A dream with very messed-up details gave me the inspiration for this story. I also mention the OSTs that go with each scene. You'll see similarities between this and Fate/stay night: Angra Manyu, especially in the intro except for some small changes like things added or taken out. It's another way it could've gone, just like the Fate routes.

Akiko has different abilities, and once again Servants are unable to shift into spirit form.

[Church on the Hill]

The Holy Grail War. Every sixty years, it would choose seven mages to be Masters. Each would summon a Heroic Spirit known as a Servant to fight for them. The seven Servants would fall into one of the seven classes.

Saber.

Lancer.

Archer.

Caster.

Rider.

Berserker.

Assassin.

Once the seven Masters have been chosen, a fight to the death between each pair of Masters and Servants occur in Fuyuki. The last pair left standing is allowed a wish to be granted by the Grail. A member of the Church is sent there to oversee the battle. However, the previous Holy Grail War was incomplete. The fifth will begin in Fuyuki now, ten years later...

[End OST]

[Midnight Interval]

Images of a massive fire filled the vision of Akiko Hashimoto. People all around her were screaming. The building she and her parent were next to fell apart, the wall coming down on them. The family of three broke into a run forward, trying to evade it. The wall hit the ground and shook it. Akiko's eyes widened and she was even more aware of how hot it was.

"Akiko!" her parents cried out.

We need to get out of here as soon as possible! Those thoughts filled her head, but she found herself unable to move. The heat was stifling, making it hard to breath. Above them, a ring of blue was in the sky.

[End OST]

Akiko jolted up in bed, breathing hard. Her sky-blue eyes were wide and strands of her long silver hair clung to her face because of the sweat covering it. She looked around wildly. No fires or people screaming for help. It was all a dream. Near her, her alarm went off. It was set for 7:00 for school. She reached over and flipped it off.

Sighing, Akiko slipped out of bed and put on her Homurahara Academy uniform, which consisted of a white shirt with red cuffs. Over it was a light brown button-up tunic and over the collar was a red ribbon tied into a bow. Bellow was a black skirt. White socks went almost to her knees. On her feet were a pair of brown shoes. She stood at 168 cm (5' 6"), making her one of the tallest girls at the school. She was also an honor's student. She wasn't involve in sports or other school clubs, but she was friends with Ayako Mitsuzuri.

[Tender Scenery]

Looking at herself in the mirror in the room, she headed out into the hall. The room was fairly large. A king-sized bed was on the far left wall with a nightstand to its left with a lamp and alarm clock right on top of it. Across from the bed was a couch. To the left of it was a large cabinet with a T.V. in the top space. To the right of the couch was a vanity. Two columns of drawers, three down for each, held her clothes. To the right of it was the doorway out. A little bit of wall turned into a corner, where the closet was. Right beside it was the mirror, and near it was the door leading to the bathroom. On the wall to the left of the nightstand was a large window. Even though the lights weren't on, the red paint over the walls could be seen easily.

The hall was a straight path leading to the living room. The walls were grey and three other doors littered them. Across from the bedroom was what Akiko calls the "study room." Inside of it, the walls were white. On the far back wall were two windows. In between them was a desk with a lamp on it. A single chair was pushed in so the seat was under the table. At the far left wall was another desk with a computer on it.

A little to the right of that doorway led to the doorway of another bathroom. Like the one in the bedroom, it had a shower on the back wall with a sliding frosted glass door over the front of it. On the left wall near the shower was a toilet and a clock was on the opposite wall. At the part of the left wall closest to the door was a sink with a mirror over it. However, the mirror over the sink in the other bathroom was on the door to the medicine cabinet.

The last door was on the right wall close to the end of the hallway. This one seemed to have bookshelves on all of the three walls, but the one against the back wall had a secret. By removing a certain book, a button in the wood and colored like it was exposed and level with the top of the wood. Pressing it makes the bookshelf move to the left and expose another door. Inside ;ed to stairs that went to a room underground. It was the area Akiko uses to practice magic. There was a bookshelf filled with texts on the subject, as well as things to help her train at the magic she already has.

