Growing up,
- - - - - Shirou was just a completely ordinary boy.
Ordinary parents, ordinary friends, and an ordinary way of life.
There was nothing that was particularly outstanding or exceptional about him.
But, there was one thing that was different.
- - - - - Shirou wanted to be a hero.
Ever since he was young, ever since he saw his first heroes on television, he wanted to be a hero.
It was foolish, he knew that. Everyone had told him so. But even if they hadn't, he still would've known.
After all, fiction is just fiction.
To confusion fiction with reality was nothing more than a fool's delusion.
That much was obvious.
That much should've been obvious.
...But, even then, - - - - - Shirou still wanted to be a hero.
It wasn't that he admired their costumes, or their coolness, or their "special techniques".
It wasn't something so simple as that...
...It was just that,
To help people selflessly, even without expecting ay sort of reward...
That much, he deeply admired.
[]
His Element was "Fire", and his Origin was "Arrow".
And just as they would imply, - - - - - Shirou shot through his life like a straight arrow, always flying straight towards what he wanted, chasing after his goals with a single-minded pursuit, and with a red-hot fiery passion.
- - - - - Shirou had saved many people. But, many more had died, compared to the number he had saved. It was his own weakness, his own inability, that lead their deaths. - - - - - Shirou acknowledged that.
Perhaps, for that reason, he was not afraid of death, even as he lay dying.
[]
It was raining.
- - - - - Shirou was dying.
To his side, a certain melancholy priest stood, watching over his bleeding and skewered body. - - - - - Shirou couldn't tell for certain in the rain, but it looked like the priest was crying, uncharacteristically of the stoic man that - - - - - Shirou was so used to seeing.
The Priest had saved him more times than he could recall. After all, - - - - - Shirou was weak. Even with all the training in magecraft he had received, he was barely any stronger than any other ordinary person would be. The Priest was a bit annoyed at first, having a vigilante, and such a weak one at that, frequently appear during his church assigned missions as an Executor (and especially on his more dangerous Dead-Apostle hunting missions), but over time, the two had become acquittances, and then friends. Eventually, they had grown close enough that The Priest had told him of his internal struggles.
"- - - - - Shirou," The Priest asked, "Do you have any regrets?"
And of course, he did.
He regretted that he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to his friends.
He regretted that he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to his family.
He regretted that he wasn't able to save more people, that people had died because his lack of power.
But, even so,
"I don't regret it. Anything."
He answered truthfully.
Even if he did have all those small regrets in his life, even then, he was satisfied.
He lived the way he wanted to live. He had saved many people who otherwise would've died without him.
Even if he would never be acknowledged, that was fine.
Even if he was despised by the very people he saved, that was fine.
Even if he were to be betrayed by the very people he saved, that was fine.
At the very end of it all, he was satisfied. He saved as many lives as he could. He did everything that he was capable of doing, without any regrets.
And that was enough.
The Priest looked down at him.
"I see."
- - - - - Shirou looked up at him, and smiled. "See, Kirei? You aren't as cold as you think you are. You're crying."
Kirei frowned, "...No, this is..."
Shirou smiled at him.
Kirei stopped, not bothering to correct him. He let out a very small, tired and wary sigh.
Kirei took off the cross on his neck, and laid it upon the chest of his dying friend.
"Rest well, my friend. I will be praying for you."
"Thank you."
Shirou gave the man one last wide smile, before he closed his eyes, for good, never to open them again.
- - - - - Shirou died satisfied.
- - - - - Shirou died with a smile on his face.
- - - - - Shirou died a true hero.
