Opening his eyes, Shirou saw a clear blue sky, with giant steel grey gears flying well within the clouds.

Moving to get himself off his back, Shirou felt something fine underneath his hands. Grabbing a handful, and moving it towards his face, Shirou saw that it was sand, at least in appearance. But it felt too fine. Almost as if it were...

Ashes.

Shaking his head, Shirou finally pulled himself up, before taking a look at his surroundings.

It was a plain, a plain of sand. But peppering the plain, as far as his eyes could see, were blades, every one clean, as if they were just serviced. Some, normal swords used back before the Aragami appeared, but some as the Blade parts of God Arcs, attached to handles without Aragami. The odd thing was that every blade felt familiar, as if he had seen them before.

Although he was certain he may have only seen shattered remnants in the ruins of museums and images from books on legends.

However, what truly caught his attention was the hill in his line of sight. The hill was unique, as it was both the only change in the monotonous wasteland, and because it was untouched by blades, aside from the ones on top. That, and a man, standing atop the hill. However, he was too far away for Shirou to make out any features.

Taking a step forward, Shirou began to make his way forward. Reaching the foot of the hill, he was interrupted by,

"You are in danger. Danger of being consumed by your own potential."

Stopping, Shirou looked to the man, which he could tell was looking at him too.

"You are unique. If not because of your broken mentality, then at least because of the gift you were given the day you were saved."

"What do you mean? What was I given on the day I was saved?"

Chuckling, the man continued,

"You are a sword. As such, you can sympathise with other blades. That's what this world is, what it represents. This world is you, and you are this world."

Blinking in confusion, Shirou asked,

"I don't really know what you mean but, if this is my world, then who are you?"

Chuckling again, the man replied,"

You don't know? I've been with you for a long time. I'm--"

*Page Break*

Opening his eyes, Shirou looked to his surroundings to know where he was. Realizing he was in the Infirmary, Shirou calmed down, before thinking on his dream.

However, the harder he thought about it, the harder it was to remember. All that he could grasp was...

"An endless plain of blades... And a man?"

"Onii-chan?"

Jumping slightly from the sudden intrusion, Shirou looked to where the sound came from, to see the girl he and Kota saved from the Sariel.

Instead of the white hospital gown she was wearing earlier, she was now wearing a purple sweatshirt and a white skirt.

With a worried look, the girl asked,

"Are you okay Onii-chan? You were bleeding a lot from your wounds before. And you seemed to be in pain after you fell unconscious."

Ignoring the bizarre juxtaposition between this girl's appearance and what she was saying, Shirou responded with a question.

"I'm fine, but are you okay? You seemed pretty scared before the Sariel attacked."

Looking shocked by his concern, the girl had to look away to formulate a response, before asking, in a skittish tone of voice,

"W-Why are you so concerned for me? Why did you try to save me? Why did you fight so hard, for me?"

Looking genuinely confused at the girl's questions, Shirou closed his eyes, before responding,

"Well, because you were in trouble. Why else do I need to help someone?"

Looking shocked again, the girl began to shake before diving into Shirou and crying. With muffled thank you's coming from her, and a wetness beginning to spread on his bare chest, Shirou just rubbed her head, looking at her with a determined look in his eyes.

A look that showed his willingness to protect this girl from any danger.

Meanwhile, at the door to the Infirmary, unknown to either of them, was Sakaki, looking at them with a sad expression on his face, before looking at the clipboard in his hands and sighing.

"Oh, Kiritsugu, what did you do to this boy? And this poor girl?"

Shaking his head, he walked away, intending to come back when they were done. While he waited, he would think on how to address the two of them about their conditions, and their abilities.

*Page Break*

With the girl done crying, now sleeping, Shirou tried to ease her off of his arm, only for her to cling to him.

Sighing, Shirou shook his head and tried to make her at least comfortable. However, he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

"Hey Shiro--"

"Shh."

It was Kota, coming again to see Shirou. He was, however, being too loud, so Shirou hushed him.

Whispering, Kota continued,

"Ah, sorry. Anyway, how are you Shirou? You took some pretty heavy hits back there."

"Ah, I'm fine. How are you? I don't think the Sariel hit you, but I'm not sure."

Blinking from slight shock, Kota then shook his head in resignation, saying,

"That's so like you Shirou, ya know that?"

Looking at Kota confused, Shirou shook his head and asked Kota,

"So what happened after I fell unconscious?"

Looking Shirou in the eye, Kota began to relay what happened.

"After you fell unconscious, the girl here moved over to you, and then something weird happened. She began to glow, and then the glow spread to you. When it did, your wounds started to stop bleeding.

While she was doing that, I tried calling Hibari, only to hear static. After trying to leave the building, I was able to get a connection, and it turns out, Hibari had detected the Sariel and tried to call us.

When we didn't respond, she called our driver, who was wondering where we were. After I connected, I told her all about what happened. She then told me to carry you to the transport, and we took you here to the Den. The girl was by your side the entire time, and refused to leave.

Doctor Sakaki took some tests on you and your wrist, and here we are."

"My wrist?"

Looking to his wrist, Shirou is surprised at what he sees. His left arm, an inch above and below his wrist from his armlet, had turned a tan.

"Speaking of, you sure heal fast, huh? After that wall breach, when you got impaled by the Vajra, you healed without a scratch, and woke up only a few hours later too. And now, even though you got impaled through some really important places, you already seem ready to walk, and it's only been a day."

Blinking, Shirou thinks on it before agreeing.

"I mean, I've always been a fast healer but..."

Shaking his head, Shirou looked back to the girl, before asking,

"So what's her story? And her name? Who is she?"

Before Kota could respond, the girl stirred before looking at Shirou and saying,

"My name is Illyasviel von Einsbern. But you can call me Illya, Onii-chan."

*Page Break*

Thank you for reading. This is Cee and no, it's not a Reality Marble. If anything, it's like the mentalscapes from Bleach. It's still symbolic, it just doesn't let Shirou pull swords into the real world, or yank people into his world.

Second, I wanted to continue from last time, and I feel pretty good about this.

Third, UBW, not to be confused with the God Arc called Unlimited Blade Works, has an appearance more like UBW Shirou's back in the Shirou/Archer fight in the anime, when Shirou was reaffirming that his dream wasn't a mistake. This is because, this Shirou still fully believes in his dream, as it hasn't truly been challenged yet.

Fourth, I kinda accidentally characterized Shirou similar to Touma from A Certain Magical Index, and while they are both similar, I feel saying 'I helped you because you were in trouble' is just basically owned by Touma, and no one else can say it without sounding wrong.

Fifth, I'm sorry if this story is too short, but I just write until I feel I'm at either a satisfying conclusion (that's a lie), or a cliff-hanger that feels right.

Thank you to Tama001, ptl, Linkskingsolomon, and emmanuelq199 for following or favouriting, and thank you to sawtooth44 again, ptl, and Guts and Toes again for reviewing.

Goodbye.