Author Note

Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Fate: Sword and Arrow.

Now, let's proceed with the answers for the reviews.

Jose19 - It is, though I have decided to change a few things. I understand how you feel about Mordred. In the end, I had chosen Lancelot based on what I have seen from Fate Zero. The scene in the anime where Arturia goes back to the hill of Camlann and cries for falling Lancelot was too much. He was her strongest and most faithful knight, hence he must have had a more meaningful story than Mordred. It is just my opinion anyway.

Edgar3t - No, he does not. Normally, a servant is a mere replica of the hero. Arturia was the only exception to the rule.

Gopnik123 - Like you said, Lancelot has more meaning to Arturia than Mordred. Please see the scene when Arturia goes back to the hill of Camlann in Fate Zero. She vows to everyone to win the Grail next time, but specially to Lancelot. Also, Ruler would not see her, because Arturia is not a servant anymore. Please see Part I Chapter 10 for the explanation.

Okay with that out of the way, let us proceed with the next chapter.

Fate: Sword and Arrow

Part II – Fate Aprocrypha

Chapter 14 – Jack the Ripper

Shirou, Arturia and Laeticia had reached the town of Trifas when the sun was up.

The couple reached for the apartment that they would be staying and left their luggage there. The city itself was lost in time, Shirou realized. Arturia had found many similarities to her own era. It was filled with small buildings, closed spaces and venues and not much space for car traffic, or rather none. They had to park their car in a public parking lot by the city entrance. Still, it was a very appealing city to live in and the apartment was small but spacious and cozy. Like their house, the kitchen was actually a kitchen with a four-seat table. The living room had a couple of couches and a small center table. It had one suite room, but unlike Saber, Lancelot did not require sleeping. He just dematerialized.

As such, Arturia and Shirou had taken Laeticia to have breakfast in a diner nearby and then they went shopping. Arturia and Shirou had changed their clothes to a more casual set. Shirou had black cargo paints, a plain white shirt and a beige jacket while Arturia had a long light blue dress and a dark blue open shirt on top of the dress. On her neck was a necklace that Shirou had purchased for her while on their honeymoon in London.

The shopping part of the town was filled with tourists going in and out of stores as Shirou was accompany the smiling forms of Laeticia and Arturia waking up front, chatting with each other.

Looking at the two women, Shirou had an amused look on his face. Aside from the different eye color and hair shape, Laeticia and Arturia were rather similar in appearance. From his position, it looked like mother and daughter. Also, he was surprised to see his wife chatting so amicably with the French student. He was just happy to be one carrying shopping bags around. Going from store to store, the two blonde girls gathered the attention of the store workers, as many would approach Arturia asking if Laeticia was her daughter. By the fifth store, Arturia was rather fed up with the questions, but Shirou had not come to his wife's aid for as he was thinking on the same lines just a while ago. It seemed that Laeticia did not mind the comparison, though Shirou did not know about the girl's life.

Eventually, they had purchased everything she would ever need throughout the trip and it was already time for lunch.

So, they stopped inside a restaurant. Now, though, Laeticia's focus was on him instead of his wife.

"So, Shirou, Arturia said that you're also a doctor. That's exciting…to be able to help people." The girl was smiling at him while he turned to see a smiling Arturia as well.

"Well, yes, ever since I was a little boy, I wanted to save as many people as possible." Shirou explained while holding his beverage. "Being a doctor means that you are responsible for a person's life when he or she comes to your surgery table." Images of the injured surged in his mind, those who lived and…one who did not. "You have the responsibility of taking every possible measure to save your patient. It is a very remarkable experience, that I can tell." While Laeticia looked at him in regard, Arturia could see the brief sad expression on her husband's eyes. He must have remembered the patient that he lost moments before being demanded by the Association to come here to Romania.

"So, aside from being a magus, you also save people…are other magus like you, Shirou?"

Shirou and Arturia exchanged briefly looks. Laeticia and Jeanne D'Arc shared the same body, so she was privy to what was going on.

"I actually don't know many magus to tell you. We do have a friend back home…while she does not heal people, deep down she has a kind nature." Arturia had to control herself not to snort at the last comment. Yes, she was kind alright, but filled with mischief and could behave like a true magus when the situation called for it. While some situations would have fallen under the category of 'normal' for a magus, to Shirou and Arturia, it was downright cruel and filled with backstabbing. Arturia remembered when Rin told her about her relationship with a woman Luvia Edelfelt.

