Fate/Dresden Files: Heretic Apprentice

By: Bubbajack

Beta: Heliosion, Icysnowsage

Disclaimer: I'll only say this once. I don't own F/SN or Dresden Files. They are owned by TypeMoon and Jim Butcher respectively.

Ch.1: Wizard's Ward.

The boat the man had been on for the past few days finally came to rest at a concrete covered harbor, the sky overcast and grey fitting both the reason for his visit and his mood. Stepping with purpose off the gangplank was a tall man in his early twenties, with several days worth of beard growth covering his face, clad in black duster, jeans and cowboy boots with a wooden staff in one hand, his black hair being tussled by the cold wind coming off the ocean, causing him to pull his coat closer around himself. Of all the things Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden the only Wizard in the yellow pages expected, the last of them was to have to come to a port city in Japan for a will reading. As he walked he looked around, he discovered that Fuyuki City was massive. Two cities that were almost intertwined, connected by a bridge over a fast flowing river. He knew long ago it had looked entirely different and he tried to imagine what it had once looked like from where he was standing. From what he'd gleaned from others on the ship he'd been sent a ticket for, Fuyuki had suffered a terrible fire just five years prior, a devastating blaze that had swallowed half the city, the half called Shion almost completely whole.

'Hell's bells,' Harry thought to himself as he walked down the streets pulling a scrap of paper from his duster pocket. "Why did that man of all people leave something for me in his will?" An involuntary shudder ran through him that had nothing to do with the chill of the weather.

For he recalled the man in question, no he was more like a machine. Eyes like the void in the space between stars, the Magus Killer as he was more famously known as looked like the Grim Reaper himself had come personally to collect his due and had brought the personification of some of his horsemen with him. Gaunt like famine, sickly as pestilence, and pale like well… death really as his black suit hanging off his frame like a scarecrow. Yet despite his sickly demeanor, he moved with mechanical efficiency, seemingly barely able to muster a response other than nothing by raising a rudimentary appearing gun at his former mentor Justin Dumore, and without blinking or any kind of explanation then fired. The Warlock, who already summoned an Outsider, a being from the Outer Gates, suddenly lost his hold on the creature and spasmed on the floor as his flesh rapidly began to suffer necrosis. With his hold on He Who Walks Behind broken, Harry managed despite being left on his own to trick it into leaving. Then that crazy bastard popped out from nowhere, set the whole house on fire with some magic… and while a traumatic teenager was stunned, mesmerised by the burning inferno of his entire world left him holding the bucket for Justin's murder.

The name of this person? Kiritsugu Emiya, better known as the Magus Killer or the 'crazy bastard' in Harry's head when he told the story to the White Council later on. To his misfortune he'd in the short time it had taken the monster to obliterate an acre of land soul gazed him all those years ago. Looked into his eyes, which were the windows to the soul, and saw him. His true self, the embodiment of his whole self. What he saw were skulls loaded onto a scale, that looked like it was slowly rusting and decaying as if time was rapidly speeding up on its being. From that Soul Gaze, horrifying as it had been he learned three things. One, the Magus Killer though his methods were brutal was genuinely trying to save more lives than he took. Two, he was a broken man. Something had utterly destroyed him, blowing away the pieces beyond salvaging and all but taken his will to live.

Lastly… he was dying.

Harry grimaced. He was currently doing his best to learn Latin from a correspondence course, and even it was a little rough, but he couldn't make heads to tails of these street signs all being in Japanese.

"Hell's Bells," He swore, "I'll never find the place. Why do these Clocktower assholes insist on behaving like mayors when anyone wanders in? Do they check you if you're just driving through?" Harry laughed a little. The creepy assholes were about the only thing Justin was spooked about, spoken about like fairy tales of yonder to warn children to stay away from. He scoured the busy streets, full of stereotypical Japanese office workers and others just milling around at night such as students and workers on the night shift like bar staff. He was supposed to meet the 'Second Owner' of Fuyuki at the harbor, but since they hadn't bothered to show up when he'd arrived, likely some hoighty toighty way of snubbing him, Harry decided to take matters into his own hands… by wandering around like a chicken with its head cut off for the past half hour. He pressed two fingers to his temples as he felt a headache coming on, and said to himself, "Maybe I should just ask for directions?"

Looking around to do just that, he heard a young girl's voice call, "Wizard!"

Looking up, he saw a priest coming down the street trailing behind a young girl who possibly just became a teenager, with ash black hair in pigtails, a red coat and orange scarf who was sprinting towards him with fire burning in her aquamarine eyes, a stubborn scowl on her face.

The priest, a tall man even in his cassock, with tanned skin and his wild light brown hair fell down into a mullet, a hairstyle that fell out of style in the 60's strolled up to him more casually. His eyes… Well they reminded him of the man that he had just been thinking of. On instinct he refused to make eye contact for very long, not wanting to initiate a Soul Gaze instead focusing on his nose. He smiled in a way that seemed while not fake at the very least insincere before speaking in a deep tone.

