Chapter 2

An endless expanse of swords, a soft snowfall, pink blossoms scattered across the ground, a crescent moon always within sight, accompanied by what appeared to be shimmering stars, the few clouds in the sky doing nothing to detract from the beauty of sky. Despite the serene feeling of this land, occasionally, red lightning could be seen emanating from the clouds. Though most wouldn't even notice those features, for they would be too lost in the endless expanse of blades. However, if one looked close enough, there atop a hill in the middle of this vast expanse, one could see the most treasured items of the god of this world.

A gold and purple staff in the shape of a cross, a red cloth tied around the handle. A jagged ritual dagger. A large spear with six branches jutting from the blade, surrounded by seven differing swords. A red barbed spear located a few feet away. Three throwing knives, holding up a small mask in the shape of a skull. A sword that appear to be nothing more than a sharpened rock. A black and gold bow that had the pelt of a hunted beast hanging off the top, softly moving in the breeze. A tachi katana with a red and black handle and a sheathe that resembled an animals tail was leaning against the hulking sword of rock.

Then, there was the last two blades, both being the closest to the staff. A white handled katana with a blue and white strip of cloth tied beneath the guard, and a two handed longsword with red accents and a red handle. A weapon of royalty and one that the owner of the world found just as beautiful as the two swords placed atop another hill.

It wasn't often that he would find himself here involuntarily, though he didn't exactly mind seeing the weapons of those who helped him on his journey. He walked to the top of the hill and gently placed a hand on the bow. Flashes from the holy grail war raced through his mind. Specifically, his confrontation with Archer. A three on three battle, between Archer and myself, Atalante and Rider, and Saber and Lancer. He didn't understand at the time, but Archer purposefully drew the battle out, allowing him to sync with him as much as possible before allowing himself to be defeated. "I leave the wellbeing of Illya to you, hero." Archer said to him

Their lives diverged greatly from each other, but it couldn't be denied that they both wanted to truly save someone. Archer spent his whole life searching for that someone, but Shirou thankfully didn't have to do that. Illya just appeared in front of him in the park one day, 'I suppose that began my journey to become her hero'. Which eventually led to his current predicament. He walked from the bow towards the weapon of his saber. As soon as his hand touched the grip, a warm feeling spread throughout his body. The many fond memories he had of his saber filled his mind. Though, one particularly bad memory stuck out in his mind.

Shirou was pretty sure he had died. Especially, considering he found himself to be at the age of 16 when he woke up in this new world. He blamed Bazett and Illya for that, mainly because they often went out of their way to make sure he wouldn't die doing something stupid. Even if he wasn't as broken as he used to be, if it meant protecting those he cared about, he'd fall into old habits. After waking up, his memories were a mess, but he was pretty sure he was an adult before he woke up here.

He was hunting down a dead apostle with Ciel, Bazett, and Caren. They managed to corner him in an underground complex. After a long drawn out battle against ghouls and another dead apostle, Shirou saw the injuries on his comrades and, just like saber taught him, he channeled the anger he felt upon seeing them into his tracing, managing to trace her sword and fired a full prana blast into the dead apostles. Unknown to Shirou and the others, the dead apostles were attempting to recreate one of the true magics by stealing the knowledge from Zelretch's thrown away prototype mystic codes.

Just before the mana in the air and in the mystic codes all ignited from the noble phantasm attack, Shirou stabbed his sword in the ground before using every ounce of the prana he refined to trace Rho Aias, while tracing multiple copies of Durandal in front and behind the shield, interlocked into makeshift shields. A loud explosion, a flash of light, the shattering of swords and the sound of the the Aias's petals slowly being shattered filled his ears, he could feel broken bones, muscles shredding, and his magic circuits causing his body to steam. He remembered yelling something to his friends, then blacking out. Next thing he remembered, he was falling through a tear in the sky. He managed to fall straight into a tree, the branches managing to break his fall, at the cost of more of his bones and a lot of pain.

He could feel Avalon trying to heal his wounds, though it was incredibly slow. He thought about tracing a healing mystic code or maybe a noble phantasm, but no matter which he chose, he had no energy left to use. Suddenly, he heard a gasp, followed by the sound of someone running towards him. He debated damaging his circuits to trace a knife to protect himself, but something was telling him that such a thing would be a huge mistake. He managed to turn his head and, for only the second time in his life, his breath was taken away.