"Well, I saw some of this 'magus' and 'servants' from my connection to Jeanne. And from what I have seen, magus certainly tends to be more focused on themselves other than helping others."

Shirou was actually hoping to avoid telling her this, but it would be pointless.

"You are not wrong…" Laeticia looked at the pensive Shirou. "Most do focus more on themselves, but I want to believe that there are some exceptions to the rule." Laeticia nodded as she cut a chunk of het chicken and ate it. "Your bond with Jeanne D'Arc…how does that work, exactly? Do you feel what she feels…she was attacked last night…did you feel pain or anything…" the girl negated. Arturia was curious as well, seeing as they were indeed sharing a body and Jeanne could get attacked or worse, killed. And that she believed was Shirou's intention upon asking.

"Shirou…" The voice that responded was certainly the servant as they noticed the happy expression turning into collected. "I would refrain you from trying to get information about me. You do well to remember my position."

The physician was now looking at the servant with judgment.

"You do know that I am a doctor. What I am merely asking is will Laeticia be in trouble if you are attacked like yesterday."

Ruler was startled at Shirou's stare, but she realized it was from concern for Laeticia.

"You need not worry about her…think of me as a membrane that protects her. If I were to perish in battle, she would not be harmed."

Shirou's worry was placated by the explanation as lunch progressed with Jeanne D'Arc instead of Laeticia. Soon after they left the restaurant, Jeanne bid them goodbye and good luck with the war. The couple then returned to their apartment for the day. After arriving, Shirou saw that his phone was ringing. Lancelot materialized and took a seat by the couch while Arturia chose the other couch and released her sandals for comfort. She heard Shirou mumble the name of the caller and giggled at the number of curse words. Lancelot was quite amused as well, as all three of them shared the same opinion of magus.

"Oh Lord El-Melloi II, to what I owe the pleasure of your call on such a fine morning?"

Waver sweat dropped from his office in London at the greeting but choose to ignore the sassy remark.

"There has been a development in a town close to you called Sighisoara. Ten magi of the Association were brutally murdered."

Despite Shirou being averse to magi in general, even said despise was not enough for him to warrant their deaths or even be happy about the news.

"I see…but why are you calling me about this. Shouldn't you do something about this?" Waver had the files of the magi on top of his desk as he drank some tea.

"We believe is the work of a servant…" Certainly it would not be a servant from the red faction, since most of the masters are from the Association. But that would mean…

"Is the Yggdmilenia openly attacking the Association, even outside the parameters of the war?"

"That so far needs to be confirmed…but it would be too extreme even for them, which means the servant has gone rogue and needs the energy to sustain."

Shirou remembered Rider from his war.

"And by your call, I am guessing you need me to go there and deal with the servant." In essence, do the association yet another favor, while at the same time not, because he was a master hunting an enemy servant in the end.

He was not surprised to hear Wave laughing on the phone.

"Well, you would be more equipped to handle this seeing as you have a servant and have more experience dealing with servants than most in the Association. Plus, if you are successful, is one less servant to deal with."

"Funny how that works out huh…" The sass remark was met with another laughter as Waver found himself enjoying the conversation with the young medic.

"Let me know once you deal with the servant…" Waver then hanged up the phone as Shirou released a sigh at the cheap manipulation. He then turned to his wife who was by this time taking a nap on the couch. Shirou smiled at the scene of the sun illuminating her beautiful golden hair falling down her forehead. He could see the slight snoring and a content smile on her visage, before he grabbed a thin blanket to cover her up. Lancelot watched the scene transfixed with a nostalgic smile on his face. Well, nostalgic would mean that he had seen this image before. That was not it, entirely.

"She looks peaceful…" Shirou turned to the knight and saw both happiness and sadness in the man's eyes.

He remembered Lancelot' wish to have alleviated some of the king's burden back in the day.

"Yes, she does. Its images like these that makes me want to take care of her even more…like she does to me. I will be making some tea; do you want some?" Lancelot nodded in appreciation at the offer as Shirou went into the kitchen.

"Could I ask you a question, Shirou?"

"Sure…ask away."

