Night was perhaps the only time of the day where Archer could truly rest. He didn't have any responsibilities to fulfill, nor did he have to worry about Mirajane dragging Elfman or Lisanna off to do something he would consider dangerous. For example, when Mirajane was five, she had taken both Elfman and Lisanna off with her to play by a rapid river and neglected to pay attention to how close Lisanna was to the river bank. Lisanna had nearly fallen into the water if not for him finding his siblings and then catching Lisanna at the last moment.
Archer had lectured Mirajane about her behaviour on that day, but he was certain that Mirajane was only saying yes with her words, but was inwardly inmoved. This was simply how it was when one dealt with children.
Patience was the only true virtue that a guardian essentially required.
He sighed while lying down on bed.
Elfman was sleeping near left his arm while Mirajane slept sprawled on his right. Her leg was crossed over top of his, and she was nuzzling her face to his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Lisanna was still small enough to sleep over his chest, her arms wrapped around him.
Their current house had enough rooms for each of the siblings, but because he had probably worried them all on his last mission, they opted to sleep in the same room as him.
First it had been Lisanna who knocked on his room's door, then Elfman, and a flustered Mirajane who was having trouble hiding her embarrassment.
For as much of a tomboy as Mirajane was, there were times where she could be even more childish than Lisanna. In which case, Mirejane should learn a thing or two from her younger sister.
Lisanna was a child that understood what made her happy and wouldn't hesitate to continue doing things that made her happy. Mirajane in comparison probably knew what made her happy, but actively avoided in fear of looking weak or childish.
Mirajane was already getting close a certain rebellious age in a kid's life, and it was his duty as the eldest to accommodate her accordingly.
He took in a breath and listened intently to the soft breathing of his siblings around him.
Even after leaving the village of their youth, some things just don't change.
Their previous house was both small, dilapidated, and rundown. There had been only a single bedroom in which everyone in the Strauss family had used to share.
Perhaps because it brought back a feeling of comfort by sleeping near each other, even the creases on Mirajane's face were relaxed, her mouth hanging slightly open.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
He remained absolutely still, careful not to wake up any of his sibling with any sudden movements.
He was thinking back to what he'd experienced in his latest guild missions to investigate the oddities occurring within a remote village.
At the time, when he had first taken the mission from the Guild's bulletin, he hadn't been expecting anything too difficult or dangerous. It was why he had eventually agreed to allow Mirajane and the others to tag along. However, what he discovered in the mission was something that was keenly related to him, or at least the world that he had come from.
Specters. Shadows. Spirits.
With enough magical energy, spirits could form physical bodies.
His hands opened and closed, as if gripping the invisible handle of a pair of swords.
It had been a long time since he'd needed to use his magic in this world, and it was only recently that he'd begun using it again.
Nevertheless, he knew what he had to use his strength for.
The incident in the mission certainly had some sort of connection with him, one that was far from beneficial.
If a true Servant manifested, then most Wizards would not hope to stand any chance at matching a Servant's parameters let alone Noble Phantasms which could be exceedingly lethal. Moreover, most of Fiore's inhabitants were not solely comprised of Wizards, but just regular citizens whom spectres and spirits had the ability to feed leach magical energy or life energy off of.
This was his responsibility to deal with, and perhaps to a certain extent, the other Shirou prowling in the world might have had already caught wind of the situation.
Archer shook his head to clear his thoughts. Just thinking about a younger and naïve persona of himself living in the same world was irksome.
Regardless, Archer had his priorities straight.
If Specters were manifesting in Fiore as a result of his and the other Shirou's crossing over, then he'd rather go to them, than let them come to him.
There were people that he wished to protect right now.
Lisanna was sucking her thumb out of habit on top of his chest while Elfman grunted beside him. Mirajane just continued clinging to him while unaffected by anything. To the Strauss siblings, he was their pillar of support in which the entire family of children were leaning on.
He would not put them in danger.