"I presume you are the Wizard we are to meet?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Harry handed him the piece of paper and inquired as politely as he could, "Yeah, that's me. You the Second Owner? I'm not here to raise a stink, I just need directions to this address. I'll likely be gone within a day. Can you help me?"

The priest took the piece of paper, and glanced at it, a flicker of surprise dawned on his face before he smiled and handed it to the girl beside him, saying something in the local dialect. The girl in question who had been glaring between him and the priest with aquamarine eyes before she snapped something at him. Harry didn't need to know the language to know she was asking why she had to help, and clearly didn't like the priest all that much. Said man just smiled and said something else in a calm droll tone, causing the girl to huff before she snatched the piece of paper out of his hands and looked at it. Her eyes flicked over the paper then back to him. She then spoke in a deliberate slow measured tone.

"What is… a…" The next word was spoken with distaste as the girl looked like she'd sucked on a lemon as she said it, "Wizard… doing… in my… city?"

Harry found himself blinking owlishly. 'She knew I was a practitioner? And the way she'd said Wizard like she was gonna gag, she must be…' Then, he realized pointing with a finger. "Magi?" Seeing the girl nod Harry bit back a curse lest the girl think he was actually trying to curse her. "Second Owner?" Again the girl nodded.

The thing about Magi and Wizards was, they were diametrically opposed to one another. Magi believed that science and technology had weakened magic overtime. That only what science couldn't currently do, like time travel, creating things out of nothing, going to alternate dimensions, hell even perpetual motion, real Sci-Fi stuff, could be considered 'actual magic.' That everything else is just, 'the science of magic'.

These beliefs directly conflicted with the White Council and Seven Laws of Magic. No killing with magic, no transforming others, mind controlling, no enthralling, no messing with time, bringing back the dead, or cavorting with Outsiders. Magi by contrast, were genocidal loony bin patients who had no qualms about killing with magic, transforming themselves and those around them into vampires, kidnapping others for the sake of their magical experiments using mind control or flat out enthrallment. Hell, Time Manipulation was considered one of their True Magics, and he'd even heard rumors that the hallmark of every 'True Magician' of which there were supposedly only five, was the ability to resurrect the dead. So as far as he knew, the only one of the Seven Laws that Magi abided by, was not contacting Outsiders.

Outsiders didn't invite anybody to their parties.

One stood before him now, on the cusp of her teenage years, waiting for an answer from him. Harry couldn't help but think she should be in bed getting ready to sleep for the next day of school instead of the hardened Magi murder machine the people at the water cooler talked about.

"I'm attending a funeral," he replied grimly, waiting for the priest to translate, "I was left something in a man's will." He left out the part where their only meeting had been him shooting up the place and leaving a glorious bonfire with all his stuff in it for Harry to clean up.

Once the priest finished his translating, a majority but not all of the suspicion and hostility left the girl's eyes.

She looked morose, as she said, "I see." She paused and took a breath before she continued, "Okay, as Second Owner of Fuyuki I will…" She paused again, making Harry think she was being a bit overly dramatic at first thought until he figured out she was seemingly looking for the right word, or more specifically how to say it in English. Glancing at the priest, Harry noted he seemed to take some kind of perverse pleasure in her struggling. Asshole. He should give the guy Morgan's phone number. They looked like they could be good pals. "Permit you to stay and…" Another pause, "Conclude your business." She then pointed a finger at him like an imperial princess. "I want you gone... Soon as it's over." She looked very pleased with herself until she remembered something to add with a frown. Well, she was trying to be scary but it came off as a teenager trying to tell off her brother, "Understood?"

Yet another concept that separated Magi from Wizards. Magi thought they could own pieces of land that had a high concentration of Ley Lines on behalf of their Mage's Association. Magical landlords more or less, tyrants and dictators if they were assholes. Wizards… well, they just didn't do that. They stayed wherever they wanted as they were the cool ones. Harry for example chose Chicago, Illinois. It wasn't the leylines that brought him there, but the people, the city itself. He… couldn't quite explain it. He just felt like he needed to be there.

Still chivalry wasn't dead so long as he drew breath, even if she felt she was at least five years too young to be anyone's landlord.

Thus, Harry gave her a sweeping bow. Murphy would have punched him for doing it. "As you wish m'lady."

"Baka," the girl muttered looking away, arms crossed, in a huff. It didn't take a genius to know what she'd just said. "Take second right on this street, turn left at light, go straight until third left. Should be able to find house easily then. Be in right nei-boor-hood at least."

He bowed again, holding back the desire to coo at her terrible pronunciation this time to hide the smirk on his face. He then took off down the street following her directions, and heard her calling at his back. "Remember my words Wizard!"

