On the Precipice Between Worlds

by Sage of Eyes

Shirou Emiya, in his pursuit of his ideals, has traveled far and wide. However, now, he finds himself at a crossroad. Will he follow his justice and save innocent lives, or betray his own world? And, if he does betray his own world, will he find allies elsewhere?

1. Chapter 1

On the Precipice Between Worlds. Chp.1

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Marteddu

…

Fate Testarossa paused as Subaru Nakajima took a breath when she reached for the door.

"Is something wrong, Subaru?" Long ago the Executive Officer of the Time Space Administrative Bureau would have paid no head to anyone's reactions. All that mattered to her was accomplishing the missions her mother gave her, until the day she crossed sword with Nanoha. In the past, as a child, she would've walked into the room ahead without even considering the younger agent's feelings, let alone intuit what they were. "…If you wish to stay outside, then you may. There's no need to prove yourself. You've done more than enough."

At her words, the younger agent took a deep breath and shook her head.

"No. I can do this. There's nothing to be afraid of." The headband-wearing young woman exhaled deeply, before forcing herself to regain her composure. A part of Fate wanted to leave it at that, but from experience she knew that anyone can hide their true feelings behind a mask. So, the blonde clad in black and white searched her subordinate's face for the truth. "Hm? Is there something on my face, Testarossa-san?"

Fate found her reply to be a smile and a firm, knowing grasp on Subaru's shoulder. The courage she saw mustered wasn't false, and that was more than enough for her to permit her subordinate to continue you with her.

"No. It's nothing. Let's go." Fate focused, her subordinate becoming another element that she must be aware of, while reaching for the door. Bardiche loomed in her consciousness, along with her Barrier Jacket, as they always did in unfamiliar, strange places and she took comfort in them as she forced the heavy, steel door to open. "Stay close, okay?"

Subaru's reply to her words were drowned out by the scent of blood and death the moment the door gave way.

The room was massive, the size of a warehouse floor, and in five-meter intervals there was a table upon which an unmoving, dissected body lay. Portions of the floor were plain, smooth cement, but most was dark and slick from the outcomes of the despicable experiments carried out within the underground, hidden base's depths.

It was worse than what Subaru described. The young agent merely described a horrible, dangerous place that her team had stumbled upon while chasing down a strange creature that looked human but wasn't, while investigating a slew of disappearances all over the world after the local authorities confirmed some form of magic was in use. The report was what a normal agent would give upon looking at the sight before them.

Subaru had described a place of mass-murder and death.

Fate, meanwhile, knew that she looked upon a laboratory.

One that already served its purpose, as it was abandoned, with all important equipment and records already recovered. Whatever foul deeds were done in this place was already successful, and the TSAB merely stumbled onto it by chance.

"Subaru, head upward and call for a forensics and investigation team. We need to find whatever clues left here." Fate's gaze traced the differences in coating of blood and fluid upon the floor. Around each bed, there had been teams of individuals standing in the same place, with the same shoe size, same weight, and… same height? Was some sort of clone at play in this mass-dissection experiment? She filed that thought away, while continuing to compare portions of each five-meter space against one another, and finding little difference in each one besides the subject upon the table. Each one was most likely one of the missing individuals around the world. "Subaru?"

Fate turned when she didn't receive a reply, thinking that her subordinate was simply shocked by the sight… and instead found herself looking upon a man who escaped her notice completely.

Immediately, she called upon Bardiche and her Barrier Jacket, and levelled it at the man who was in the place of her subordinate.

In response, he walked past her, making her furrow her brow.

"Who are you and where is my agent?" Fate kept her eyes upon her foe and Bardiche aimed upon him. The 5th-Generation Intelligent Weapon was already manifesting magic into a physical form, and Fate was mindful of the number of cartridges she had at her disposal, while analyzing her foe. He was an adult male, a few inches shy of two meters, clad in a black coat with a red scarf. His hair was red, but had streaks of white. His gaze was focused on the warehouse… and his teeth grit while his gloved hands curled into fists at the sight. Fate took that information into account, but did not drop her guard. "Answer me."