"What was she like as a servant? Before she had changed her mind about her wish…" Shirou could see the man's curiosity as a fellow knight to his king.

"When she appeared to me back then, I had no previous knowledge about the war. I was being attacked by a servant and I was about to die when she appeared from the summoning seal and saved me. She helped me understand what was going on at the time and we had developed a partnership of sorts. Like you, I was against her calling me master and we faced a great number of enemies together. As to her wish, I don't know if I am the right person to tell you Lancelot…" Shirou approached the living room with their cup of tea and then took a seat by Arturia's head, gently placing her head on his lap, while caressing her hair. For a moment he forgot anything and everything around them.

"About her wish, in the beginning I did not judge her for it…it just was not my place to dispute her wish. Only someone who had known her back then could ever tell her if such a wish was right or wrong…"

"Well, I could see from your memories, that you have suffered as well in your past, Shirou…certainly you could provide her with your input…she would have listened to you."

Shirou was surprised that the bond master and servant was already working, since he did not see Lancelot's memories yet.

"I was a teenager back then…I doubted that my opinion would have met anything to such a legend…I was content in simply aiding her with what she wished." Lancelot lifted an eyebrow at that, certainly Shirou underestimated his own importance to the king. "…As the war progressed, we grew closer together. One time, out of the blue, she wanted to hear my opinion. I was so scared that day to say something that would have ruined the bond we shared together." Shirou had no idea that Arturia had awoken and was looking at his face with as much adoration as he for her. Lancelot certainly saw, but said nothing, opting to simply drink his tea. "In the end, the only thing I could do was trying to express my opinion based on what I went through, in comparison. If you saw it, Lancelot, I need not describe it to you. I had my own hell to overcome and if I wished it to have never happened, then all of their sacrifices would have been in vain…it's because of that event that I had vouched to save as many people as possible. I could not have lived with myself if I did not retribute their sacrifice. I don't know who I was before the fire, but that event shaped me into the person I am today."

Lancelot was seeing the man in front of him in an even better light now. He could see why his king fancied him so much.

"I like to believe that because of the fire, I was able to better understand my wife and thus be able to help her in the end."

"That you did my love…" Shirou was surprised to feel her hand on his cheek as he caressed her hair softly. Lancelot only wished that Guinevere was here as well to see how happy their king was right now. He certainly would like to take this image with him back to the throne of heroes and release himself. His wish was granted…not by the Grail, but by this noble man who offered his hand to the king and dragged her away from the self-imposed prison that she had chosen for herself, misguided as it was.

Shirou then told them about his conversation with Waver Velvet and that they should check this servant who is attacking magus in a town nearby.

"So, basically, he want us to do their dirty work." Shirou nodded at his wife's assessment.

"Is must be Assassin of Black, though it would be nice to know the servant's identity before going in blind like this."

"If is something we cannot handle, I will use the command seal Lancelot. We can't let the killing continue." Both Lancelot and Arturia knew that Waver counted on Shirou's drive to save people, but their pride as knights also contributed. Soon, the couple got into their rental car and went straight to Sighisoara.

===Sighisoara===

By the time they arrived, the sun was close to settling down for the day as they had their armor ready to fight.

Because of the recent news, the city at night was rather deserted, which helped their mission greatly. This way, if the servant attacked tonight, then chances were that they could handle without other casualties. There was no magus in the area anymore, because of the threats and Arturia ventured that Shirou would be a target because of his status. So as soon as they stepped foot in this town, they would be targeted.

Shirou soon understood that as Lancelot materialized next to them, looking around.

The trio were quickly assaulted by a heavy mist that obstructed their view. Assassin class could conceal their presence but could not attack undetected. The mist was obscuring their senses. The heavy stench of the dead assaulted their noses and Arturia began to cough quite harshly. Lancelot was a servant, hence not bothered by the heavy stench. Shirou had used healing mage craft to keep his lungs from injecting the heavy mist poison. Quickly turning to his wife, he landed a hand on her shoulder.

"Turia, you can't be here, head for the roofs and jump down if you see the servant. But stick to the roof."

The king of knights tried using wind blasts to dissipate the mist but failed.

"I won't leave you here, Shirou."

"Don't worry, Saber will be able to sense assassin's attack, before it ever reaches me."

The king then looked at her strongest knight, while her hands covered her mouth and nose.

