A tremor ran through the floor, causing everyone to stumble. Then, an alarm started blaring. It was the alarm for an Aragami attack. God Eaters all across the Den made their way to the God Arc Bay, grabbing their God Arcs and communication equipment. The Operators all sat at their various computers, getting ready to direct the God Eaters to their positions, but the readings they received made them still for a moment, before information and instructions began to flow from them.

"Warning! An unknown Aragami has made its way into the Outer Ghetto!"

"So far, it's just the one Aragami, but the north entrance is still wide open!"

"1st and 3rd Unit, prioritize the unknown Aragami! 2nd Unit, prioritize the defence of the Northern entrance!"

Orders flowed as such, with other units being given the job of keeping an eye out across the rest of the Outer Ghetto and evacuating the populace. However, the flow was disrupted by the sudden acclamation of an Operator that was investigating the Aragami through the lens of a security drone.

"Wait! That's not an Aragami, that's a person!"

Everyone connected to the communication network paused. A person? But the readings are that of an unknown Aragami. While everyone was pausing at the conflicting information, there was one God Eater that was quickly making his way outside. Coincidentally, he was also the only God Eater that hadn't picked up their earpiece. Shirou Emiya ran out of the Den as fast as he could. The longer he waited, the more likely someone could get hurt.

As he made his way out of the Den, and into the dusty streets of the Outer Ghetto, what struck him was how loud it was. It was different to when the Aragami broke through years ago. Instead of most people already being evacuated, meaning it was fairly quiet aside from the sounds of battle, people were running, calling for others, and crying in the case of children. So, accompanied by the cacophony of sound, Shirou ran towards the North entrance, marked by clouds of dust still hanging in the air.

Of course, when he arrived at the Northern entrance, he definitely wasn't expecting him to be there.

"What the?"

"You..."

Instead of an Aragami, a being composed of Oracle Cells that desire only to consume, he saw Gilgamesh instead. Unlike earlier, his blond hair was sitting casually on his head, smoothly downwards, and he was shirtless. He had on the same black pants with golden armour, however. But what threw Shirou for the greatest loop was the thing that shouldn't have been there. Two things actually.

First, his right arm. Shirou was quite certain he had severed it, having felt as his God Arc went through bone. His new arm, however, was markedly different in the way that it was pitch black, almost brown, and seemed to shift like water. The fingers also ended in sharp points instead of a regular person's nubs.

The second thing that shouldn't have been there was what he was holding in his right hand. It was thick, and as long as Gilgamesh's forearm, maybe a bit longer. It was entirely black, with the only hint of colour being the red lines that flowed around and across it like circuitry. It was cylindrical, and held an intimately familiar shape. It was Ea, Gilgamesh's God Arc, yet it was not. Even ignoring the obvious physical differences and the fact that he was holding the God Arc a few minutes ago, Shirou could feel the difference. He couldn't sense the same life that he could with a normal God Arc. If anything, it reminded him of just an Aragami. Could this be the Aragami that the alarm was warning for?

As Shirou was in his own head, as he often seems to be, Gilgamesh was seething. After all, that was the Faker that cut off his arm! It's because of him that he now had the arm of a beast! He was going to pay! The air around him seemed to boil with his bloodlust, and his 'God Arc' began to whir slightly. Before he could enact justice, Kirei, who had noticed Gilgamesh's extreme behaviour, made his presence known. Stepping forward, he spoke.

"My King, who is this? You didn't tell me you had a friend."

His sudden appappearance startled the two, but when they realized what he said, they both glared at him.

"Oi!"

His words were a slight monotone, but a sadistic glee could barely be heard. Shirou could only identify it due to having heard Rin use the tone from time to time, while Gilgamesh had been living with the guy for a decade. Kirei smiled at the enmity he felt being directed at him, from the duo that clearly dislike each other.

"Kirei, you mongrel! As if I could ever acknowledge this-- this Faker as a friend! He's even lower than a mongrel!"

"Yeah, I definitely wouldn't call this guy a friend!"

Kirei slowly looked over to the other boy that got such a reaction out of Gilgamesh. He was doubtless the one that cut off his arm, if the expression 'Faker' was any indicator. He had white hair and tan skin, with a patch of red hair and pale skin around his right eye. Could this boy be suffering from Oracle Cell Erosion? It wasn't a particularly well researched subject twelve years ago, but there were a few cases. Aside from his appearance, there was a look in the boys heterochromatic eyes that interested him. They were oddly familiar.

"Pardon my rudeness, boy. I am Kirei Kotomine, King Gilgamesh's loyal retainer." The tone he used to say loyal retainer felt at once sarcastic and serious. "What is your name?"