"I moved her to the entrance of the facility." Fate took note of Bardiche's calculations of the man's power from that information. Disabling her agent from right behind her, then moving her to the entrance of the facility, told her that the man could cover a kilometer in the span of a few seconds, without any form of magic she was familiar with. "You arrived faster than I expected. I didn't have time to activate this workshop's self-destruct."

Fate took a calming breath, as the man before her pulled ring out of his hands. It was silver and had a gemstone that glowed faintly in his gloved hand.

"Are you responsible for this… workshop?" Fate considered the information at hand, and buried the emotions she felt at the man's declaration in favor of dialogue. Even though he said that he intended to destroy the facility, and all the evidence and possible clues within, he hadn't while she and her subordinate was inside it. Instead of activating it, he knocked out Subaru and chose to speak to her. With those thoughts in mind, she levelled Bardiche at his feet instead of his chest. "Answer."

In the end, the answer was unnecessary, as a snarl of disgust formed on the man's face at her words.

"No. I'm not. I'm hunting down those responsible for it, but they keep getting away… because they've discovered something about your people and your magic that's making tracking them down difficult." The young man held up the ring in his hands towards her, before throwing it her way. Fate caught it and examined it, while keeping her weapon aimed at her possible ally. She couldn't let her guard down, let alone take his words at face value, but if she could verify what he said then she could find who subjected five-hundred sixty-seven people to torturous experiments. "That ring has parts of your people's magic and parts of mine. Take it, find out what you can from it, and this place too."

Fate frowned, even as she pocketed the ring given to her.

"You said you were going to destroy this facility." Fate put Bardiche into a ready state, instead of being ready to fire. The red-and-white-haired stranger blinked for the first time since they began to speak, before giving the slightest bow of thanks at the sign of trust. "But now you're giving me the way to destroy it, and telling me to find out what I can about it… why?"

Fate expected hesitation, and perhaps even a lie, only to receive a golden-eyed gaze bereft full of confidence and will.

"Because, if we don't work together, more innocents die while we both figure nothing out. I don't care what happens to me anymore. What matters is whoever's doing this is stopped." There were implications in those words. From what Fate discerned from the rest of his words, the stranger was part of another group of magic-users, one doing their best to keep themselves unknown to the TSAB, and hunting down one of their own doing radical, terrible experiments. They were unknowns who wished to stay unknown, therefore she surmised that he was risking much by giving her their magic, and leaving evidence for her to investigate. "You don't know me, but from what I know the TSAB does good work… so I'll trust you with this, so that we can save lives. Understand?"

With just those words, Fate felt her guard lower, as she came to a single realization.

This man put the lives of innocent people above everything else.

"I understand." Bardiche sent an inquisitive "sir?" her way as she ceased guarding with him, but she ignored him in favor of gaining a better understanding of her new, possible ally. At her words, the faintest smile played on his lips, and a semblance of relief filled his somewhat harsh countenance. "Give me your name, and a means to contact you, so that we can stop this from happening again."

The man nodded, while producing from the inside of his coat a dagger whose blade was made of jewels. With one cut a gap to another place formed, somewhere with grassy hills and mountains in the distance, while his other hand produced what was seemingly simple business card, and threw it her way as he stepped through.

"Shirou Emiya. Contact me through that with a single drop of blood." He stepped through the cut between worlds and gave her a nod… before shaking his head and offering her a bow. "Thank you for your help. If there's anything you need, tell me, and I'll do my best to help you as well."

With that promise, Shirou Emiya vanished as reality closed around him, leaving Fate alone in a vast warehouse filled with dead, an unknown artifact in her pocket, and Bardiche in her hand.

"…"

"Sir."

"Yes, Bardiche?"

"That man technically attacked a TSAB agent, and utilized a weapon which can tear through space. He is a threat, sir."

"And, so is whoever's doing this." Fate gazed upon the room once more, before turning to leave.

"Sir, even if that is the case, it is not wise to accept aid from sources whose history we do not know. This man could be an opponent luring us into a trap."