Akiko stepped onto the brown carpeting of the living room. On the far left wall was a small hallway with a closet and the front door. To the girl's right was a couch up against one of the walls. It was covered in brown material and had a red blanket folded up on one of the cushions. On the other side of it was three pillows. On the wall to the outside, a similar couch was up against that wall with a giant window behind it and a table with a lamp to the right of it. In the middle was a rug. On the last was was a table with a T.V. Over it was a clock. To the left of it was the entryway into the kitchen and near it was a bookshelf.

The kitchen seemed to stretch to the right. Against the back wall was a stove, sink, refrigerator, and cabinet. A window was on the wall over the sink. Near the far right end was a square table with a chair at each of the four ends. On that wall was a sliding glass door to the outside. Akiko opened the closet and pulled a black jacket from a hanger before heading out the door.

During school, she was looking forward to tonight and barely heard the teachers during their lectures. She was going to be a participant in the Fifth Holy Grail War. A friend of hers in the Mage's Association, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, was in Ireland and was sending her a relic to use as a catalyst. The package was to arrive today. A few weeks ago, her Command Seals appeared. The Command Seals on the back of her right hand seemed to have a red hollow diamond with the left and right sides were curved. On either side were two shapes that formed a U. The insides were smooth but the outsides had spikes curving up. The bottoms came out and looked like a greater than and less than sign facing out.

When she got home, she saw a package on her front step. It was from Ireland, so it had to be from Bazett. She took it inside. Inside the package would be the relic to summon the last thing she needed.

Her stomach growled, so she went to the kitchen and fixed herself something to eat. She sat down at the table to eat, placing the package right in front of the plate. Once she finished, she picked the package up again after putting her plate in the sink.

[End OST]

She went outside and found the two pigs she had bought the other day and were in a pen in her backyard. She had to lure them over to her with food to get them to move. She led them into her house and opened the secret room. As soon as they were in, she hit a button to close the bookshelf, trapping them in the room. She led them down the stairs and blocked their way back up them with her body. She set the package down on the table near her and quickly grabbed a knife. She swooped down and grabbed one of the pigs, slitting its throat. She hated doing this, but she had to. The other squealed and ran up the stairs, but Akiko wasn't paying any attention to it. She careful got the blood to start forming the summoning circle. When the pig ran out of blood, she set it to the side of what she currently made of the summoning circle and looked for the other. It was at the top of the stairs, oinking at the back of the bookshelf. She grabbed it, going back down the stairs before slicing its throat open. She traced the rest of the summoning circle with it. When she was done, she place the dead pig next to the other.

[Footsteps of Destruction]

Inside of the circle were several symbols, looking like letters, around two slanted squares that formed an 8-pointed star. Four of the points were completely filled in. In between each point was a symbol. Four of them were surrounded by a circle.

Akiko went over to the table where she had placed the package and opened it. Inside was a black box. And inside it was a silver earring. This was one of the relics the Mage's Association kept. However, there was no mention about which hero it's from. Oh well. All that mattered to Akiko was partially how strong it is, but mostly whether or not she would be able to get along with it.

With everything done, she was ready to summon a Heroic Spirit to be her Servant in the Holy Grail War. She stood on the outside of the circle and held her right hand out toward it. This would be it. The last thing she would need to hopefully survive the War.

"With silver and iron as the foundation, close the four gates and follow the forked road leading to the kingdom. Fill and fill and fill and fill and fill. Destroy each of those five. Hear me. My will creates your body and your sword creates my destiny! If you heed the Grail's call and surrender yourself to my will and my reason, answer me! And with your answer, my fate rests with you! I swear to be all the good in the world and to destroy all that is evil! Seventh heaven clad in the great words of power, guardian of the scales, come forth!"

Wind was whipping Akiko's hair and bright white light came from the circle when she finished the incantation. The light was blinding and a cloud of mist came from the circle next. The light faded and the mist thinned, allowing Akiko to see what was in the center of the circle.

[End OST]

It was a man. The first thing Akiko noticed about him were his eyes. The irises were red like blood and the pupils were slitted. The next thing that caught her attention was his hair. It was azure and short at the top. The bottom was long and held in a golden clasp at the base of his skull. Long, silver earrings dangled from his ear lobes. His suit was cobalt with silver lines. The body suit hugged his body tightly, showing the muscles all over him. He wore a pair of silver metal shoes and shoulder plates looking to be made of the same material. A bestial smell was coming from him.

'This is my Servant, my partner for the entire Grail War.' Akiko thought.

