"Good work out there, Shirou! You're a natural!"

Scratching his cheek from embarrassment, Shirou looked away and responded,

"No, I'm not. Didn't you see me with that Cocoon Maiden? I was too reckless."

Kota, shaking his head, responded,

"Yeah, but did you see yourself out there? After you stayed too close and it was about to attack, you immediately dodged around every spike!"

"I-I mean yeah, but..."

"No buts. You still did well, and you should feel proud. Not only do you have good instincts, you also work well in a team. You opened up enemies for me to finish, and don't say you didn't."

Actually blushing a little from how much praise he was getting, Shirou walked ahead of Kota towards their pick-up point.

"No, Kota, you're overexaggerating."

Catching up to Shirou, he smirked and childishly countered,

"No I'm not."

"Be quiet."

"But, I'm no-"

Putting his hand on Kota's mouth, Shirou whispered,

"No. Listen."

No longer walking, and turning their heads left and right, Shirou and Kota tried to listen for what Shirou heard.

It was faint, but one could hear it.

The sound of quiet sobbing.

Looking at each other, Shirou and Kota nodded at the other before running in the direction of the crying.

*Page Break*

It was a four-story building, covered in broken windows and made of dilapidated brick.

Entering through the ajar front door, Shirou and Kota looked about warily.

The interior of the building was as bad as the outside. With a carpet that may have once been a velvet red, and lots of dry blood stains all over the place, the two figured this must have been one of those hotels they had heard about.

Whispering, Kota said,

"Hey, if this is a hotel, then there must be stairs that lead up further in, right? That's what I saw in Bugarally at least."

"Bugarally? You know what, nevermind. Lead the way."

Saying such, Shirou let Kota go on ahead. Passing through a broken-down double door, they were then introduced to the sight of a dusty hallway leading to a staircase at the end.

Hearing the sobbing continue from above them, they then made there way up the extraordinarily creaky stairs that almost gave way under the weight of them and their God Arcs after having not been in proper use for so long. Something Shirou noticed, but decided not to mention was the existence of small footprints on the dusty stairs, belonging to a little girl.

Reaching the second floor, Shirou and Kota were confronted with a crossroads.

Kota gestured to himself then the left path, then gestured to Shirou and the right path.

Nodding, Shirou then walked down the path. Looking left and right, constantly watching for anything to attack him, waiting for a reason to just rush to the crying girl, and comfort her and tell her it'll be alright.

Making it to the end of the hallway, and meeting up with Kota, they then made their way up the stairs. The sound of crying was louder on this floor. The two then took that as a sign that the girl was on this floor.

Luckily, this floor only had one, extra wide path. Unluckily, the sound of crying had stopped. Taking the path two-abreast, Shirou and Kota started walking down the path, trying the doors they past, until eventually...

"Hey Shirou. This door is already open."

Shirou, already right next to Kota after being called, looked at the door and nodded his head, ready for whatever happened next.

"Alright, I'm opening it."

So saying, Kota slowly pushed the door open, tensed for action.

What they saw beyond the door was...

"Is she asleep?"

A girl lying on her side, white hair splayed around her, not moving at all beyond breathing slightly.

Shirou, moving forward beyond Kota, knelt down next to the little girl and lightly shook her shoulder.

"Hey, little girl, wake up please."

Muttering, the girl turned to-and-fro, before raising her head and opening her eyes, revealing them to be ruby red, and her sclera being a slight-red, as if she had recently cried. Her pale face was also tear-stained.

"Mmmm. O-Onii-chan?"

Her expression was one of confusion, before she looked around. Then it turned into one of nearly abject terror.

"O-Onii-chan? Are you here to take me back? Back to them?"

Shirou had reached out to try and offer the girl comfort, before she flinched back and began to shuffle away. Turning his head in confusion, Shirou asked, with a hint of worry,

"Them? Who are you talking about? Are you okay?"

Shivering and shaking her head, the girl started crying again, and began to scream,

"Stay away! Stay away! Stay away stay away stay away stay away stay away stayaway stayaway stayaway stayaway stayawaystayawaystayawaystayawaystayaway! STAY AWAY!"

Then suddenly, a crashing from above was heard, before the roof above them broke and an Aragami fell in.

The Aragami was blue, with an almost human-like appearance to it.