"Do not worry Arturia, I shall protect Shirou with my blade." Arondight soon was in his hand.

Arturia jumped towards the roofs and was able to escape the heavy mist. She cursed as she could not see anything.

Back down the mist, Shirou and Lancelot were slowly walking trying to sense threat. Shirou had reinforced his eyes, but that still would not help him to see an assassin servant. He would have to dodge the second it shows itself to attack. Apparently, neither master nor servant saw a little figure jumping through the walls, until a little gray-haired girl placed a knife close to Shirou's neck. Lancelot moved first swinging his holy sword as Shirou dropped to the ground. The butcher's small dagger was cut in half and the little girl looked at her bleeding arm as if it was an everyday occurrence. As both turned to look at the attacker, they could not believe that this little girl was the one responsible for the murders in town. The servant quickly grabbed three small knives in each hand and thrown them as projectiles. Lancelot had blocked the ones heading to him with his sword and Shirou blocked his with Kanshou and Bakuya.

The small girl giggled and then released more smoke, covering her tracks.

As they progressed trying to track the girl, knives after knives were thrown, forcing them to block the projectiles.

"Hey, you are pretty good…your heart will be a good snack for me."

The little girl was using the walls silently to maneuver and Shirou had transformed his swords into his longbow to usher the arrows following the noise, but to no avail.

Since he could not see her, his arrows were a second too late.

Soon, the little girl was seen hugging Lancelot and whispered in his ear.

"Our name is Jack the Ripper." Lancelot quickly yanked her from him with his arms and swung his sword. While his missed, the girl known as Jack the Ripper kneeled on the ground with a smile on her face. "What is your name?"

Jack the Ripper was soon taken by surprise when two curved weapons came flying at her from both sides. Kanshou and Bakuya were attracted to one another and would meet in the middle. The two blades each carved a huge dench on the little girl's chest and Lancelot followed with a strike on his own, but the girl once more vanished. Shirou gripped his swords once more. The little servant could leave, but he had a feeling that she was hungry and waiting his heart. He knew of the history of Jack the Ripper and once more was surprised to see that it was a little girl that held the fame. History told it was a man that assaulted women in London a long time ago. History was filled with holes such as these, he mused.

They walked some more and from the looks of it, the girl had vanished. Still, the mist was present.

Soon, Shirou had noticed a grown woman coughing close to a wall and went to check. Lancelot stood close to his master as he approached the civilian.

"Miss, are you alright?" The woman had a long hair and was dressed quite provocatively. She turned and appreciated Shirou's help. Out of the blue, she attempted to conjure a pistol at Shirou, but the medic grabbed her wrist and forced her to release the weapon, just as the little girl attacked him from behind. Lancelot though saw and guarded his master with a swing of his sword. The little girl tried using both of her daggers to block, but could not hold against Lancelot's holy sword. The woman had backed into a corner and saw the girl's arms bleeding badly.

"Jack…" Shirou could hear the worry in the woman's voice, meaning she could be the girl's master, but he could not sense mana coming from her at all.

"Mama…" Lancelot could see the little girl had healed the injuries and was focusing dark energy in her daggers. Curse magic. Her target was his master. Lancelot dashed in high speed and stopped one of the attacks, but failed to block the other as it sliced his chest, earning Shirou's attention as he unleashed a reinforced arrow on Jack, who sliced it clean as she went to the walls once more. Shirou quickly healed Lancelot with his hands. The servant nodded in appreciation and turned to the black servant.

"Why don't you die?"

"I have a little tolerance to curses and my master is quite adequate at healing them, apparently." Lancelot then gathered blue energy in his sword, dissipating the smoke around them. He released it with a high swing, forcing Jack to dodge, but her leg was sliced clean. She fell on the ground in deep pain, before a command seal appeared below her, taking her away. Shirou and Lancelot gathered close to her former location as Arturia soon approached them. The woman that Shirou felt was the master had left.

"We need to track that woman…the servant would be summoned to her location."

Lancelot and Arturia nodded as Shirou went to the roofs and reinforced his eyes to check the entire city.

