddently, Taiga grabbed the Shirous (who had finished cooking early due to the workload being spread among the four of them) and took them to the sake table.

"Shirou! You're an adult now! Try these!"

"Fuji-nee, are you already drunk!?" One of the Shirous asked.

"Hm? No, I had planned to make you drink long before this, but this is the perfect chance!"

"But I don't want to."

"Just try it!"

"... okay."

The Shirous all took a sip of it.

One hour later...

""""I AM THE BONE OF MY SWORD!""""

"Oh boy, seems like they can't deal with alcohol at all. Making them drink was a mistake." Tohsaka was curently facepalming.

""""STEEL IS MY BODY AND FIRE IS MY BLOOD!""""

The Shirous were currently drunk off their asses, with each of them shoulder hugging each other, and drunkly chanting the Unlimited Blade Works incantation.

"Never took Shirou for one that got drunk easily" Rider was chatting with Sakura.

""""I HAVE CREATED OVER A THOUSAND BLADES!""""

"Ah, this is another side of Senpai that I never saw before... it's glorious..." Sakura was watching the Shirous with love-struck eyes.

Suddently, Archer joined the Shirous in their chant. He too was pretty out of sorts.

"UNKNOWN TO DEATH!" He roared.

"Rider, shouldn't snakes be weak to alcohol too?" Saber teased.

""""NOR KNOWN TO LIFE!""""

The other Shirous responded to his roar.

"Hmph, that's a stereotype if I've ever heard one" Rider spits back.

"HAVE WITHSTOOD PAIN TO CREATE MANY WEAPONS!"

Archer suddently became the leader singer.

"Where did Archer come from, anyway?" Tohsaka asked.

""""YET, THOSE HANDS WILL NEVER HOLD ANYTHING!""""

The Shirou's responded again.

"I brought him, thought it would be fun." Suddently, Zelretch appears.

"Oh, hey Master."

"SO, AS I PRAY..."

Archer continues.

"No no no no WAIT! DON'T FINISH!" Every one in the room rushed to cover the Shirous' mouths. But it was too late.

"""""UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!""""" All the Shirous shouted, and the world began to change.

In the sky, the recognizable gears began to appear.

The swords extended infinitely throughout the landscape.

The group was standing on a hill of... wait, those weren't swords.

"WHY HAS HIS REALITY MARBLE CHANGED FROM 'SWORDS' TO 'SAKE'!?" Tohsaka roared.

"Since his Reality Marble gives for to what's on his mind, I suppose it's like that because his mind is full of alcohol" Saber makes a hypothesis.

"""""There's no need to be surprised."""""

All the Shirous were standing atop the hill of swor- sake.

"""""Everything here is cheap. However, there's nothing that says that cheap can't surpass the expensive thing. If you're the expensive article, then I'll surpass everything about you and take you down."""""

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING SHIROU!"

"""""Let's go, Tohsaka."""""

They open their eyes dramatically.

"""""Do you have enough glasses in stock?"""""

Omake End

Omake 2: Senpai

"There's three other Senpais..." Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Hehe..." A big smile formed on her face.

"Master, why are you- Hey is that drool?"

Omake End

Thanks for reading!

I'm not really proud of this chapter, as it's more of a bridge chapter. But it needed to be done, so I did it. Tell me if you liked it! And tell me if you liked the omake, if you did I'll write more in the future. I hope I don't get people angry with them... but I had a ton of fun writing them, so yay.

As for me, I finished reading Hollow Ataraxia and boi was it good. Avenger is on my top 3 favourite characters now. He's so chill and funny. Also the slice of life stuff was pretty good, never knew I needed casual Rider and Archer so much before I saw them. Also Crucis Fatal+Fake is an awesome game, too bad it's dead now. Wish I had discovered it sooner.

That's all for now, thanks again and see you next chapter!