"You got it squirt," he said under his breath as he carried on down the street. He didn't look back but saw the girl had swung a slap at the priest from the glass of a busy restaurant.

Wizard one, Magus zero.

Harry knew he was in the right place when he saw everyone in black bathrobes as if everyone was having a pyjama day.

'Yukatas,' Dresden reminded himself as people in black bustled around a japanese mansion surrounded by whitewashed walls that were topped by black shingles with double doors made of solid wood in the front that had a doorbell next to it. Being polite and sensing not only the power of the threshold in this place but some kind of warding magic, Harry rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer. Around him various mourners were really being less than subtle by the way they were looking and pointing at him. Some were even muttering. 'Damn, it Magus Killer, why have you dragged me here?'

It took a couple of minutes but a redheaded boy who couldn't have been older than seven or eight with golden brown eyes answered the door. He seemed expressionless for a moment, like he was void of emotion. Then his eyes fell on him and he seemed to come alive. He said something in gibberish… Japanese and Harry just shook his shoulders at the kid. "Can I… help you?" the boy asked in halting English.

"Yes," Harry replied, relieved he wasn't going to be playing charades all day, "I'm here for the will reading?"

The boy nodded solemnly. "Come in," He slid the door open wide and beckoned the man inside.

The house itself was a single story but what it lacked in height it more than made up for in length. It was easily five to six times bigger than his basement apartment back in Chicago. It was a sprawling manse fit for a king, all sliding doors, lacquered floors, and probably layered in tatami mats. There was even a shed out back. He followed the boy to the front door and took off his boots in the foyer before slipping on some house slippers while balancing his staff over his shoulder, not wanting to scuff the polished wooden floors with the butt of his staff. He followed the young boy down the hall into a tatami mat laden living room that had several people already in it, sitting around a small table nursing cups of tea.

One was a young morose looking brunette with her hair pulled back into a wild ponytail who kept crying into her teacup, her emerald eyes glistening with tears. Next to her was an old man with a sharp one could say impish face, his hair was steely grey and in the form of a flattop and he wore a tiger pelt over his shoulders. The last was a nervous sweating man with a moustache who was constantly dabbling at his head with a handkerchief and looking at the old man nervously with beady shifting eyes.

'The old man is the dangerous one here, Harry quickly surmised. He wasn't being trained as a PI without knowing how to read the mood. The people here, sans the almost emotionless boy were upset, the official looking man who looked ready to keel over from nerves might've been the will reader. Feeling someone tug at his sleeve he looked over to see the boy smiling at him holding a metal kettle and a porcelain tea cup.

"Tea?" he offered kindly.

"Sure kid," Harry said with a brisk tilt of the head added just in case the boy couldn't understand him.

Harry took in the aroma of the tea for a moment before taking a sip. It was good, not diet coke, but it took the chill out of his bones and caused a warmth to spread through him he didn't know was missing.

"Well," the old man spoke in a measured tone first in Japanese then in English as he sized Harry up from across the table. Harry spotted two angry looking young men watching him from outside… Yakuza? "Now that everyone is here, we can begin." The elderly man made brief introductions. "For those who don't know me I'm Raiga Fujimura," He glanced with some sorrow in his gaze at the crying girl beside him, "My granddaughter Taiga," He then nodded to the boy. "That's Shirou Emiya, adoptive son of Kiritsugu." He then glanced at the man who was nervously shuffling papers. "This is Kendo-san who will begin the reading once you introduce yourself."

"R-Right!" Said man replied promptly with a gulp after first spilling it out in nervous Japanese. Clearly he wasn't used to dealing with gang types.

Harry nodded his head. "Harry Dresden," He rubbed at the back of his head awkwardly. "To be honest I was very surprised to get the letter about being left something in the will. I met Kiritsugu all of once when I was sixteen… he was ah…" Harry glanced between Shirou and Taiga for a moment before clearing his throat and finishing with, "Working a job at the time."

Raiga nodded in understanding, "I see. Well then, let's get on with it shall we?"

"Y-Yes of course," Clearing his throat, and dabbing at his head one last time, he began to read. Harry had to wait like a lemon as it was spoken out in the mother tongue of Japan before again by clearing his throat he translated into halted English. "The last will and testament of one Emiya Kiritsugu being of sound mind and body at the dictation of this document, written by Asugi Kendo and approved by me. All other versions are null and void." He paused to clear his throat. "Firstly, I would like to apologize for my seemingly abrupt passing, I was sick for a long time. I'd like to think I hid it well, but I knew I didn't have long. Hence why I set up a will. So, lets get on with it. To Fujimura Taiga, I leave five million one hundred ninety one thousand five hundred sixty eight yen or fifty-thousand USD. To be used to attend a university of your choice. Become the English teacher you always wanted. Any money left over may be used as you see fit."