'But at the cost of yourself?'
There was a nagging sense of doubt within him.
Truthfully speaking, he didn't put enough value on his life, but at the same time, his experience allowed him to understand just how important his life was from another's perspective.
'No. Enough.'
He pressed his eyes tightly for a moment. It wasn't like him to doubt or hesitate.
'I am a sword. Steel. Wrought Iron.'
He could be as cynical to reality as he wanted, but the fundamental aspect of himself that was 'EMIYA' would never change.
This was his problem to deal with, and he would deal with it without getting any others involved.
Moonlight pooled in from the window of his room and shone over the sparsely decorated interior. It was a far cry from all the clothing, toys, and belongings that he'd bought for Mirajane and the others to decorate their rooms. In truth, Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna were appalled when they compared their belongings to his. Worse, he didn't even notice because he thought that the number of things that he owned was 'practical.' He only needed what was required to survive.
Moving on, but the most important issue he had to deal with in order to deal with the situation was a simple one.
Missions.
If he wanted to confront the specters himself rather than allow them to come to him, then what he needed to do was the ability to take on all kinds of missions with distinct 'oddities.'
He'd had a talk with Makarov prior to joining Fairy Tail's guild about taking on higher-leveled missions from the Guild notice board. Subsequently, Makarov had tested his capabilities and grudgingly allowed him to take said higher level missions.
Unfortunately, Makarov was too caring.
'A child should rest more rather than risk one's life.'
Although Archer had been granted clearance to undertake riskier missions, Makarov had still banned him from taking on what were known as S-Class Missions. Said S-Class missions had difficulty rating where a single mistake could lead to a potential death. It was not something any ordinary mage could accomplish, and it was said that one of Fairy Tail's strongest Wizards was still currently out on one.
Gildart's Clive. An S-Ranked Mage.
To take on an S-Ranked mission, one would have to be promoted to an S-Ranked Mage.
This was important because most of the 'oddities' that Archer had noticed on the Guild Mission's board was correlated with an S-Rank.
Archer had wished persuade Makarov for him to undergo the S-Ranked assessment before, but the man had acted as if he was deaf and walked away.
This time though, Archer understood that he had to be persistent. The longer that he noticed an 'anomaly' in the mission's board without him doing anything, then the likelier it was that the specters could grow stronger. Eventually, a Servant may indeed form.
He could not allow that to happen.
What he needed to do now was to somehow convince Makarov.
The yearly S-Class advancement assessment for Fairy Tail was quickly arriving by the end of the month and the only way to participate was by getting selected.
It was time to prepare.
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.
The next day found him waking up early. He made sure to leave his bed in a way that didn't wake up Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman, and therefore, it ended up taking him over ten minutes just to crawl out of bed.
In any case, he ate breakfast and was soon on his way out of his house. However, he hesitated while glancing back into his room where his siblings had ended up sprawled over each other. When they were sleeping, Mirajane had been nuzzling his right arm, and now that she'd lost that warmth, her hands subconsciously pulled on Elfman on the opposite side. Squished in at the middle, Lisanna was a fairly heavy sleeper.
'They'd probably be worried.'
Recalling how relieved their expressions were last night when he had returned home, he knew that they would probably protest what he was intending on doing.
To begin with, insisting for Makarov to choose him for the S-Class assessment was the worst strategy that he could use. It showed both a lack of maturity and ability.
What he needed to do now was complete the highest difficulty missions available to him with a hundred-percent employer satisfaction rate. Going off solo and completing Non-Guild related quests would not be beneficial to him in any way. Sure, he could make a name for himself, but what did that matter when he was trying to increase his Guild standing?
Going off on his own to take missions 'supposedly' above his ability level would only reflect rashness from Makarov's perspective.
This was such a pain.
If he hadn't affiliated himself with a Guild, then he would have had been free to move off on his own and do what he wanted without constantly being weighed down. And yet, he couldn't not be in a guild either as it was Fairy Tail that loaned out a down payment for the current house his family was living within.