Sariel, Shirou realized in the back of his mind.

Seeing it lunge for the white-haired girl, Shirou ran to intercept them, dropping his God Arcs to get to her faster.

Standing between her and the Aragami, Shirou raised his hands in an attempt to defend.

But before he could do anything, balls of Oracle energy appeared behind him, then extended into beams that pierced his right side through the lung, waist, knee, and wrist.

Staggering, before falling to his right knee, Shirou looked up to see if the girl were safe, only to see her shocked face. The face of someone that forgot what it felt like to be protected. The thought pushed him into a frenzy of wanting to protect this girl.

Wanting to save this girl.

Smiling at her, Shirou forced himself back to his feet, before raising his left hand.

"Shirou!"

Kota yelled, before aiming his God Arc at the Sariel and firing. Bullets flew out of his God Arc, striking the Sariel. The Sariel then turned toward Kota, moved slightly past Shirou, then twirled, releasing a wave of Oracle energy, which then formed into Oracle beams.

The beams zoomed right for Kota, who then rolled out of the way before taking more shots. As he was doing this, Shirou had begun to change.

A pulse echoed out of his armlet, causing it to glow green out of the metal shell. At the same time, a green glow appeared out of the Aragami in Bakuya.

Immediately after, Shirou's left arm, underneath his bracelet, started to burn, the skin turning a tan, with green veins working their way up his arm and down his hand.

Then, Bakuya seemed to shift slightly, before moving closer and closer to Shirou. Suddenly, it jumped into his hand, and a tendril spread from the God Arc into the Armlet. The tendril itself began to have green veins appear up and down its length.

"O-Onii-chan?"

The white-haired girl was witness to all of this, and had begun to worry when this boy had taken a mortal wound for her. For her. But seeing him stand as if the wounds he had sustained, and the bleeding he was experiencing from those wounds and from his rapidly changing wrist were nothing, was both terrifying yet awe-inspiring.

As if he were some hero from a fairytale.

Looking down at her, Shirou smiled, saying,

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

Before looking back up to the Sariel, who was still being occupied by Kota, with his steel grey eyes.

Taking one step, putting him well within the range to attack the Sariel, Shirou pulled back his left arm before thrusting forward, Bakuya piercing the Sariel's back, before squeezing the handle, causing it to go into Devour mode.

With the large black head of the God Arc forming around the Sariel, it then closed it's jaws on the Sariel, piercing into it and refusing to let go.

As the Sariel struggled, Shirou looked Kota directly in the eyes, from beyond the Sariel, and told him,

"Kota. Finish it."

Nodding, Kota switched his God Arc's bullet from Normal to a special one he had cooked up with help from Ciel.

Pressing the trigger, the bullet shot out, piercing the Sariel, before shooting back out of the Sariel and back in. This repeated several times, before the bullet faded. Before it could however, Kota continued shooting his bullets at different parts if the Sariel, until he finally ran out.

As the bullets pierced the Sariel continuously, it broke several of its bonds including the head, legs, and skirt.

As the bullets faded, the Sariel was barely clinging to life.

"Damnit! It wasn't enough!"

As Kota said that, a slight chuckle filled the air, before Shirou responded,

"No Kota. You did more than enough. Let's finish this. Devour her, Unlimited Blade Works!"

The God Arc then began to clench its jaws together, now being able to easily tear through the Sariel due to its weakened bonds.

Clenching harder, the Sariel began to scream before it was ripped on two.

Panting, as the Sariel's corpse fell to the floor, Shirou then nodded to Kota, before dropping Bakuya and collapsing.

"Shirou!"

"Onii-chan!"

The last thing Shirou felt was a sense of satisfaction, relief, and an oddly soothing feeling pouring through his body.

*Page Break*

Thank you for reading. This is Cee and, okay, I caught a second wind, was slightly desperate to think of a way to put Illya into this, and here we are. If I don't put it in post-editing, Illya is wearing a white hospital gown in this.

Second, that bullet Kota used was my attempt at someone using the Bullet Editor. I never bothered with the thing, except for one time I wanted to use a bullet called something cool.

Third, hey look, this chapter's a nice length.

Thank you to Sushant Minj and teroboal for favouriting or following, and thank you to 98kazer again, jairoesme again, and Guts and Toes for reviewing.

Goodbye.