The girl in question who'd cried out in the first version of this speech let out another shocked choking noise like it was sinking in now with it being repeated, and stopped crying for a moment. Then she dabbed at her eyes and gave a sad, tired, but grateful smile. She repeated what she'd said the first time she'd been informed a murderous psycho had given her a ton of money. "Thanks Kerry-kun."

Kendo continued to speak. "To Fujimura Raiga, I leave five hundred twenty thousand yen or five thousand eight USD. Might I suggest you use it to buy a decent bike that isn't constantly breaking down?"

"Ha!" That got a laugh out of the old man. "Cheeky bastard," he snorted with no heat in his tone. Harry had been under the impression from the grimace on the will speaker's face that his original response had been a bit ruder.

Kendo continued, "To my son Emiya Shirou, I leave everything else. My bank accounts, this house, a Yamaha V Max that needs a little work. All in the hopes that he will succeed where I failed and fulfill my dream. He knows what it is."

Harry watched as the boy's eyes gleamed fiercely. He was filled with determination, drive, moxie whatever you want to call it. He had it. "I won't let you down Old Man." Harry heard him mutter under his breath. Originally, the boy had just nodded resolutely.

'So, what am I doing here then?' Harry wondered to himself. 'Is the psycho leaving me a bill for his dry cleaning or something?'

"Lastly, to Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden." That made him sit straight up and pay attention, his head snapping up to the man, eyes narrowing. He'd said his name, his full name what could be considered his True Name, three times in a row. That had a certain power to it in and off itself. The man had his full attention as he continued. "I leave you full guardianship of my son Shirou."

Harry felt his jaw drop and his tone flecked with incredulity, asked the question, "What?!"

Evidently, the hubbub this announcement caused told Harry that the guy had neglected to mention this in Japanese.

His question was echoed by Taiga, who true to her name, had now raised her proverbial hackles. "What do you mean he has guardianship over Shirou-kun?! I'm old enough! I could…"

"Taiga!" Riaga barely raised his voice but it was enough to silence the girl, making her duck her head before he continued. "You need to focus on getting into a good university, don't waste the gift Kiritsugu left for you."

"But but…" Taiga complained, tears gathering in her eyes anew. Niagara falls had nothing on this girl. "I'll never see Shirou-kun again after this!"

Now, if there was one thing Harry Dresden was weak to, it was a woman's tears. Seeing Taiga in distress like that, due to a responsibility being foisted on him, well, it made him feel like shit.

"Now now, that's not necessarily true Fujimura-san?" He added the honorific questioningly and glanced at the kid and the old man, who both nodded. "Shirou may have to come back to the States with me…" Something important crossed his mind. "Do I have full custody rights as his guardian Kendo-san?"

"Y-Yes, it says here you have full custody and are allowed access of up to five thousand dollars a month in order to meet your and Shirou's needs. Food, rent, basic amenities, that sort of thing."

'Stars and Stones, that's a lot,' Harry thought to himself, adding 'No more ramen noodles for me!' before turning back to Taiga and continuing, "See in the USA, we have Christmas Break in Schools around the same time you guys are having summer vacation… I think? Anyway, Shirou and I can be a couple of snowbirds." He gave the kid his best reassuring smile. "We can fly down here for Christmas break, stay a couple of weeks, and be back in Chicago for New Years, sound good kid?"

Shirou shrugged, not happily, but not unhappily either. "Better than… House big place. I.. all alone." He sounded genuinely sad and frustrated for the first time since he'd met him, Then he shook his head, like a dog shaking water off of himself before continuing. "Too big for me and Old Man. Staying by self fine too, as long as I keep cooking."

"You know how to cook?" Harry asked, surprised. The holy grail had come at last! "You like to cook?"

Shirou nodded enthusiastically, a smile gracing his face. "Yeah! Cook and clean, Old Man, not cook… Boiled water?"

"Burnt water," Taiga automatically corrected.

Shiro nodded. "Yeah, that. Didn't wanna live off fast food so learned cook."

"Learned to cook." Taiga corrected again, causing Shirou to shoot her a semi-irritated look. While Dresden didn't have any siblings he'd seen them around each other often enough that he'd known the look they'd give one another if getting on their nerves. He smiled a bit. As it was obvious Shirou saw Taiga as his older sister.

"Anyway, when do we leave?" Shirou asked, seemingly not at all distressed at having to uproot himself from the only home he's ever known.

"It'll be a couple of days at least. I gotta sign papers, get account information, that sorta thing kid. It'll give you time to get packed and say your goodbyes."

Shirou just nodded, "Okay."

Harry ran a hand slowly down his face. 'This is gonna be something.'