"I don't think that's the case, Bardiche."

"Oh? Why not, sir?"

Fate considered the question for a second, before answering.

"He reminds me too much of Nanoha when she's made up her mind to be a bad person."

"That is very illogical, sir."

"I know."

Still, Fate felt that she made the correct choice, as she exited the hidden facility.

Logical or not, her past experiences with people with so much determination and will led her to believe that giving them the benefit of the doubt was for the best.

…

Fate looked over the report with a frown, while Hayate explained the more esoteric parts to Nanoha, she gasped enough of it to know the enormity of what the TSAB discovered from the ring.

It was a form of magic completely, utterly devoid of any connection to Linker Cores. It was an intricate system designed to perfectly convert a form of energy similar to mana into an effect with as little lost as possible. In terms of efficiency, the new system was only matched by specially-made, 5th Generation weapons, in terms of ability to utilize power without any loss. Those who studied it wondered why such a system of magic would be used for a self-destruct system… but Fate couldn't help but wonder if that was the only option.

Badiche's analysis of Shirou Emiya had revealed that their mysterious, new ally didn't have a Linker Core, and all the Linker Cores of those kidnapped was harvested.

"So… someone out there is doing terrible things to get Linker Cores, because they don't have any?" As usual, Nanoha managed to get to the heart of the issue with her own logic, after having her gaps in knowledge fixed. Fate took this as a sign no look to her friend and partner. "But, if they have this kind of magic already, and their people can cut through space to get to other places, why would they need Linker Cores?"

Fate blinked at the questions her auburn-haired friend aired over the reports on the table between the three of them. She was correct. The strange individuals they presume are taking Linker Cores have powerful magics at their disposal already, so why would they need to take Linker Cores—the ring.

"They are taking them, because their current systems will only grow stronger with their usage."

The refinement must be born of scarcity, Fate reasoned with a frown. If one can achieve the same result for less effort, then that path is what shall be taken. Such is the case with those with Linker Cores, but not the case with those they now face. They have worked with less by refining their processes and equations beyond belief. "As of this moment, they're doing this much damage and harm undetected with mediocre amounts of power. How much will they be able to do, if they have access Linker Cores?"

While Nanoha merely frowned at the possibly, Hayate suddenly stood up.

"We need to put this as our highest priority." Hayate gathered up the report laid out on the table between the three of them, and returned all the papers in order into the file. Then, she gestured for both Fate and Nanoha to follow her with a nod directed towards the door out of the small meeting room. "C'mon lets go!"

Fate took note of Nanoha's frown as they both followed after their friend and acting commander.

"What's on your mind, Nanoha?"

"…We've fought a lot of people, but this is the first time we're fighting against people who are so… sneaky and terrible." Fate blinked at her partner's words for a second, as they both followed after their friend. "I don't know whether to be mad, scared, or worried. It just seems so different, since we can't just hit them hard, after finding them."

For a moment, Fate wondered what her friend meant, before thinking back on the case and coming to a frightening conclusion.

"They're operating within cities filled with regular people." There was no secret base, hidden away from everything, and their foes won't be doing battle in the skies. Instead it was secret facilities beneath cities, innocents disappearing into the shadows, and foes whose faces and methods that they didn't know. Their new foe was, indeed, not one they've faced before. This one used society as a shield against the TSAB's sword. "That will be a problem… but one that we'll solve when the time comes."

Nanoha hesitated for a second, before shaking her head and taking a longer stride.

"You're right. When it comes to it, we'll do our best to beat whoever's doing this, and save as many people as possible!" Fate blinked at the declaration, and felt a smile form upon her face at the sight. "Eh? Fate? What's the smile for?"

"You remind me of our new ally." Fate shook her head, recalling the small, slight smile on Shirou Emiya's face. It had been smaller, but the feeling behind it was the same as Nanoha's. It was the will and determination to fight against someone doing terrible things and win. "I think that the two of you will get along well."

With those words exchanged, Fate strode after Hayate, her mind focusing on the battles ahead.