Shirou narrowed his eyes at the man in the priest outfit with the mullet. When Gilgamesh called him Kirei, he suspected his true identity, but with his introduction, Shirou was certain. He was the same Kirei Kotomine that caused the Great Fire twelve years ago. But Shirou had to keep whatever hostility he felt at bay, at least for the moment.

"My name is Shirou Emiya."

"Emiya?"

Shirou would have said more than just his name, but Kirei had interrupted him. His smile had become deeper, now projecting glee. But it was a terrible kind of glee, sadistic, even worse than what Rin could project. And his eyes. His brown eyes that seem dead to the world suddenly became deeper, as if consuming the light for his own amusement. It made Shirou feel uncomfortable.

"Y-Yeah." Shaking his head, Shirou said what he intended to say before he was interrupted. "If you're Kirei Kotomine, that means you were there when the Great Fire occurred, right?"

Kirei nodded, his smile becoming even more sinister. Kirei felt an odd warmth in his chest, similar to when he causes someone suffering, but even greater. There was something in the boy's tone that just warmed his soul. Could this boy have been...?

"Yes. Around the time of the Great Fire, 12 years ago, I was a researcher here. I assume you were told about me by one of my fellow researchers? Was it Professor Sakaki? Or was it... your father, Kiritsugu Emiya?"

Just remembering Kiritsugu filled Kirei with warmth. The look of despair on Kiritsugu's face as he explained the entirety of his plan, of destroying everything Kiritsugu cared for. It was sublime. Now if only Kiritsugu's answer, his final choice, hadn't disappointed him so.

"How is Kiritsugu anyhow? It would be nice to see my oldest 'friend' again."

Ignoring the way Kirei said friend, which sent a shiver down Shirou's spine, he gave Kirei the news.

"Kiritsugu is dead. He passed away 7 years ago."

"... Ah... I see."

Kirei's prior smile turned into a blank expression. Even if he did terrible things, it doesn't mean he would be unaffected by the loss of a 'friend'. That's Shirou's point of view at least.

"How did he die?"

"Peacefully. He had a smile on his face."

"Ah... I see. How... disappointing."

The casual dismissal of his father's death, caused Shirou to pause. No, it wasn't just dismissal. It was dissatisfaction at his death. Dissatisfaction at his peaceful end. Shirou liked to consider himself someone with a rather calm, level-headed disposition, except for when someone was hurt or something terrible was happening. His calm facade began to unravel, barely holding on by a thread as he realized Kirei's disposition to Kiritsugu's passing.

Kirei relished the expression of rage on Shirou's face. Make no mistake, he still held a calm facade, but the cracks were there. His face sported a scowl, his eyes narrowing and a slight growl coming from him. His eyes had both turned steel grey, and his God Arcs seemed to be shaking. However, his enjoyment was curbed by the slight growl he heard from the person beside him.

"Kirei! Stop wasting time and summon your Beast! Then I shall defeat it and prove myself as King of these mongrels!"

"Ah, apologies my King. But it will take a few minutes to properly set up the summoning."

"Phah! Useless mongrel! Fine then! In the meantime I'll entertain myself with this Faker."

"As you wish, my King."

Saying such, Kirei began to walk away, towards the wide open Northern entrance. Shirou watched as he slowly walked away, Kirei's hands behind his back, and Gilgamesh watched Shirou, a jagged smirk working its way onto his face. When Kirei was eventually out of sight, Shirou looked to Gilgamesh. He took a deep breath and relaxed, the scowl on his face washing away and his eyes resuming their heterochromia.

"Before we fight, I need to know..."

Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed. What could the Faker possibly have to ask? A part of him, a large part of him, wanted to refuse his request and attack. But a smaller, yet still large, part of him told him to listen as a sort of final request. It was his job as the magnanimous King to listen to the death howls of some mongrels, at least.

"You were here, weren't you? Twelve years ago."

Actually, nevermind. Maybe some mongrels should be silenced before they bother anyone. Gilgamesh brought his Ea before him, positioning his left arm behind him and stepping forward with his right foot. A slight whirring could be heard.

"You know that Kirei was the cause of it, don't you?"

Shirou saw Gilgamesh freeze, his 'God Arc' stilling and his expression pausing. Shirou hoped this was a good sign, as he didn't particularly want to fight Gilgamesh. Don't get him wrong, he personally isn't opposed to fighting him if he intended to destroy the Outer Ghetto and hurt people, but the memories he saw from Enkidu showed that he was also a victim. Enkidu and Ea also wouldn't be too happy if they heard that the two fought.