The executor of the will cleared his throat. "Ahem, Mr. Dresden? Emiya-san also wanted me to hand you this." He passed him a manila envelope. Harry took a moment to take it, treating it like a mail bomb. "For your eyes only. He was very clear on that."

"Did he say what was in it?" Harry asked, suspicion tinging his tone.

"Instructions. Something about a place you need to go for Shirou's sake before heading back to Chicago," Kendo replied.

Taking the envelope, Harry tore it open. It was full of many pieces of paper. His eyes scanned over the first page and he cursed. For the first thing he saw was a Geis with a bit of his blood at the bottom long since dried.

"To Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden,

I bet you never expected to be called to Japan to my will reading huh? Well, I'm calling in the debt you owe me Dresden. We both know you'd have died that night had I not been hired to do that job. You live because I showed up, Doom of Damocles notwithstanding. So now, I ask you to repay your debt to me. Raise my adoptive son, Shirou. He's… special. You'll know what I mean when you do a Soul Gaze on him. He's just starting out on the path to magic and due to what killed me I couldn't really teach him properly or vigilantly. I ask you to train him in my place.

Inclosed in further papers are various accounts I have hidden across the world under certain pseudonyms. All accounts are ready to be transferred over to your name in trust until Shirou turns eighteen. Additionally, I have a few very important tasks I need you to preform… and your not going to like this-"

Harry stopped reading after that and cursed under his breath. "Hells bells. Stars and stones and Hells Bells some more!" He flipped through the next three pages of bank statements some of which were in the seven and eight figure range, which he ignored for the moment, until he found the last piece of paper labeled 'To-Do List'. He scanned down it, blanching more the further he read. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What's wrong Dresden-san?" Shirou asked. "Would you like more tea?"

"I'm gonna need something stronger than tea kiddo." Harry replied while rubbing his eyes and feeling a headache coming on before scanning over the list again. "Cyanide perhaps?"

Initiate a Soul Gaze with Shirou.

Go to the Mages Association in London and retrieve (by any means necessary) an additional twenty percent of the Emiya Family Magic Crest.

Teach him magecraft (he seems to have a hard time learning even the basics and elemental magecraft seems beyond him. Check Element and Origin?)

I have a biological daughter Illyasviel von Einzbern that Shirou knows nothing about. Due to my illness I was… unable to collect her and reunite the two and I didn't want to worry him unnecessarily. I know this is a big ask but if at all possible, could you reunite my children? I'd hate to think what kind of poison her relatives have been telling her all these years.

Above all, keep him safe from himself.

'Well, Dresden,' Harry thought to himself as he glanced at Shirou, the last part being extremely ominous. 'Looks like you got your work cut out for you.'

The next two days flew by in a flurry of paperwork, Taiga dragging Shirou away for a prolonged sleepover at her house, and Harry had to make arrangements for the Yamaha V Max to be shipped back to Chicago. He wanted to leave it here, but then Shirou mentioned him and the Old Man spent time fixing it up before he passed and he just couldn't do that to the kid. So he called a guy his mechanic knew and decided to use some of the wealth he'd been given to rent a storage locker for the thing so the kid could fix it up at his leisure and wouldn't have to worry about him messing it up.

Now the two of them were standing on the cement pier, the boat should've left ten minutes ago, but Raiga 'had a word' with the captain (the captain had whitened) and they 'decided' to wait for them. Taiga had been alternating for the last ten minutes, squeezing Shirou half to death and crying into his hoodie.

"Fuji-nee, Fuji-nee, I promise I'll be coming back in the summer. We can hang out then. I'll cook the whole time and everything," the redhead placated patting her back. It was looking like a scene from 'Gone With The Wind', with extra drama thrown in for good measure.

Taiga pulled away sniffling a bit, with tears in her eyes she growled like her namesake. "You'd better! And you'd best behave! I don't want you coming back a delinquent got it?!"

"Of course Fuji-nee," Shirou nodded nervously not wanting to anger the Tiger of Fuyuki unnecessarily. Harry wasn't sure it was heartfelt or just a plain threat.

Taiga nodded, before setting her sights on Harry, eyes narrowing before she took a tiger striped kendo sword out of the bag someone was holding for her. Harry swore on his mother's pendant that that thing was cursed. He could practically see a bloodthirsty aura coming off of it as she pointed the tip of her bamboo sword at him and here he'd left his blasting rod on another continent.

"And you! You'd better take good care of Shirou!"

Harry raised his hands defensively and his trusty staff held out in front of him to ward off the cursed object. "I swear, you have my word as a man." He left out the part where a small voice inside him was gibbering and asking her to leave him alone.

Taiga nodded fiercely. "Good, good." The sword lost its aura and Harry felt safe again.

Once the two were tucked away in their shared cabin on the boat. Shirou asked, "Where are we heading next Dresden-san? America?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we've got a couple of stops to make first. First stop, England." Harry remembered the list, it was tucked into his duster jacket pocket. Facing the kid and taking care to look at his nose for the moment, he continued. "Well since we've got a two week trip there, we might as well get to know each other a little better."