He saw a young girl with bright, sparkling green eyes and vibrant blonde hair and, despite the worry present on her face, the calm and loving aura she seemed to exude unconsciously had stolen his breath away just like Ruler's had done all that time ago. Shirou had never seen an angel, and despite Ruler's teachings, the two shrouds he possessed, the cross he wore that she made for him, and his becoming an executor, he never particularly believed in such things considering his magus upbringing. However, he was sure that if they did exist, their looks and aura would probably match Ruler's and the girl in front of him. She began to talk in a hurried manner, but the pain he was in made it hard to concentrate. However, he made out that she was speaking another language.

"Oh my god! W-what happened!? Can you hear me? Please, be okay!" The Nun began to inspect his body, occasionally removing small pieces of metal shrapnel from his body. "You're going to be okay, I'll fix you right away!" The Nun clasped her hands together in front of her in a praying gesture, before extending her hands out over his more serious injuries. Before Shirou could fully grasp the situation he was in, a green light emitted from the two rings she wore on each hand. He felt a warm, peaceful feeling wash over his body, as if his whole body was enveloped in light.

He noticed the determined look on the nun's face as she continued whatever she was doing. He felt a good amount of strength return to his body. Enough to, at least, see what was happening to his body. What he saw surprised him, the nun's ability was not only healing his wounds, but it was reacting to Avalon within his body. It was as if Avalon was reacting to original wielder. Though, he was a bit surprised that this girl was openly healing him like it was no big deal, unless she planned on wiping his memory after. "Almost done, just a few more injuries to go and you'll be through the worst of it!"

'Ah, now I can hear her. Odd, why is she speaking italian?' "Thank you, miss." She flinched, as if not expecting to hear him speak. His voice was still a bit hoarse but he could at least talk. Despite all the blood still covering him, he tried to appear as nonthreatening as he could and put a smile on his face. Thankfully, Ciel, Bazett, and Illya went of out their to make sure he learned different languages for work. "I'm afraid to trouble you but could you tell me where I am?" The girl looked at Shirou, her eyes widening slightly before she smiled. She removed her hands and placed them back in front of her, placing them on her lap.

"Of course, it's no problem at all. I'm glad I made it in time. I'd hate to imagine what could have happened if I didn't." Her soft spoken voice was sweet and calming, especially when it came to Shirou's current current situation. While his wounds were healed, his body was still tense and his nerves were incredibly stressed. Shirou was happy the girl was at ease with him, but she had just found him in the middle of a forest, heavily injured, and covered in blood. Yet, she completely healed him and even now is completely at ease with him.

'You'd think she would show some discretion with who she helped'. Shirou mentally sighed, 'I guess I'm the last person who should be saying that.' Of course, Shirou figured that with her aura, it's completely natural she wouldn't differentiate with her healing. Her smile widened when she continued. "As for your question, you're in Italy. South of Alessandria, close to St. Margaret's Abbey." The girl continued smiling before her eyes widened again, surprised expression appearing on her face. "I'm so sorry, I haven't introduced myself, my name is Asia, Asia Argento. It's very nice to meet you!"

Okay, Italy, that was all Shirou needed to hear that maybe he was in a bit of trouble. His memories may be a bit disjointed, but he's sure he was in Russia when they were fighting the dead apostle. He was pretty sure the dead apostles were vaporized and killed, and he was also pretty sure that Ciel, Bazett, and Caren escaped with the amount of time he bought them with Rho Aias. So, at the very least, everyone was okay and he was displaced with some sort of magecraft.

He slightly shook his head, "Thanks, my name is Shirou Emiya, I appreciate you going out of your way to help a complete stranger. If you don't mind, what did you do to fix me so fast?" He knew to refrain from referring to any kind of magic in the presence of church members who he wasn't acquainted with. He really wanted to know what she did to cause such a reaction to Avalon. He was surprised when, instead of her attempting to avoid the question, her face lit up, once again that calming aura she exuded began to spread around the area.