His lips thinned, but he quickly put aside his annoyance.
He was used to this kind of hardship anyway to the point that he may as well have a firm argument to compare his luck with a certain ill-fortuned blue-Lancer.
His mouth gradually curved upwards, but he stopped himself from the momentary amusement.
He stared back at Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman before pulling out a piece of parchment and a feather quilt from a desk drawer.
A lot of High-Level missions had duration dates that required weeks if not months to complete. As the S-Class assessment was already scheduled for the end of the month, it would mean that he'd have to work fast and would no time to even make a quick visit home.
If he left without even giving his siblings a notice, then it would be too cruel.
He'd already worried them on his last mission, and now he was going out for another the subsequent morning.
'Stupid brother. I told you not worry about us; you're working too hard.'
'Don't go.'
'Play?'
'I, I'll be a man too so don't do everything by yourself.'
The words his siblings had often told him, he remembered them all clearly, but even still, it was all the more reason that he had to do what he must. He didn't want to put any of them in danger.
Taking the quilt in his hands, he began writing a simple note on the paper informing Mirajane and the others of his long absence and not to search for him. He'd be back before the S-Class assessment anyway.
Folding up the paper, he placed it over a small counter around Lisanna's height in a place where it could be easily discovered, and then promptly left with the clicking of the front door.
He began walking in silence back to the Guild building.
It wasn't very far, only about a ten-minute walk by his estimation, but the journey was going to be harder than he expected.
Fairy Tail was situated near Magnolia Town's commercial district where travelers and merchants often congregated to do business. As a result, the area was always busy and filled with many people going about their lives.
As the main trading hub in Magnolia, the commercial district was a blending of all types of people. Locals, visitors, and people from other settlements were just examples of the kind of variety and mixing of culture that the commercial district had.
In which case, he was certain that he shouldn't have had been acquainted with anybody in the vicinity, and yet he was clearly being stared at in disbelief and wonder.
It was a group of three wanderers.
From their entire- well if you could call it that since they were appeared to just be wearing underwear- they looked as if they hailed from the south where it was warm all year round, but in reality, the group of three had come from the frigid north.
Two of the three people were children around Mirajane's age while the sole adult in the group, a woman whose hair was cut into a messy bob-cut, stared at him fixedly.
All three of them looked moments of away from bolting straight towards him as if they'd seen a dear friend, family, or acquaintance. The kid with pale silver hair was already directly pointing at him.
Nope. Nope, Archer did not know these people.
Judging from their expressions though, they'd probably met with a certain Hero of Justice already and were clearly mistaking his identity right now.
He did not have the time to deal with that fool's problems.
Technically, he himself was just an older version of that fool, but he didn't count it.
Therefore, he ran and bolted through the crowds until he was out of sight.
"H-Hey wait!"
He could hear the group of three calling for him amidst the crowd, but he ignored their calls.
They chased after him regardless.
"He went that way?"
"Lyon, you idiot he went that way!"
"No, you two brats, he's right over there."
The older woman of the three had sharp vision even within the crowd. Worse, Archer looked down at his feet and noticed a thin layer of frost forming which left of trail of wet foot prints on the ground wherever he went.
Damn it.
Of all the times he had to run into troublesome situations, why was it always the women who gave him the most trouble?
The two kids were simple to lead away, but although the woman did not have clear sight of him, she was definitely an experienced Wizard.
He had to get rid of the frost constantly forming on his feet if he wanted to get away. In which case, he directly traced out a certain ritual dagger and nullified the magic on his feet.
Elsewhere in the crowd, the woman who had been steadily tailing him, suddenly frowned and stopped on her feet.
He used the moment's distraction to instantly get away.
What should have had taken him only ten minutes to arrive at Fairy Tail, it had now taken him half-an-hour. Instead of making a straight line to his destination, he maneuvered in the longest way possible just to be safe.