Shirou nodded. "Alright Dresden-san"

Harry sighed ruefully. "First things first, call me Harry, Shirou. We'll be living with each other for the next five years at least so we should be on a first name basis with each other and your going to be living in America. All the cool kids use first names"

The boy dipped his head up and down again, "Alright, Harry?"

"Cool, not so hard was it?" the Wizard said lightly, impressed with the kid's English, "Secondly," Harry continued ignoring the honorific, "You should know that I'm a Wizard."

Shirou interrupted in his excitement. "Like my Old Man?!"

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head. His inner Wizard took offence too. "Wizards and Magi are different."

"How?" Shirou asked with the honest curiosity of a child.

'Now how to word this without making his dad sound like a cross between Himmler and a mad scientist,' Harry thought with a frown. "Wizards follow a certain set of Laws, called the Seven Laws of Magic. They define what we can and can't do with our magic. Magi, don't follow these laws."

"Oh… then why did the Old Man ask you to take me in if it sounds like the two of you wouldn't get along?"

Harry resisted the urge to rub his temples. There was the million dollar question right there.

"I've been asking myself that same question kid. Regardless, I'm going to teach you whatever magic I can as it's not wise to deny the last request of a dead man."

"Why's that?" Shirou was just full of questions.

"It might trigger their death curse. The last curse a mage can cast with their dying breath." Harry explained. "Simple terms, curse kill me in horrible way. Not good idea to mess with."

"Wow… so you're going to be my magecraft teacher now?" Shirou sounded excited by the prospect.

Harry tried not to wince at the term. That's what Magi called it, to Wizards, it was The Art. It sounded cooler too.

"Yes. We won't be starting for a month or more though not seriously anyway. Like I said, we're going to London first. It'll take us ten and a half days to get there at this speed, then we'll need to do our business and then take another boat to America. That's another ten and half day trip. After we dock in New York or Boston we'll need to rent a car and then it's at least an eleven hour drive home. Not to mention it might take a few days to get a room together for you. So yeah about a month."

Shirou nodded. "Okay, so um… is there anything stopping you teaching me something while we travel?"

Harry chuckled a bit. 'I guess there's no putting it off any longer.' Clearing his throat he said, "I can, but to even start I need to… get a read on you. To do that, I need you to look in my eyes. When that happens I'll look into your soul, the part of you that's unable to lie, or hide… and you're able to peer into mine. It's called a Soul Gaze, and whatever either of us sees will stick with us forever… Are you okay with that?"

Shirou just nodded. "I thought you... just shy."

'If I had a nickel for everytime I've heard that,' Harry thought. Shame the shy and cute look didn't work for his badass self. "So I'll take that to mean your fine with it then."

Harry and Shirou locked eyes and it took a moment, but then it happened. He saw Shirou's body from his skin, all the way to the individual hair on his head taking on a metallic sheen. His legs melded together forming a long sword blade, while his arms formed a twisting curved guard. Shirou was a living sword.

Then the area behind him changed as well. It was blurry and indistinct like a mirage in the desert, but Harry saw them. Iron gears turning behind the boy turning unendingly in a clear sky in an endless horizon.

Then from the middle of his chest, it appeared. Formed of gold and crisscrossed with blue enamel with runic writing on it that he'd never seen before, was an immaculate sheathe, it appeared glowing faintly golden. It gave off a feeling of power he'd only felt in his life once before…

Leanansidhe, his Fairy Godmother. Then he blinked and the vision was gone, but the image of what he'd seen was permanently engraved in his mind forever more.

Harry Dresden facepalmed loud enough to crack the air.

"Harry?" Shirou asked, seemingly unaffected by the soul gaze, but concerned for his own well being. "Are you alright?"

Running a hand down his face, Harry nodded, as he let out a sigh, "I'm fine kid. Don't worry." Taking a moment to gather himself the Wizard continued. "Well, I think I know what your problem is, at least partially."

"What is it?"

Looking around, Dresden picked up a piece of stationary, and pen and began drawing to separate yet similar diagrams of circles being trailed by arrows, with the one on the right having cross crossing arrows forming a star shape with it. He labeled the circles before passing them to Shirou and doing his best to explain. "Right you can't seem to do the flashy stuff like conjure lightning and fireballs, typically what we call evocation right?"

Shirou shook his head a little glumly. "No, I can barely use the basics the Old Man taught me."

"Which are?" Harry needed to know what the kid knew before he went any further.

"The School of Material Transmutation the Old Man said it was called, but he also called it magecraft 101. It consists of Reinforcing and Altering an object, like making it more durable, changing its shape, and giving it attributes it didn't have before, as well as Gradation Air which is making an object out of magical energy."