Shirou's hopes, however, were dashed when Gilgamesh began to laugh. It was startlingly calm, as if he was told a funny joke. But it slowly began to shift to more unstable laughter, his whole body shaking. He looked up to the sky, arms spread wide, and continued to laugh. When he was done, he looked back to Shirou, a grin on his face.

"Of course I know, Faker! He told me after all. For no one can hide their secrets from the King. But he is not the one I must defeat! To prove myself as King, I shall defeat the Beast that created the Great Fire!"

"But-- But how can you trust him!? If he caused the Great Fire, then how do you know he won't do it again!?"

"Haha! Foolish Faker! That is the point! I shall defeat the Beast, and prove myself greater than that day! Then I shall truly be the King!"

Shirou looked at Gilgamesh, his eyes wide and his mouth open, before a long, slow sigh came flowing out. Slowly, he moved into his combat stance, feet shoulder-width apart, slightly leaning back, and blades pointing to the sky. A calm spread through him, as a small smirk appeared on his face. Gilgamesh noticed the change in Shirou and responded accordingly, taking his earlier combat stance.

As the two stared at each other from across the dust street, an understanding could be reached. As the dirt shifted below their feet, they flew towards each other, a smile on each of their faces.

"Do you have enough Oracle in stock, King!?"

"Hah! Don't get cocky, Faker!"

The momentary pause of everyone in the Den somehow extended from a moment to a minute or two. Theoretically, they would have continued on to their prior arrangements. Even if the Units sent to attack the threat had stayed after hearing the threat was a human, the 2nd Unit still should have gone to defend the Northern Gate. But, an unheard signal must have run throughout the Den, causing everyone to stay silent and wait.

The speakers crackled, and an old voice echoed throughout the facility.

"Units 1 and 3, assist Shirou Emiya in containing the threat. Units 2 and 4, confront the threat located outside of the Northern entrance. Everyone else, evacuate the citizens! This is an order!"

At the sound of their Director giving orders, everyone in the Den moved to position, all of them exiting out via the front entrance except for two. These two were quite close to the God Eater mentioned to have been combating the threat, and when he was mentioned they immediately ran to the rooftop in an attempt to reach him sooner.

In his office, Sakaki let out a sigh of relief, happy that the God Eaters were finally back in working order. He pushed up his glasses, and looked to the monitors in front of him, showing two camera feeds and a radar for Aragami. On one camera was Shirou combating who he could only assume was Gilgamesh, and on the other was Kirei hunched over some box. But it was the radar that was most important. On it was two readings, both identical in nature, with one being weaker than the other. One reading coincided with Gilgamesh, and the other, stronger one coincided with the box Kirei was working on.

What had him worried, however, was that the readings were identical to the one he got over a week ago. These readings were those of the Angra.

Clang!

A couple things surprised Shirou in that moment. First, the fact that Gilgamesh ran towards him instead of trying to surround him with segments. Second, the apparent fact that his 'God Arc' was much solider than it looked. Realistically, he should have guessed that point but the way the 'God Arc's' form seemed to shift and the fact that it wasn't Ea or Enkidu served to disillusion him.

Blinking away the confusion, Shirou saw Gilgamesh's confident grin across from him, and felt the pressure being applied against his God Arc. With a tug, he pulled back his God Arc, causing Gilgamesh to tumble forward. But only for a moment. As Shirou brought down his other God Arc, Gilgamesh regained his footing and thrust his 'God Arc' forward, colliding with and redirecting Shirou's own.

Once more Shirou was confused. He's got some skills. The confusion quickly gave way to understanding. Of course he does, he did wield an actual God Arc before the Great Fire after all. If he used a Knife then his style would be centered around thrusts and the occasional slash, wouldn't it?

Another blink, and he was back in the fray. Once more he slackened his grip on the God Arc, and once more Gilgamesh lost his footing. Instead of going in for a swing, Shirou elected to make distance. He brought up his leg and kicked Gilgamesh in the chest, before dashing backwards himself.

Gilgamesh brought his hand to his chest and coughed. Looking up, he prepared to crush the Faker with his segments, but before he could...

"Caladbolg!"

Boom!

Shirou watched as the dust billowed around Gilgamesh, quickly bringing his God Arcs back to their Blade Form. After all, he doubted Gilgamesh would fall so easily to a little explosion. The use of some Oracle was a bit of a loss though...

A flash from the cloud. Quickly bringing up his God Arc, the segment collided, creating sparks. Instead of the steel he expected, the segment shared the same murky black appearance as the 'God Arc' they came from. You wouldn't think they would reflect light but lo and behold. Soon following it were more black segments. Only, these were much faster than the original segments. Shirou could barely percept them, let alone intercept them. And the ones he did intercept proved to be much stronger than the old ones, actually making him worry about Unlimited Blade Works' condition.