He swore to himself that if he ever ran into counterpart in this new world, it would not be a 'pretty' reunion.
Grimacing, Archer eventually made his way into Fairy Tail's Guild building and directly towards the mission's list.
Few of Fairy Tail's Guild members were ever awake in the morning due to excessive drinking and partying, and therefore, there wasn't even a line to the job board.
Making his way through the passed-out bodies beneath him, he reaffirmed his decision to keep his siblings away from Fairy Tail's parties until they were of age.
Off at the corner of his eye, he could see a little child dead drunk and unconscious by an entire three barrels of alcohol.
Yup.
He was not letting Mirajane, Lisanna, or Elfman drink until they were thirty.
He would not take no for an answer.
Shaking his head in exasperation, he soon focused and began to look for a few suitable job requests to fulfill.
Most of the requests were fairly simple and easy, and it was only the top three that he could take on his level that interested him.
He pocketed all three high-paying tasks and immediately turned to leave and register at the task desk before others could notice him. Makarov would probably dissuade him from trying to take too many high-level missions so he was just thankful that it was only the regular clerk at the counter.
She was a taciturn woman that Makarov had hired while searching for an official task desk lady.
"Are you sure about taking these?" There was a red flush still apparent on the clerk's face. She must have had been drinking along with the rest of the members in Fairy Tail the previous night.
"Yes," he said simply.
The woman eyed him once then twice, but soon grinned in a drunken stupor while stamping the missions for him to take.
"I, I can still go for another mug," the woman burped while covering her mouth with a hand.
She wasn't exactly in the best state of mind, and it worked to his advantage.
Taking the mission papers, he directly left before the clerk realized what she'd done, if she'd even remember.
Once outside, Archer was faced with a whole new challenge entirely.
"…"
She didn't speak, but Erza was standing directly in front of him, having come to the guild early from where she was living in Fairy Tail's women's dormitory. In her hands was a crumpled up mission's assignment that on further inspection, appeared identical to the one that he'd taken days ago about investigating a village.
Erza didn't look like she'd been sleeping. There were bags under her eyes and both her hair and sleeping gown were in disarray.
Now that he thought about it, he'd forgotten to tell either Erza or Jellal that he was okay in his last mission in favour of getting some rest at his house.
From the looks of Erza's early morning appearance and apparent state of disarray, she'd probably come to seek help from the guild to look for him.
Seeing him well and okay, Erza crumpled the mission report in her hand before tossing it away. She then took in a breath and took two to three seconds to smoothen her appearance.
Then she began to glare at him.
"You could have had at least told us that you were fine," she crossed her arms while looking at him. As tough as she generally was, he could see that she was truly concerned for him.
Still, was it really concern for 'him,' or who she 'thought' he was?
In any case, he knew that he was the one at fault.
"Sorry," he apologized curtly, a hand moving to scratch at the back of his head.
"…" Erza remained silent, and it wasn't until he realized what he was doing that he stiffened.
Damn it. Habits die hard.
From Erza's perspective, him absently scratching the back of his head was identical to the Shirou that she knew. He hardened his features with slight traces of self-mockery.
"I'm not him," he said, causing Erza's expression to fall. "I know of him, but I'm not him."
Erza rubbed at her arm, refusing to give up.
She and Jellal had been observing Archer for weeks. Even though Archer said that he wasn't who they said he was, his resemblance was uncanny.
"Then why do you look so similar?" She pressed.
"…" Archer frowned.
He backed away; Erza took a step forward.
Why were all the women he met always so aggressive?
"Your smile, your character, your cooking," she glowered at him in frustration. "Why do you act so similar and still say you aren't who you are?"
'Because I 'am' him. Besides, I'm the better cook.'
There was no way that Archer was going to say that aloud though. It would only confirm whatever assumptions Erza already had. He wasn't the 'him' that Erza knew of, but an older version of the same individual whose path appeared to have had diverged from his own.
