Author's Notes: I own nothing. Familiar of Zero belongs to Noboru Yamaguchi while Fate/Stay Night - Heaven's Failure is a Doujinshi made by Limit Break.
Legend of the Sword Dancer: Author's Apologies and Rambling
Hi there, Schwarzritter here, named after a Gun-Pla kit I built years ago for those curious about the German name.
First off, I would like to apologize on the sudden "Complete" status of this story, and for not updating in a while. It has been hard trying to come up with chapters when I'm both physically and mentally drained from work. And I would take this time to explain what happened in my personal life so far...
Okay...
Year 2020: Where all the F*ckery Happened.
Work was hard to find and I had quite the time to spend while waiting for replies on my job applications. So instead of wasting time browsing Social Media, watching Youtube or reading random e-book LN's or FanFics from Various sites, I wanted to try and make another FanFic for fun. Reading has been one of my hobbies, mostly fiction novels of the modern era, and I did try FanFiction Writing before... Emphasis on TRY...
So I said to myself: "Maybe I should try FanFiction writing again... Most of what I did while I was in school were One-Shots, and then the "AgK x Fate S/N" I wrote three years ago."
Then I stumbled back into Familiar of Zero when a clip of it got recommended on YT. I went to find e-books on the LN, and then went to watching the Anime again. I was curious on what others would do with the given story line and lore, so I dived head first on the various FanFictions scattered across the Internet in various sites.
Most it followed a pattern: Louise summons Alt!Saito or OC or X from another franchise but still follows canon events.
I'm not saying that it is bad, there are a number of works that are fun to read. But for me, it takes away the element of surprise since I can kind of predict what will happen next.
When Karin was introduced later in the story, I then started thinking about this "Alternate Universe" out of curiosity on "What if the story takes place before Canon/Louise's Time?". Inspired by the multiple endings of "Fate/Stay Night" and the pre-canon "Fate/Zero", I went and at least tried making a test "One-Shot Cross-Over" to see how a change in the past can affect the "Canon Time Line". Some PMs later, and a few reviews on the One-Shot, I then tried to expand the story for fun.
And so I went to work... I wanted a story setting during Karin's Timeline, I will make one.
Reading about the bits on Karin's Past, I wondered could have happened for her change in personality. Bits and Pieces are told, enough to find a way to elaborate on her background I guess?
So you might ask, "Why Heaven's Failure?"
Since both Fate and FoZ are "Magic-Based" mixing the two is kind of easy since Fate also has this Multiverse Setting. And while I kind of liked Shirou as a protagonist, I kinda wanted a character that could "give me enough freedom without destroying that character's established personality", hence "Emilya".
I read reviews every now and then before I encode to see where I can improve the story as I progress. I also do a quick research on "possible" events that may transpire in a "somewhat medieval setup" and the "cultural background" on Familiar of Zero/Zero no Tsukaima. Either a Wiki/Wikipedia search, e-book references and other background checks.
World Building was fun, I enjoyed the thought of "Multiversal Characters" interacting with Zelretch since well, Multiverse Bullsh*t and all. And the various ways Multiverse is explained in media made interactions either serious, or funny.
Then 2021:
I got a Job Offer, and well, I did try to squeeze time to update this FanFic, but then I started feeling mentally drained. I kept revising chapters a lot more, and most of the time I was so focused on work that I would forget what I wanted to do with the "On-Progress Chapter".
To me it wasn't "Fun" anymore, and I kept losing inspirations which is probably why I revise a lot more.
I then re-read my progress, and started trying to make a series of events that could maybe give way for me to temporarily set it to "Complete". Or at least make it so that I could make a "Sequel".
Again I would like to apologize on the sudden "Complete" status of this work. One day maybe I might do a sequel... or maybe not...