"Oh! that was thanks to the blessing that god bestowed upon me. It's a miracle that allows me to heal those in need." A sad smile was seen on her face for a few moments before it disappeared again, however, Shirou was able to notice it. "The priests said it was a sacred gear called twilight healing. Though I am a kind of surprised, usually when exorcists visit, they already know about me." Shirou narrowed his eyes at the term, sacred gear, that wasn't something he was familiar with. Before he could question her about it, he noticed that she had mistaken him as an exorcist of some kind. He wanted to correct her mistake, but he realized that she more than likely could tell he was wearing two holy shrouds.

He let out a sigh, while bringing his hand to scratch the back of his head. It seemed that he brought that on himself. He was about to reply to Asia when he caught an unknown scent approaching. It was inhuman and approaching fast. He had recovered a decent amount of the od in his body, taking note that it was incredibly higher quality than normal. It felt like Caster improved his circuits again, only she wasn't to do that. He then started to take in the mana to create prana, and began to feel lightheaded. The mana was dense, as if it was full of true ether. He didn't have enough time to focus on that, he needed to get rid of the excess prana he had.

He quickly stood up, surprising Asia, before he grabbed her arm and pulled her behind his back. Some strange spell hit the ground where Asia was standing, startling her. Shirou quickly sorted through multiple blueprints, picking a few different ones from Archer's memory and his own. "Trace on." Blue circuits could be seen coming to life on his his right arm and partially on his neck. The dagger Carnwennan appeared in his left hand, and the holy sword Durandal appeared in his right. He quickly placed the dagger behind his back and whispered to Asia. "Take this, if anything happens to me, hide and speak the phrase, 'White knife hide me in a cloak of shadows'. Think of it as using her sacred gear and it should work. I'm going to take care of this."

All he heard was a squeak of acceptance and a small hand grab onto the back of his armor. It seemed that this was going to be a lot harder than he thought, if Asia was this scared. It didn't matter, he wouldn't allow anyone to harm her. He kept his left hand pulled behind him, keeping Asia behind him, he readied Durandal for the enemy's appearance. He readied the blueprints for black keys, especially the ones for shadow binding. He heard the flapping of wings, before he finally saw who it was he smelled. A man with black wings, wearing a trench coat, with black hair had appeared before him with a construct of light in the shape of a sword in his hand.

"Hmph, it seems our intel was wrong, the holy maiden wasn't supposed to have protection." His eyes narrowed on Shirou, "Oh, it seems her protector is the wielder of Durandal as well, not to mention the bearer of a holy shroud. Our intel was very, very wrong. However, orders are orders, and the sacred gear of twilight healing is something that could be put to better use with us. So, what do you two say? Why not come with me quietly, I can promise you a place in our organization." A twisted grin appeared on the fallen angels face, a grin that ticked Shirou off for some reason. It grew wider when he noticed Asia peeking around Shirou, only for her to quickly dart back behind him. Shirou knew then what he had to do.

"As much as I would prefer not to fight, I don't think Asia would want to turn her back on the church. Especially if she's anything like the person I know. However, I can't let you or your allies lay your filthy hands on her. So, why don't we get this over with." The fallen angel's twisted grin remained as the look in his eyes became more unhinged. 'Great, a battle junkie.' Shirou thought to himself. 'Asia's grip is tight, and I can feel her shaking.' He felt anger begin to build up at the thought of her being afraid. 'She must know about these fallen angels if she's this scared. However, I was trained by, and fought against, heroic spirits. By comparison, this thing doesn't even match their presence.' Shirou slightly turned his head, keeping the fallen angel in his line of sight, "Asia, I need to take care of this, I promise I won't let him take you. I need you to trust me, so, please, stand behind the tree and close your eyes. Okay?"

Asia, nodded her head and replied with a quiet, "Okay." She quickly ran behind the tree Shirou was previously propped up against. Despite agreeing to close her eyes, she peeked around the tree to watch. One moment the two were standing still, and the next Shirou darted forward. Durandal poised to strike. The fallen quickly stabbed forward, forcing Shirou to abort his attack and parry the sword of light. 'What am I doing?' Shirou thought to himself. The two traded three quick strikes, before Shirou activated the runes on his boots and launched a front kick to the angel at the same time they locked blades.