'Seems pretty basic.' Harry agreed before he decided to explain his theory. By tapping at the more elaborate of the two papers with a finger. "See kid, I think I know why you can't do Evocation."

"Why?"

Harry did his best to adopt Justin's lecturing tone that he used in days gone by. "You're not attuned to any of the elements associated with it. See Evocation uses fire, lighting, cutting wind, or freezing ice. Elements associated with the Greek elemental system. You though…" Harry paused for emphasis and tapped a particular element which Shirou read off as Metal. "Aren't connected to any of them your elemental affinity comes from the Chinese Wuxing specifically metal, and even more specifically, its Sword."

Shirou felt something fall into place inside his being. "My element is Sword?"

"Maybe not just your element…" Harry said more to himself than the boy. "But yeah from what I saw in the soul gaze you have a deep connection to swords…" 'And the Fae, somehow.'

Harry was able to resist the facepalm this time.

"So what does this mean? Can I not do magic at all?" The kid seemed downtrodden at the thought.

Dresden scoffed. "Pff hardly. Just cause you can't act like a wizard out of D&D…" Shirou blinked at him in confusion. Damn kids, didn't know the classics these days. "...Doesn't mean you can't do any magic at all. There's still all sorts of magic you can do. Kinetomancy for example, something I'm quite good at if you ask me doesn't use the elements, it's just pure stockpiled and applied force. Wards are also something you could learn. Runes too, and Alchemy. Trust me kid, not being able to do Evocation isn't the end of the world."

"Cool!" Shirou practically had stars in his eyes. "So, when do we start?"

"As soon as we find a nice quiet place to practice where people won't bother us, that isn't where we sleep."

They managed to find such a place down in the ship's hold, that was filled with boxes, bins, and the occasional shipping container, and lit by fluorescent lights that buzzed and flickered as Harry passed or stood under them. Now normally passengers weren't allowed down there, but Harry with a bit of hypnosis managed to get them past the guard on duty who seemed half asleep anyway. Hypnosis wasn't breaking the Laws of Magic even if it was considered skirting the line by some as it was just a mental suggestion not a command. So he and Shirou were down in the ship hold and that was where he taught the boy Kinetomancy. He honestly didn't expect the teen to be so… driven when it came to learning the Art, but Shirou had surprised him. For no matter how many times he failed, he just kept trying. After the fifth or so time of trying to store his will or as magi called it, his Prana in a simple ring woven of three strands of copper wire, he huffed and said, "Huh, I wonder what I'm doing wrong? Maybe I need to make a new magic circuit?"

"Hold on a minute there Shirou," Harry said in a panic, gobsmacked at what passed that kid's lips, "Did you just say make a magic circuit?"

The boy explained as if it were common knowledge. "You know, make a magic circuit by converting some of your nerves into magic circuits."

Harry blinked once, twice, thrice and a fourth time because the situation deserved it for how utterly crazy that just sounded. He knew damn well that magi were born with their Circuits while wizards drew directly off the mana of the area around them to power their spells as well as the will produced by their emotions. It was one of the other defining traits that separated Wizards from Magi. In fact it was theorized the existence of these circuits prevented interference with technology that wizards often had to contend with. Not that Magi cared as they were technophobes, but still! One just didn't create magic circuits… and especially not from their damn nerves!

'Why it'd be like… like shoving a hot iron rod down your back! This kid did that almost every damn time he wanted to cast a spell… what kind of pain tolerance does he have?!' His audacity must've shown on his face because Shirou was giving him a worried look. Holding up his hands placatingly, Harry said, "I'm not mad, it's just… Shirou, you don't create Magic Circuits. Hell's Bells kid, what you've been doing… one mistake would've caused irreparable nerve damage to you."

"Really?"

Harry gave a swift but jerky shake of his head. Why did he make that sound so innocent? It added to the madness. "Yeah. So no more creating magic circuits. Let me see if I can figure out how to turn whatever circuits you do have; if any, on for you."

"What if I don't have any magic circuits?" Shirou asked, sounding worried.

"Then I'll teach you the Wizards way of doing magic. I don't have any circuits and I can still do magic. Stars this might be part of the problem. Why you're having such a hard time learning. You just might not be compatible with the magi way of doing things." Harry approached and put a hand on his shoulder. "Right, calm down and relax. I'm going to prod around with my Will, see if I can find any circuits. If I find them I'll try running my Will through them to turn them on."

The redhead closed his eyes and took a calming breath. "Okay. Whenever you're ready Harry."

Slowly like water lazily pouring from a tap and filling a cup, Harry pushed his Will into the boy. For a moment he felt nothing but then as he reached his left side he felt them. They were like ridges, veins, or branching off marks on a motherboard within Shirou's very soul… Some were shriveled up, like a limb atrophied from trailed from the left side of his neck and down his left arm. Harry counted thirty-two in all.