"Coincidence," he said bluntly, refusing to dwell on the topic for any longer.
Erza was already wasting precious time. He needed to complete the missions in his hands as soon as possible. The earlier the better since it would denote his capabilities.
"What's that?" Erza eyed the mission papers in his hands which his quickly stuffed into a pocket.
"Nothing," he replied.
Erza narrowed her brows. She wasn't stupid. When all signs and evidence point to a single conclusion, then regardless of what everyone else says, the 'truth' would be present for all to see.
You may have forgotten everyone, but we won't give up on you.
Erza straightened her back and tied up her hair into a pony tail. It was too much of a mess anyway and she didn't have a comb that she could use to brush it properly.
"I'm coming with you," her determination was clear in her tone. Moreover, Archer noticed that there was a keen resolve in her eyes.
"No," he responded back almost immediately.
"I'm coming with you…Shirou." her face was blank despite the glare he sent her way.
"Don't call me that," he made to move passed her.
Erza made no move to stop him, rather, she quickly followed two steps behind him.
"Where are we going, Shirou?"
"Hey, Shirou?"
"Shirou?"
Shirou?
Shirou?
She just wouldn't stop. It was as if she'd gotten it into her head that the more that she called 'his' name, the likelier it would be that he'd remember some distant memory. Of course, this was partially his fault because it looked like he was physically flinching each time the name was called, but he would assure anyone that it wasn't because he was being enlightened from some forgotten memory. Instead, he was doing his best to tolerate his annoyance.
O for the love of mercy, he needed to get away from this girl.
"You know Shirou," Erza looked entirely serious, but from Archer's perspective she looked increasingly smug. "It helps if you talk. Do you remember anything yet?"
Erza blinked, trying to associate that desperate figure sprinting into the distance with the calm and collected older brother that Mirajane always heatedly boasted about. That back looked entirely familiar.
'Wait, he's running away.'
It took an entire ten seconds for her to process this fact before her legs bolted into action.
"Get back here!" She yelled. God damn it was he fast. She'd never seen anyone that fast.
She was already panting by the time she and Archer reached the train station, but contrary to Erza's hopes, Archer did not board the train to travel. His directly crossed over the trail tracks and went deep into Mangolia's surrounding forestry adjacent to the port harbor.
She couldn't catch up.
What kind of speed was that?
It looked as if Archer was trying to avoid a natural enemy.
Sucking in deep breaths, Erza balled her hands into fists and swore a promise. "You're not getting away, Shirou." She had to help him remember somehow, and it was up to her since she didn't have time to call Jellal and the others.
Just as she lost sight of Archer entirely, she felt a certain 'pull' from her magical dimension where she kept all of her items from her Requip magic. She frowned in curiosity, but seemed to come to a realization a moment later after activating her magic.
Oh, it works like that?
Erza quickly decided on a course of action.
Meanwhile, Archer seemed paranoid while staring behind him. He knew that he should have had definitely ran far enough away, but there was still this trepidation within him that continued to warn him that he'd never get away. Especially when it was a woman on his case.
He'd once tried to reason with Rin that she was too young and inexperienced enough to be a Master in the Grail War, and he got Command Sealed.
He'd once tried to reason with Saber outside of the Emiya residence to stay her hand, but he still ended up getting stabbed.
In an even deeper part of his self-conscious, there were buried memories of a time when he'd tried to call out Taiga Fujimura on over eating only to be dragged into the dojo and sparred against by a Tora Shinai.
He shuddered.
Women were not be crossed with lightly. Especially if they were strong, and almost all the women that he knew were strong in their own ways.
One day, he swore that he wouldn't let them get their way with him any longer, but that was another story for another time.
He was just apprehensive that if Erza was anything like the women that he knew in his past, then she definitely wouldn't give up easily.
She would be a pain to deal with. Even though she wouldn't be able to push him around and what not, a part of him was still undoubtably 'Shirou Emiya.'