It took her a moment to realize he was gazing at her until he spoke. "Ya my Master?"

"That's right. I am." She held up her right hand and showing him the back of it as proof. "And you are?"

A two-meter red spear with what looked like red vines wrapped around it materialized in the man's right hand. He rested it on his right shoulder and grinned, showing two small fangs. "I'm a Lancer. My true name is -"

"Let me guess: Cu Chulainn, am I right?" Akiko interrupted. His face fell, his smile vanishing completely.

"Yeah. How'dja know?"

"My friend who gave me your relic never shuts up about you. Even though she didn't tell me which hero it's from, the fact you're a Lancer kinda told me who you were." She also learned from Bazett that "Cu Chulainn" means "Culann's hound". The man seemed to share traits with other animals, like dogs. So that was what also told her who this was.

Lancer smirked. "So she's a fan of mine, is she?"

Akiko glared slightly at him. If he was going to keep pulling the kind of crap she thinks he is, forget about the two getting along. "Don't go wishing she was your Master instead. Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

He laughed. "I know! She just sounds like an interestin' person! I never said she should've been my Master!"

"Good. Then it looks like we can get along."

Lancer stopped laughing and looked at Akiko seriously. "Yer not a normal mage, are ya?"

Akiko looked away. She had a feeling he would mention that before too long. After all, he deserved to know what was going on with his Master. "No. I have mystic eyes."

Lancer looked surprised. "Mystic eyes?! But they look normal enough!"

"That's because they change only when I have a future prediction. And they aren't true ones."

"Whaddaya mean by that?"

"My parents implanted them in me as a way to test whether or not it would be safe for them to do the same for themselves."

"And what happened?"

"When they tried it on themselves, the magic wouldn't hold as well as it did for me. So they ended up not having any mystic eyes while I gained the ability to glimpse the future."

"Wait, so you can see everythin' that has yet to happen? You can see what will happen in this War?"

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

[Whirlpool of Fate 2]

"In the timeline, the present always heads to a set future, right? Wrong. Think of the timeline we are following as the trunk of a tree. The branches would be all the possible futures. This shows that there is no set future for the timeline. Had something been done different, the 'branch' the timeline goes to would be different. The other 'branches' have futures that could have been had things gone different. These are parallel timelines. As long as those exist, I won't be able to see a certain future. Just a possible one. One that will happen as long as events don't change it. And seeing the future happens randomly for me. I don't even have control over when I glimpse it."

[End OST]

Lancer crossed his arms. "In other words, ya can only see a possible outcome of the War."

"Sorry that this wouldn't be more useful."

"No, it is. Usin' yer power will allow us to predict enemy attacks."

"So we need to -" Her eyes widened and she doubled over, clutching her head.

Lancer reached an arm to her. "Ya okay?!"

[Premonition of a Storm]

Akiko grit her teeth and started to fall forward, but Lancer rushed forward and caught her before she hit the ground. A brief image passed through her head. A boy with red hair was running. His face wasn't turned around so that Akiko could see it, but she could at least tell he goes to the same school she does. After all, he wore a male Homurahara Academy uniform. Lancer appeared behind the boy and stabbed him with his spear. And then the image was gone.

[End OST]

Her eyes opened and she looked up at Lancer, just now noticing he was holding her. A faint tinge of pink dusted across her cheeks. "I'm fine now. I just had a vision."

"Of what?"

Akiko shook her head. "It looked like you were killing someone." But who could it be? There were a few boys with red hair at the school. Tomoe Enjou, Shirou Emiya, et cetera. And even if she was able to narrow it down, who knows if she could still stop that future from happening? After all, she doesn't know when it takes place. It could be a day, a week, a month, or even a year from now, depending on how long it takes until the other six Servants are summoned. Then it would happen during the next couple of weeks if it hadn't already happened by then.

[Into the Sunlight]

Lancer helped her stand again. "By the way, what should I call ya? Unless you want me to call ya 'Master' 24/7."

"Oh, right. Yeah, please don't call me Master too often. Every now and then is fine. My name is Akiko Hashimoto."

Lancer put a hand to his chin and grinned. "So yer name is Akiko, huh? At least now I know a name to go along with yer face."

"It'll be a whole lot better than hearing you call me Master all the time."

[End OST]