Magic Circuits. 'Jackpot.' Harry thought to himself. "Good news kid, you've got thirty-two circuits."

"Is that a lot?" Shirou wondered aloud.

"I have no idea, I don't know a whole lot about Magi honestly." Harry admitted. "I'm gonna try flipping them on, give me just a sec." Forcing his Will through the circuits, he sensed more then saw them glow, then sparked like a live powerline before lighting up like a house during the Christmas season. Removing his hand, and his Will from his new Protege, Harry said, "I think that did it." His hand quickly found its way back to Shirou's shoulder when the boy wobbled on his feet. "Shirou?"

"I'm…" the redhead boy steadied himself before giving his head a light shake. "I'm fine harry."

The up and coming PI didn't believe that for a second. Turning the kid around to face him, he saw his cheeks and forehead were rosy. Placing his hand to his forehead it felt hot before he even touched it. "Right we're don't for the day, you're running a fever and are in no shape to continue."

"I'm fin-" Shirou tried to protest only for Harry to cut him off.

"Don't argue with me kid. You're driven and stubborn, I'll give you that. But remember whose the adult and the magic teacher here."

Shirou half glared at him stubbornly for a moment, reminding him of himself at that age before he lowered his head and nodded. "Yes sir. Gomen'nasai." He said, slipping into his native tongue.

"Don't worry kid," Harry replied, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "If you're better tomorrow, we can get right back at it. For today, let's just take it easy okay?"

Shirou reluctantly nodded. "Alright."

True to his word, They were back at it the next day, and since his magic circuits had been opened, the kid had improved by leaps and bounds. Not just in Kinetomancy but with what little his Old Man had been able to teach him as well, but his own style of Projection, which he called Tracing, might've had something to do with it.

"So explain this Tracing to me?" Harry asked as the kid as he'd taken to calling him in his mind. After figuring out his Element was likely swords, Harry streamlined his magical education to include anything and everything that had to do with them, starting with production through that Projection skill of his.

"First, I judge the concept of creation and why it was made, its purpose. Then I hypothesize the basic structure, afterwhich I duplicate the composition material, and imitate the skill of its making, the forging process and what have you. Once that's done I sympathize with the experience of its growth; how it was used and by who, before reproducing its accumulated years. Once all that is done, only then do I excel every manufacturing process."

"Wow," Harry had to admit, he was impressed with the kid's dedication to refining what he could do at the moment. "Nice going kid, so ready to test it and see if it works?"

On what? You have no sword. Do you?" Shirou asked.

Giving his left wrist a shake, Harry produced his shield bracelet. It was a stainless steel chain with six white bronze shield charms hanging off it bearing various common crests, from the Fleur de Lys and the Lion Rampant to a Celtic Cross. Taking it off he handed it to his apprentice. "It's not a sword, but it is made of metal, so why don't you give it a shot?"

Shirou looked at the shield bracelet in his hand for a moment before taking a breath and replying with, "Okay." Shirou mentally went through the steps. It took more than ten seconds before he finally said, "Trace on!"

Sparks of magical energy flew from Shirou's open palm before coalescing into an identical copy of Harry's Shield Bracelet. Holding his hand out for it, Harry ran his Will through the fake bracelet and to his amazement, it worked just as well as the original Shirou was holding. There were no differences that he could tell anyway. Handing it back to him, he said, "Your homework, if you can call it that, is to keep the shield bracelet on your wrist and make note of when it disappears. That way we have a rough estimate of how long your copies last."

"Yes sir." Shirou replied as he followed his new mentor out of the hull silently wondering what was in store for his new life, and if his chance to be a hero would come sooner rather than later.

Chapter Length: 7,919 Words Number of Pages: 16 Date Completed: 1/31/2021

AN: Hey Guys Icysnowsage here. Just wanted to thank all of Bubbajack's fans for staying with us and reading the stories me and him help create together. I just wanted to be the one to help introduce this new story for all of yall. Take it away Bubba.

Greetings everyone and welcome to Fate/Dresden Files: Heretic Apprentice. Bit of a mouthful I know but it works. Anyway the premise is pretty simple, as shown here. What would happen if Shirou was raised by Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden after Kiritugu's death? With all the magic, Faeries, and things that entails? Well, we're about to find out.

This fic is a fusion of Nasuverse and Dresdenverse mechanics so somethings may have changed so that everything meshes nicely just so everyone understands that. More details will be revealed as more chapters come out. Till then, I hope 2021 is kinder to us all than 2020 was. Till nextime everyone this has been a Bubbajack, Heliosion, and Icysnowsage Production! Peace!

P.S. If you like what you read here and would like to toss a coin to your writer, you can find me on both Sub-Scribe-Star and Pat-Reon under the name Bubbajack.