The battle had concluded with an overwhelming victory for Shirou's team. The only scratches gained were the ones Shirou's God Arc suffered when he threw them to deflect a Vajra's strike against Saber.

Having devoured the Aragami, Rin taking the Vajra and Shirou taking the Chi-You at the insistence of his God Arcs, the team began to leave the clearing.

As they did, Shirou began to feel a sense of deja-vu. Wasn't he leaving from a successful mission before being blindsided? Or has he just been surprised so many times he's creating memories that didn't happen?

Shaking his head, he focused on the strange feeling of dread in his stomach. As if something was going to happen. Looking to his team, he saw that only Saber seemed to feel that sense of dread, if her expression was anything to go by.

However, nothing happened. It was only when they were near the exit of the city...

"Stop."

Saber said. Everyone stopped to look at her, a question on Rin's and Kota's tongues, before Saber quickly silenced them.

"Shh. Listen."

So they did. It was hard, and they were barely able to hear it, but they did. The sound of heavy breathing, and heavy footsteps. But also the sound of something slithering. Like dozens of snakes.

At this point, everyone had gathered together, each holding their God Arc in an offensive stance.

The breathing and stepping just got louder and louder, until it suddenly stopped.

Everything was tense, before...

"Graorrraaaaa!!!"

A roar resounded through the street they were in, before a giant blur zoomed out of a building and right towards them.

"Split!"

Calling out the order, all four jumped in different directions. Rin and Kota had jumped to the sides of the street, through the windows on the buildings. Saber had backpedalled further down the street, in a ready stance. Shirou meanwhile...

Being at the front of the formation, he made what he thought was the best decision and jumped towards the beast -Aragami?-. Flipping over it, he tried to slash the beast, only for his blades to cut through something, but then lose traction.

Landing behind it, Shirou turned to look at it, only to see...

"Graooooorrrrrr!!!"

A giant, almost humanoid, figure, made of a bunch of writhing, tentacle-like things. The tentacles were mostly concentrated on it's hulking abdomen, with long arms made of the same substance ending at nubs bound by a black leather band, and one of its legs made of the tentacles too. The other leg however...

"A human? That's a... that used to be... a person?"

The horrified realization came to all, with Rin, who had recovered, vocalizing it. Shirou, however, was feeling rage. Rage at whatever did this to a human. Rage that he couldn't save this person.

Because he knew, he knew that this wasn't just an Aragami. And it wasn't a God Eater turned Aragami either.

With a cry, he ran at the beast, wanting to at least put the person out of his misery. As he ran forward, there was a general cry of his name from the team, before he began to hack at the beast's body. But the more he sliced, it felt as if it became harder to cut, before with one final tearing strike, Shirou parted the writhing tentacles, only to see...

"No... No, it can't be... No..."

"Shiiiiirou... Saaaave... Sakuraaaa..."

With that, the beast's nub-like arms became unbound, each writhing tentacle extending until there were over 20 tentacles on each arm with a knife-like protrusion.

"Graaooraaar!!!"

With another roar, the beast suddenly twirled quickly, raking its numerous protrusions around it, scoring against the stunned Shirou, and tearing apart the street, creating a thick layer of dust.

In the cover of the smoke, it jumped, easily clearing the buildings, and ran away.

As the dust cleared, Kota, Rin, and Saber all went into the streets, where the beast was.

"What do you think that was? Do you two have any ideas? Captain? Saber?"

"No. In all my years as a God Eater, I've never seen an Aragami like that. Nor an Aragami still so... human. Not in the Far East or Europe."

"Neither do I. Me and my team have seen some weird stuff, but nothing like this. Maybe the guys in Cradle have seen something like that, but..."

It was around that point that they finally heard Shirou's mumbling.

Looking over, he appeared more shaken than any of them had seen, and they had seen him bleeding to death and seconds from death. He was pale, with a slight shake in his hand.

But it was his face that scared them.

His face...

"What happened to you... Shinji?"

Was one of calm rage, his eyes having gone a cold, steel grey.

*Page Break - Back At The Den*

On their ride over, the team had remained silent, looking at Shirou, who still looked enraged.

They only briefly asked if he was okay, in reference to both his body and his mood, before he responded with a brisk affirmative.

When they finally reached the Den, Shirou rushed in, going straight for Sakaki's Office. His team was left behind, having to explain to Hibari what was wrong.

As Shirou barged his way into Sakaki's office, he saw Sakaki and Illya talking.

With a gasp, Illya turned to see Shirou, slightly bleeding, but wearing a fearsome expression.

"O-Onii-chan... Are you... okay? You look r-really scary."

Pausing, Shirou turned to Illya, and his expression seemed to soften for an instant, before hardening again.

Turning to Sakaki, he began.

"Doctor Sakaki. What can you tell me about the... monster we fought earlier?"

"Monster? What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. The thing we fought after completing the mission. It should have appeared on the radar."

Looking legitimately confused, Sakaki replied,

"Sorry Shirou. But nothing showed up on our radar. Otherwise, Hibari would've contacted you, correct?"

"..."

Looking away, Shirou grit his teeth and spat out a sorry, before leaving the lab. As he did, Illya tried to call out to him, only for the door to close.

"W-Wait! Onii-cha-"

Clunk

With a sigh, Illya turned back to Sakaki, before noticing the curious look in his eyes. With a breath filled with both caution and wonder, he asked,

"Did you see his eyes? They were different than usual. Not just in the feelings conveyed, but in their colour. With that, and the change in his skin... Could this be just like that one time? I hope not, but... I should inform Licca to make preparations, just in case."

"I-In case of what?"

Looking to Illya, he sadly smiled and answered,

"In case his God Arc breaks."

*Page Break - Leaving The Den*

Shirou had left the Den at a brisk pace, garnering attention due to him still holding his God Arcs. To avoid the attention, he began to jump from rooftop to rooftop, until he reached his destination.

The Matou residence was up the street from the Emiya residence, and further away from Kuromatsu High.

Landing beyond the front gate, he put his God Arcs beside the door frame, before pressing the doorbell. There was no response. Moving back, and looking at the windows, Shirou saw that none had their lights on.

Going to the door, he pressed the doorbell again. Still no response.

Losing what little patience he still had, he began to knock on the door hard, before it just flew open from his knock.

The entry hallway was empty, and the light's were turned off. There were also no shoes to indicate whether anyone was home.

Leaving his God Arcs, he entered the home. Deciding to investigate the bottom floor first, he followed the left path, which went straight forward, and led him to the sibling's bedrooms.

The first bedroom he crossed was Sakura's. Opening the door, he was greeted by a simple room, similar to his own in its sparsity, but different in that it had memorabilia of her own. Whether it was a picture her, Shirou, Shinji, and Taiga all celebrating Shirou and Shinji's middle-school graduation, or a trophy she won in an archery contest.

It showed that someone lived here, in this room. Someone that could possibly in danger.

Not seeing any obvious clues, Shirou left to enter Shinji's room. Opening the door, he saw how it was almost the polar opposite of his own.

It was full of all sorts of things, including trophies, books, photos, and the like. And it was messy. Likely more in-line with the average teenage boy's room.

Looking around, there was one thing Shirou found that stood out to him. On Shinji's bed, there was something hidden under the covers. Pulling it out, he saw it was a diary. Sakura's diary.

Apologizing for the invasion of privacy, Shirou began to skim the book. It talked a lot about Shinji in the early parts, before it began to mention him and Taiga too. But the important parts were the ones detailed from about a month ago.

Dear Diary,

I was recently told by Shinji that Grandfather required our assistance with something. It's actually quite rare that our Grandfather asks us for something, but he's been taking care of us for so long, it would be wrong to decline.

The only problem is that I won't be able to see Senpai and Miss Fujimura today. Well, it's not that bad. It's only one day.

--

Dear Diary,

It was awful. The things he did to me. The things he did to Shinji. Oh God. He's not okay. It's not okay. Nothing's okay.

I miss Senpai. Please help me Senpai. Save me and Shinji, please!

--

Dear Diary,

I saw Senpai at school today. He tried to talk to me, but I ran away. I didn't want him to see what I had become. How corrupt I was. God, what did I do to deserve this? And Shinji, what did he do? Neither of us deserve this. Senpai... Please...

--

Dear Diary,

Grandfather released Shinji today. Told him to wreak havoc. But when Shinji looked at me, it felt like he had a plan.