He soon saw the woman in question a few miles from their location carrying what appeared to be the servant without the right leg. Shirou summoned an arrow and his black longbow. Using Cadalbolg now, would kill the servant, but it would take the master as well. He closed one eye as he took aim. From this distance, he would be able to rid the world of a killer servant. Collecting his breathing, Shirou released the arrow that travelled like a comet towards its destination. The woman in question soon stopped as she looked from the mirror of a car. The arrow coming at Jack from behind. She owed her life to the servant to whom she viewed as her son. Quickly, she turned to meet the arrow in the chest while Jack the Ripper was on the ground. Shirou cursed the woman as he saw what happened. Lancelot and Arturia saw him dashing with all his available speed and they followed him.

As soon as he landed close to the woman, he removed the arrow and quickly applied healing magic on her, luckily, she would recover as it did not hit the heart. She was unconscious but had a steady heartbeat.

Arturia and Lancelot soon arrived as Shirou heard Jack's hollow voice reaching their ear.

"mommy…mommy…" the little girl must have figured that Shirou was the one who killed her mommy. Before Shirou had the chance to explain, a heavy smoke soon erupted from Assassin's body. Shirou, Arturia and Lancelot soon were surprised when they opened their eyes to see London around them, but not the London that Shirou and Arturia visited on occasion. No, this London was from the past. They could see old cars on the streets, lampions faintly illuminating the empty streets and a newspaper flying in the wind showing the news of Jack the Ripper striking again.

"Big brother…" Instead of the servant now was a little girl wearing ruined clothes. Her eyes were glowing, reflecting the full moon in quite a menacing way. "Do you want to live in this ugly world?"

Soon, many children appeared in front of them, uttering the same word.

'why'

'why'

'why'

'why'

'why'

'why did you kill mommy?'

Shirou realized that he was alone now, neither Arturia nor Lancer was by his side. Still, he looked at the children around him, looking at him as if he was the killer. Soon, many children appeared in front of him killed in all sorts of ways, some were drowned in the river. Some appeared to be killed by a terrible disease as it happened back in the day. Some were even murdered by adults. Shirou could feel his anger and slight despair at every scene that was being shown to him. He could even see grownups at the back looking at the children dead and doing nothing to stop.

"Why are you showing this to me?" Shirou's voice sound controlled, but he was having a hard time doing so.

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Children who were born, children who were not born…they all get washed down the river thames."

By now, a bunch of children were swirling Shirou as he looked around.

"The world is terribly ugly, and we know all about it. Even then, would you like to keep living. Now you killed our mommy, so how can we expect us to live now."

Shirou closed his eyes…he did not need to hear the ugly truth of the world as he knew perfectly well how vile men could be. The darkened mud from the holy grail enveloping the city of Fuyuki in hellish fire. Women and men screaming in pain as the fire engulfed their bodies. Screams of agony reached his young ears; the putrid smell of burned corpses reached his highly sensitive nose. His shoes burned from the mud was slowly but surely burning the soles of his feet. Still, he ran…he wanted to be rescued…he wanted someone to save him. Yes, what assassin showed him was nothing new. When he opened his eyes, none of the kids were there, except Jack the Ripper herself looking frightened at him.

"I know personally what hell is Assassin. You don't need to show me." She backed off as Shirou summoned a katana by his side. He could see that she was scared.

"A…ren't you scared of Jack the Ripper?" Shirou negated as he stepped forward to rid the servant of its pain when more smoke appeared and Shirou widened his eyes momentarily. He saw himself as a young child.

"Are you really here to murder us? Shirou kept looking at his younger self. "Is it the only way?" Grownup Shirou had simply placed a comforting hand on his younger self and smiled at him.

"You know like I do that whatever happens…we must move forward. Our father would not want us to be like this."

The small child looked sad, but then nodded. Little Shirou then vanished as Shirou approached the downed servant.

"I…don't want to die." Shirou looked down at the frightened girl.

"I do hope that you take solace in knowing that your mother is not dead. She will be provided for, do not worry about her." Shirou then brought down his katana, piercing Jack's heart. The servant felt pain, but just by looking at Shirou's eyes, she could feel warmth and comfort. "I just hope that somehow your souls can find peace." The scenery now returning to the city in Romania as Arturia and Lancelot saw Shirou's sword piercing the little girl servant, before the servant was taken by the Grail.

Shirou then got up after releasing his sword. He walked towards the downed mother and once more checked her signs.

"Shirou…"

"We need to take her to a hospital."