As the dust settled, Shirou saw Gilgamesh's defence. A barricade of segments. Actually... that's not quite right. It wasn't many small segments that formed the impromptu defence, that would have been impractical to make. It was actually three large segments, each one equivalent to the size of a Buster Blade God Arc. Looks like he's got a new trick. That made the foreseeable future much more difficult.

As the massive segments, or Buster segments as he found himself fond of, faded, Shirou caught a glimpse of Gilgamesh's confident smirk. It seemed he was revelling in Shirou's surprise. From there, the combat mirrored their first encounter. Gilgamesh attempted to overwhelm Shirou with segments from every direction, and Shirou avoided almost all of them. There were a few key differences though. Aside from the segments being faster and stronger, they were also interchanged with Buster segments, the two were only a few meters from each other, and the vulnerability period is infinitely shorter.

If Shirou wasn't being pressured, he would have sighed at his bad odds. But he couldn't so he just kept dodging. When the segments around him dissipated, balls shot out of the Ea look-alike, surrounding him and reforming into segments as quickly as it took him to blink. But it seemed Gilgamesh was getting frustrated. Instead of many regular segments and one Buster segment, he created four Buster segments. The main problem with them was that they moved as fast as a regular segment, and had the strength to bifurcate him in a moment.

All four were aimed at him from various angles, and fired at him. He sidestepped the first, coming from his left, before jumping over the one that came from behind. The other two came from above, to his left and right. But there were no other segments to contest with. Instead of dealing with them, Shirou dashed ahead, straight towards the undefended Gilgamesh. It was only when he was within strike range did he realize that it was too easy. He saw Gilgamesh's smile grow deeper, more feral, and Shirou felt himself pale. He planted his foot in the dirt, trying to halt his momentum, and turned to see the Buster segments from before barreling towards him, instead of striking the ground.

He brought up his God Arcs in a cross, and in his panic he reinforced his God Arcs. Both Buster segments collided with the Arcs, and he felt himself almost drop them. Despite the rushed reinforcement, the Buster segments still pressured him. The Buster segments were deflected, and his God Arcs groaned in pain, but the greater threat was directly behind him. Spinning, he tried to move away from Gilgamesh but saw him thrusting forth his 'Ea', now sporting a segment as a sharp point.

He was able to barely knock it away, but was caught completely unprepared for the next surprise. A Buster segment that was behind Gilgamesh, now aimed directly at him. He couldn't reinforce his God Arcs to block in time, and he couldn't dodge without putting himself in an even more precarious position. As the Buster segment inched closer and closer, Shirou prepared to sacrifice something to continue fighting when...

"Excalibur!"

A golden beam of Oracle appeared in the space between the two, catching the Buster segment and destroying it. At the same time, a blast of black and red flew towards Gilgamesh's head, but was blocked by a regular segment. Shirou regained his balance and jumped away from Gilgamesh before looking over to the origin of both attacks. Slowly walking towards the duo were Saber and Rin. Shirou could feel a small smile spread on his face, while Gilgamesh felt a scowl on his.

"Hey, Shirou! You have a lot to explain here!"

Shirou could feel the smile fade away, the blood draining from his face.

"I agree. No matter your reason, you shall be punished for going ahead of everyone else. Be prepared."

"H-Haha... It's good to see you Rin... Saber..."

As the duo walked closer, they moved to stand at Shirou's sides, facing Gilgamesh.

"But I suppose we have bigger fish to fry, huh? I thought you dealt with this guy last week."

Gilgamesh didn't take that comment from Rin well, if his growl was anything to go by.

"Reinforcements will be arriving soon, but... let us see if we can not defeat him before then, Shirou, Rin."

Shirou and Rin were surprised by Saber's cocky statement, but Gilgamesh just growled harder before dramatically gesturing.

"Enough talk, mongrels! I will show you my true power!"

Thanks for reading. This is Cee and, it's the beginning of the end. Hooray!

Some notes include, I feel that the relationship between Shirou and Gilgamesh is meant to be that of 'rivals', less in the frienemies sense and more in the sense of 'I'm going to kill you because that's how I do'. But I haven't really set up that relationship properly. The two are meant to be similar yet different, like canon Kirei and HF!Shirou. But only Shirou understands that since he knows Gil's past. Gil is just here to kill Shirou for his arm.

Thank you db246, Shadow48, and octavious for following or favouriting.

Goodbye.

Word count: 3551