If he noticed that Erza or any acquaintance that he knew got into any danger, his body itself would not just sit still and do nothing. That was the troublesome part and the main reason that he wanted to travel alone.
He should be safe from her by now.
Planting his feet into the ground, he soon decided to take a quick breather.
Even if Erza tried to pursue him, he didn't believe that she'd had anywhere near enough experience to even find him. The only one who he believed had a chance was perhaps the woman that he had met in Magnolia's commerce district earlier in the morning.
Not only had he covered his tracks by jumping onto the trees, but he had also made sure to Trace a few mundane swords to leave markings throughout the forest. If Erza was following him on the ground, then she was bound to grow confused and eventually head back to the Guild House.
Now then.
He turned to the predators and forest inhabitants that he'd drawn towards him in his blind dash to escape from his pursuer.
Forest animals primarily surrounded him. Most were fairly ordinary but had vicious features such as long teeth and sharp claws. However a few were what were known as magical beasts. Vulcans were a prime example of what magical beasts could become in Fiore's wilderness, and in this case, he'd run into several different kinds of animals.
Apes.
Snakes.
Dogs.
There was a variety to choose from, but he didn't want to waste anymore time either. He had a rough idea of where he was already, and he wasn't that far away from where his first mission required him to go.
You don't know what you're dealing with.
He eyed the forest beasts around him indifferently.
Different from humans, most animals had a keen sense of danger. Some moved away from natural disasters long before they occurred, and others could perceive things that not many humans could.
He was dangerous, and they should be able to understand why.
He soon traced Kanshou and Bakuya and the presence of the Noble Phantasms alone seemed to scare of a majority of the wild forest animals. Those that remained were both vigilant and weary; a majority being magical beasts that were keeping their distance while assessing his danger level.
There was no more time for games, therefore, he glared and released his magical energy into the air.
Pale white fire seemed to exude out from his skin and envelop him, making him look like a fiery torch.
"Leave," his tone was firm.
If they didn't want to cause trouble for him, then he wouldn't cause trouble for them. If they insisted on staying though, he would not give them a second chance.
The magical beasts growled before reluctantly slinking off. Animals could accurately determine when they were outmatched and this was even more so for magical beasts. As a general rule, most magical beasts avoided Wizards in the first place.
Wizards were strong, and their magics, varied from individual to individual.
In Archer's case, his was lethal.
A Sword ready to be drawn.
The magical beasts left the area one by one until only the silence of the swaying leaves up in the foliage remained.
Good.
It was finally time to get work.
He pulled out one of the guild missions that he'd stuffed into his pocket and began looking over it for further details. It was best if he devoted everything to memory. He'd appear inexperienced if he were to review his mission details too often.
In his past life, Archer had once worked as a mercenary, so memorizing mission tasks and requests wasn't something difficult for him to do.
The only difficult part was trying to secure his location.
The bushes rustled from behind him followed by the snapping noise of twigs on the ground.
It seemed that not all the magical beasts took his warning.
At least he'd have dinner.
Sharply turning his head, his arms positioned themselves to hack down on the place where the shrubs were shaking from someone pushing through them on the other side. It was almost a habit at this point, but he fortunately managed to restrain himself from chopping down when he noticed a vibrant shade of scarlet coloured hair and a smug expression.
His mind momentarily ceased functioning while staring at the person who appeared in front of him.
How the hell did she find me?
The question came to the forefront of his mind, but his eyes quickly blanked and zoomed in on the swords in Erza's hands.
He stared at the Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands, and then to the Kanshou and Bakuya in Erza's hands that she'd kept when she escaped the Tower of Heaven.
Realization dawned on him while scrutinizing his preferred weapons of choice and thinking about their attractive properties.
He'd never be able to get away.
From the moment he so much as traced the married blades, it was over.
She grinned at him.
"So, where are we going, Shirou?"
O Fuck me.
Thanks fro reading!
Next Update: Fate in Time
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious