It had been two days since Shirou had gone on that mission against the Vajra and the Kongou.

In those two days, Sakura had been keeping a close eye on him, and he and Illya would talk about Kiritsugu, and Illya's mother, Irisviel.

It was on the second day, when Shirou had finished making breakfast, and everyone had been plated, that he noticed Saber was missing.

Now, this might not seem odd, if it were anyone else. But to Saber, the two most important things were her honor, and food.

Worrying over Saber's absence, Shirou stood to go find her, only to be interrupted by Saber opening the door and taking the seat adjacent Shirou.

Seeing Saber give him a look that told him they would talk later, Shirou sat back down and ate his food.

It's not too bad, he thought to himself. But he should've gone a little lighter on the seasoning for the Hamburg Steaks. Looking around he thought, at least everyone else is enjoying it. At least, if the rapturous looks on their faces was anything to go by.

With everyone finishing, and placing their dishes in the kitchen, Shirou began to wash the dishes. Helping him were Sakura, who he had been training in the culinary arts for years, and Saber, who just wanted to help.

As they finished up and began to leave, Saber stopped Shirou, telling him,

"Professor Sakaki has requested our presence."

Nodding, Shirou said his goodbyes to Sakura, before leaving for a different elevator.

Entering and pressing the Laboratory button, Shirou and Saber stood in the elevator, in Shirou's case, he leant against the back wall of the elevator, accompanied by Wolf's Howl.

As they were waiting, Shirou took another look at Saber. Looking 15, but really being in her late 30's, Saber was wearing an outfit similar yet different to her combat outfit.

Wearing a white blouse and a shin-length blue skirt, with black shoes and socks, she fully looked young. Her difference between her age and her appearance has something to do with her unique Bias Factor.

Because, on her wrist--

"Come on Shirou. We're at our stop."

Blinking out of his thoughts, Shirou nodded and got off the wall.

Entering the hallway, and reaching Sakaki's lab, the two opened the door.

As is usual, Sakaki was looking at his terminal, although, he looked slightly... sad about something.

"Hello, Doctor Sakaki. Saber told me you wanted to see us. But... are you okay?"

Snapping away from the monitor, Sakaki looked briefly surprised, before assuming a more normal expression, and responded,

"No, no. I'm fine. Thank you for coming. Do you remember the mission I sent you on two days ago? And the conversation afterward? This is a followup to that. Any questions?"

Nodding, Shirou responded,

"Yes. What are we hunting? And do you want me to use my abilities? Or both of us?"

Smiling slightly, Sakaki answered,

"Just a Hannibal today. Although, there are sightings of another Hannibal, so be careful. I would like it if I could record your abilities, but Miss Saber doesn't have to use her's specifically."

Nodding, Shirou asked one more question.

"Is it already registered with Hibari?"

"Mhm."

"Alright then. See you."

Turning, Shirou began to leave Sakaki's lab. Saber, meanwhile, stayed with Sakaki and, with a concerned tone of voice, asked,

"How is Illya? And Shirou?"

Sighing, and rubbing his eyes, Sakaki answered,

"Not well. Illya's getting worse by the day, but Shirou... I just don't know. I'm hoping this mission will provide some idea."

Before Saber could continue asking, Shirou called out,

"Hey, Saber! You okay!?"

Saber looked in Shirou's direction, before looking back to Sakaki and saying,

"Please keep us posted," before leaving.

Sighing again, Sakaki looked upward, before asking,

"Is this what you envisioned from your dreams? Johanne? Kiritsugu? Making these children paying for your mistakes?"

*Page Break - Maybe 5 Minutes Later*

Standing on the roof of the Den, both outfitted in their combat outfits, Shirou and Saber were entering the helicopter that would take them out to the Sunken Grid.

Sitting next to each other, the helicopter began to take off. Shirou noticed that the pilot was the same as the one from two days ago.

As the helicopter was flying, Shirou decided to close his eyes and take a quick nap.

Of course, he was just pulled back into the past.

*Page Break - 2 Years Ago, After Saving Illya*

After meeting Illya, and deciding to protect her, Shirou's daily life had changed somewhat.

Instead of going straight home after school, or even helping others, he would, every few days or so, head to the Den, to go on practice missions and talk with Illya.

Speaking of, she had become a regular face in the Den. Acting like a needy little sister sometimes, then like a teasing older sister at others, she had charmed most members of the branch with her personality.

As Shirou went on more and more missions, he had gotten to the point where he was allowed to go on actual missions, against more mobile and larger Aragami. So far it was just Kongous, Gboro-Gboros, and Ukonvasara's. Rarely, they would actually let him go on a mission by himself.

Today was another rare time. He would be going on his own to fight a Kongou. While it wouldn't be his first time, he still had a little difficulty, as Kongous were resistant to Slash and Stab attacks.

While his Bow could, in theory, do major damage due to it's slight explosions after impact, Shirou didn't know how to release enough at any one time to do major damage. After he shoots one, and strings the next, the Kongou's already noticed him.

Shaking off the negativity, Shirou entered the jeep and waited as the journey to the City of Mercy went underway.

As he waited, he looked to his left wrist, still hidden underneath his casual white shirt with long blue sleeves. The skin had stayed a tan, as opposed to going back to its usual pale. This was different to the first time against the Ogretails, where he thought his wrist had changed to tan, but turned out it hadn't.

Before he could sink too deep into his wondering, Shirou was interrupted by the driver coughing, telling him they had arrived.

Standing, apologizing to, and thanking the driver, Shirou grabbed his God Arcs and entered the City of Mercy.

Going back to the place he and Kota had originally waited out at, as he had been for the last few missions, Shirou took a seat and called Hibari.

"Hey, Miss Hibari? How long until the Kongou shows up?"

"Not long Shirou. Just five minutes. And I've told you already, don't call me Miss. It makes me feel old."

"Ah, sorry."

Deciding to wait silently, Shirou closed his eyes, before opening them and looking to his God Arcs.

"Huh? I could've sworn..."

Shaking his head, Shirou closed his eyes, only to open them again. Staring at his God Arcs, he reached out to them.

"Wha-!?"

It was as if his ears had been blocked, but suddenly could hear properly again.

From his God Arcs, he could sense a desire. They wanted him to feed them, as his various partners had been doing most of the Devouring in the past few missions.

"But why am I hearing them now?" He wondered, not thinking the God Arcs would answer.

Because their bond had become stronger. Because they were resonating. Shirou was shocked. They actually responded.

Before Shirou could ask more, he was interrupted by the crackle of his ear-piece.

"Okay Shirou. The Kongou should appear around now. Please move to engage."

"A-Alright."

Shaking off the bizarre circumstance, Shirou jumped off the cliff, yelling his battle-cry.

"Let's go! Trace On!"

*Page Break - Five Minutes Later*

Panting from the slightly intense battle, Shirou reviewed what went wrong.

Shirou was able to string and shoot two arrows this time, but his first arrow, which hit, caused the Kongou to flinch out of the way of the second.

Now losing the advantage of range, Shirou had to engage in melee combat. While it wasn't the greatest, he could tell he was improving, especially in his draw speed.

Done resting, Shirou moved to devour the Kongou, before...

Cra-Crackle.

"Shirou, get out of there! Two Vajras have appeared unexpectedly! We'll call for back up, so just go!"

Shirou would've followed Hibari's instructions. However...

Crackle.

He was already surrounded by the two of them. And they were both charging their Oracle attacks.

Crackle-Boom!

One Vajra had decided to attack first. Jumping from behind him, and leaping at him as it surged with electricity, it landed where Shirou was, releasing an electrical explosion.

Shirou had, however, dodged. But, he was now closer to the other Vajra.

Crackle!

With a roar, the Vajra released it's energy in a two-meter wide radius around it, trying to net Shirou.

Shirou had again dodged, but with less grace than the last one.

Moving so he could keep the both of them in his line of sight, Shirou began to look around to see if there were any way for him to get some distance.

Being in the clearing between Points C and D did not provide many options. The best he had was to rush into the church and try to bottleneck them.

Before he could think on it, the original Vajra had decided to just rush at him.

Taking a defensive stance, Shirou prepared to try and parry the Vajra's attacks.

Taking a jump just before the Vajra rammed into him, and landing on top of the Vajra, Shirou decided to use the chance provided, and began to wail on the Vajra's tail. While it was moving around everywhere, Shirou was an expert in dealing precise, damaging blows.

Before the Vajra could buck him off, he had broken the bonds in it's tail, causing it to topple.

Jumping off the Vajra, Shirou moved to continue the assault, only to get struck in the side by a ball of electricity from the Vajra Shirou had forgotten about.

Hitting the floor, Shirou quickly tried to get up, only to notice that his muscles had tensed up. He was paralyzed.

As he tried to move his arms, tried to fight back, as the Vajra moved closer, opened it's jaws to rip him to shreds, Shirou began to think, before outright yelling,

"Damnit! I can't die yet! Not like this! And not to a bastard like you! There are still debts I have to pay! And I still need to become a Hero of Justice! So I can't die here! I won't!"

Then, as if like magic, a blue blur appeared before his eyes. The Vajra that had just been about to kill him had been blasted back. As the person that saved him turned to him, he saw...

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Dressed in a blue dress, with armour over it, and blonde hair in a bun, with emerald green eyes.

In her hands was a large sword, a Long Blade Type God Arc. It had a royal blue handle, and a golden blade. Without knowing, Shirou had memorized the sword, down to it's base components. It was called Excalibur, based on the sword of legend, but different to the normal Excalibur God Arc in both colour scheme and ability. This one was much greater.

But beyond her appearance, beyond the blade in her hand, Shirou felt a connection to this girl. Without realizing, his Armlet and wrist had begun to glow a neon-green.

As she looked at him, she reached out a hand, and asked,

"I ask of you, are you my Partner?"

*Page Break*

Thank you for reading. This is Cee and, that was nice. Added plot points that I'll have to look back on later, but you know.

Second, Saber called Shirou Partner, as opposed to Master, and that's because I couldn't come up with an acronym for Master and Servant that related to each other.

Third, I only now realize that most of this story will take place over flashbacks, but there will be important stuff that happens in the future.

Fourth, the Cra-Crackle is supposed to be the Vajra (the bold part) and the earpiece crackling at almost the same time. In case you didn't get it.

Fifth, yes that end scene does mirror Shirou and Saber first meeting in Stay Night. Yes, I felt it was necessary to include that. No Lancer, but I'll try and get him here later.

Sixth, I wanted to say last chapter, if I ever finish this story, and buy and finish Code Vein, how would y'all feel about a Fate and Code Vein crossover? I've already made a Shirou avatar in the game, so I'm halfway there.

Seventh, I mentioned in a previous chapter I would find somewhere to put my pictures. I now got a place. Just copy and paste the link, and remember to delete the spaces. It's

https : / www . deviantart . com / cjks1000

Thank you to XenoVise, and silverkiller100 for favouriting or following, and thank you to Kayen1024 again, SoftItalics, and sawtooth44 again for reviewing.

Goodbye.