Senpai, please. Save Shinji. He doesn't deserve to become a monster. Please. Please.

--

That was the most recent entry, and the bottom half was unreadable because of the tears on the page. Shaking with uncontrolled rage, Shirou punched the closest wall, causing something to fall in front of him.

Picking it up, Shirou saw it was a picture frame of Shinji and him as children. It was their first picture together. He was dressed in a small beige jumper and blue jeans, while Shinji had a black sweater and blue jeans.

Seeing Shinji's face, even as a child, only reminded Shirou of what he saw from the beast. No. From Shinji.

His face was beneath the layers of rope-like tendrils. His frizzy blue-hair was the same as normal, but it was his face. His jaw had deformed, the bone pushing out of it and growing around into a sort-of mask, and his eyes had changed.

The sclera were black instead of white, and his left eye's iris had turned red. But his right iris had mostly retained its colour. It was also in that eye that his feelings could be conveyed.

The pain he was in, the fear he felt, the horror, and the anger. But also a plea. The other eye, however, only conveyed a bestial rage, a desire to rip his opponents apart.

Shaking his head from the images, Shirou left the room and headed back down the hallway. Going down the right path, he entered the kitchen, which was empty. The food cabinets were clean of any ingredients, as was the fridge.

Seeing the room held no purpose, he went to the stairs leading upward. The second floor was quite similar to the first, only the right path lead to a living room rather than a kitchen.

Starting this time with the right path, and entering the living room, he saw nothing unusual. Nothing below the seats, or behind the television. The only unusual thing was how the television was unplugged.

Leaving for the left path, Shirou again crossed two doors. The first was locked, but the second wasn't. The moment Shirou stepped in, he was overwhelmed with the smell of age and rot.

Looking around, he saw nothing that would give the impression of age or rot. Trying to shake it off, but failing due to the piercing stench, Shirou began to look around the room. It had the sheer volume of Shinji's room, but the order of Sakura's.

It was full of old and fading books. The newest things were what was on the desk.

They were research notes. Research notes on the possible health benefits of Oracle Cells including... immortality?

Next to the notes was a key, with a message.

"Come down to me, Emiya."

Picking up the key, Shirou did another once over of the room, before exiting and going to the only locked door he came across. Slotting the key into the keyhole, and turning, Shirou heard no click, instead feeling the key jam.

Pulling it out, and wondering where he had to go, he racked his brain before deciding to go downstairs, as the note told him to go down.

Going downstairs, Shirou then began to thoroughly examine the floor, starting in the kitchen, then working his way into the hallway. As he crossed the stairs, he accidentally bumped something with his foot that lightly jingled.

Turning behind him, he then examined the floor beneath his feet, until he saw a lock under the stairwell.

Kneeling and sliding the key into the lock, he turned it and heard the click. Pulling the lock off, he then grabbed the false-floor's latch and turned it, before opening the false-floor.

If the room with the notes smelt of age and rot, this place bathed in it. The opening revealed a stone stairwell, lit by sconces, and with the end too far away to see.

Taking his first step on the stairwell, Shirou said,

"Don't worry. I'll save you both. I promise."

*Page Break*

Thanks for reading. This is Cee and, yeah, 2 long chapters. Well, long-ish. I took 2 days to write last chapter because of a negative review that gave valid points. To show I can do better, I wanted to spend twice as much time on a chapter to make it twice as long. It only reached 2K words, but that was pure story.

Second, so Shinji's kind of a cool guy. I mentioned that he wasn't an asshole, and I meant it.

Third, I don't know how to do Sakura's diary. I haven't watched or played Heaven's Feel. By the same token, I don't know where the trapdoor actually is, so I guessed it was underneath the stairs.

Fourth, when imagining Shinji, just look at him in Fate/kaleid Oath Under Snow.

Fifth, real talk. This story isn't great, but it isn't awful. It means a lot to me that there are people that like it, but if someone has constructive criticism, I appreciate it. I've only recently gotten an idea of where this story's going, so I'm gonna try and follow through.

Thank you to mauraman3000, ironpotato, ptl again, and sawtooth44 again for reviewing, and thank you dragonlord9977, Exoa, robocoaster, DEADpyrox, lubabpaul, Oniner, and Dragonmaster69 for favouriting or following.

Goodbye.

Word Count: 2363