'Why am I bothering with fighting him fairly.' The angel ended skidding back a few feet away, he snarled and prepared to return the strike, but Durandal was right in front of his face. 'Why am I fighting him to begin with? Its not like I'm close to Asia.' He quickly swung his sword up to block the attack, succeeding, but realizing that it had been thrown at him. 'No, I know what it is. It's because she had the same look on her face as Illya. A look of fear, loneliness, and despair.' The fallen was in the midst of recovering, when Shirou shot forward, delivering a quick one-two punch that led into an uppercut on his chin that launched the fallen angel into the sky.

Shirou noticed out of the corner of his eyes, Asia peering out from the tree, and for a moment, he saw Illya in her place. Watching him facing off against a corrupted Berserker, Caster reinforcing his body to its limit. Just like then, Shirou felt the same thoughts and emotions running through his body. 'I don't want to see you make that face.' Shirou then formed his black bow in his hand while holding out his right hand, allowing Durandal to fall into it. He remembered the moment he threw away his dream of being a hero of justice, promising to be the hero she needed.

He knocked it, altering the sword, "Sword of Miracles, Unbreakable and unyielding." 'Even if I can't save everyone, I'll at least save you.' The fallen angel had just managed to stop tumbling through the sky, wandering where the human had learned to throw punches like that, when he noticed him with his bow. "Pierce them, Durandal!" He loosed the arrow, a streak of light flashed through the sky, before exploding high up in the clouds.

All was quiet for a moment. Then a soft thud broke the tranquil moment. Shirou looked down at the body of the fallen that had landed on the ground. A large hole in the center of his chest. He dismissed his bow, before calling a few of his personal black keys into his hand. Unlike normal black keys, the handles of his were a bit longer, the guard being in the shape of the Star of David, and the blades being single edged. All in all, they appeared to be more akin to a chokuto than the normal rapier form. Shirou threw the blades in a formation around the corpse, before the cremation rite inscribed upon them by Ciel, activated, burning the corpse to dust.

As he turned around to head back to Asia, he began thinking about his tracing and how the weapons felt more stable. He wondered how long a noble phantasm would stay materialized for. Would his own creations degrade here? Could his non-sword related items stay materialized without him pouring prana into them? As he thought about these things, he never noticed a blonde blur speed toward him, hitting him in the stomach, slightly knocking the breath out of him and tearing him away from his thoughts. He looked down and noticed Asia was had her arms wrapped around him in a vice grip, completely ignoring the previous blood stains on his clothes. She seemed amazed by something he did, but he didn't understand what, until she began to speak.

"Shirou, are you okay?! You aren't hurt are you?" After slightly easing up her grip, she gave his body a quick look over, before looking up into his eyes. "I knew you had to be strong because of your holy shrouds, but I couldn't help but worry! I heard stories of some of the exorcists who wield holy swords that could fight fallen angels and devils, but I never thought you'd be one of them." A big smile etched itself onto her face. "It must have been god's will that we met out here. Thank you so much for protecting me Shirou. You saved me." A small smile emerged on Shirou's face after hearing the same phrase Ruler said to him when they first met. Shirou placed a hand on the top of her head and whispered to himself.

"Not yet, but I will. I swear it." The promise he made to Illya before she passed away, at the forefront of his mind. It was that moment that changed everything. Despite all of the things that have happened since then, all the times he's failed, the times he succeeded, the lives that he saved, the lives he failed to save, the good times, and the bad, he never regretted swearing to save Asia.

Atop that hill of treasures, in the world filled with blades, in front of the cross shaped staff, was a dagger. Shirou walked over and held it up, inspecting it. The blade belonged to another, but the current holder of the dagger was the reason it had found its way to the top of his hill of treasures. The steel blade's reflective surface allowed Shirou a chance to see his reattained teenage features, which caused him to let loose a sigh. He placed the dagger back into the ground, letting a small laugh escape his lips, remembering Asia healing his head after he fell over when first noticing his young age. It seemed it was time for him to return to the real world, he took one last look at the hill of his most treasured weapons, focusing on the dagger and the pair of martial arts gloves hanging on the handle of Bakuya.

In Kuoh Town, the student council president of Kuoh Academy was looking through some files that had been gathered for her, looking at one specific file, the name on top read, "Shirou Emiya"