They both nodded as Shirou grabbed her up. Lancelot had dematerialized keeping watch over them. Soon, the couple reached the town hospital and left the woman there.

The hospital staff received her status report from Shirou and then took her back to the hospital. When they turned to ask questions about how Shirou found her, they were gone. Once at the roofs, Shirou grabbed his phone and called Waver for the report. He explained everything that happened, including the necessity that the Association provided their services to the woman's well-being, since she knew quite a lot about the magus world and could expose them. Shirou knew that they would take care of her but erase her memories. His opinion of magus took a turn to the worse as he imagined just how a civilian could become a master like that.

Still, it was better than leaving her alone and he just could not take care of her right now. Still, Shirou was surprised to hear an appreciation from Waver for a job well done.

"Well, for a magus, he could certainly be considered a good guy deep down." Arturia smiled at her husband as Lancelot appeared next to her.

"I only remember him from the fourth war as he was your age back then. He looked to be a good person, albeit quite frightened. His servant, though, was quite a piece of work." Shirou remembered the tails of the fourth war from his wife and about Waver's servant Rider, Iskandar. She was specially mortified at the man for daring to lecture her in how a king must behave. Though later, she realized that in Iskandar's own blatant way, the man's words had merit. It just did not apply to her.

They soon dropped to the ground a couple blocks away from the hospital.

They were about to call it quits for the night when Lancelot blocked an incoming arrow that would have reached Shirou from a great distance.

Shirou saw this and reinforced his eyes to trace the arrow's trajectory. His eyes reached the Archer of Black.

"Lancelot, please engage him. If he is here, that means his master is nearby." Lancelot nodded and burst forward.

===Saber of Red x Archer of Black===

Lancelot charged forward, while dodging the exploding arrows from the enemy.

He dodged them all, until he reached the wall of the building where Archer would be on top.

Lancelot ran up the wall, while still dodging the incoming arrows. He then jumped towards the roof in a backflip as he then landed in front of Archer of Red. The man had long red hair and wore a white roman tunic with leather armor on his waist. Lancelot stood still with his sword posed to strike as he observed the enemy. Archer for his turn knew that any fight close-ranged would not be to his advantage for as he could see how powerful Saber of Red was, not to mention experienced.

"Here I thought you would have charged at me blindly, Saber of Red?" Lancelot smirked at the notion.

"No, Archer, from the direction you have shot your arrow, I would be a fool to charge in blindly. Though I believe you are slightly out of your comfort zone here."

Chiron smiled at his opponent, while still posing his bow.

"Quite interesting…though I find myself pressed for time, here. From what I saw of your master, there is no way my master will be much of a challenge."

"I believe you have more pressing matters than to worry about your master, Archer." Arondight glowed in blue energy and Lancelot released its energy on Archer. The man managed to dodge by falling down the building and already unleashing the bombardment of arrows for as he knew Lancelot would appear to strike him with his sword. Archer was surprised when a bombardment of arrows came at him from the right and one of them landed on his stomach. For a moment, he believed it was Archer of Red attacking him, but a quick look, showed that it was actually Saber's master firing him projected arrows. Chiron snorted as he saw Lancelot running at him from the building wall, before dashing with his sword. Chiron had to block the sword strike with his bow before both stood across from each other in the street. Once more, Lancelot stood with his sword posed to strike.

"It's quite unorthodox to have a master magus facing a servant, though I suppose your master is an exception." Lancelot smirked at the comment.

"Surely, he is no ordinary magus, I can tell you that." Chiron nodded and was about to face Lancelot in close combat when he heard the command seal.

"Sorry Saber, but my master needs my help. We shall face each other some other time." Lancelot kept posing for attack when he saw Archer dematerializing. He soon dematerialized as well to reach his master and his king.

===With Shirou and Arturia===

Shirou and Arturia looked around the vicinity, while Shirou had heard a strange noise close to a machine. When they both looked up, the couple saw what appeared to be robotic limbs surging through the walls. When the image became clearer, both of them were able to see Fiore Yggdmillenia appear. The robotic limbs appear to be on her back. They knew from Waver's file that this girl was paraplegic. Fiore, for her turn, looked around and focused her eyes on Saber's master.

"I came here hoping to find intel about the mass murders and find you here instead Saber's master." Shirou snorted.

"I could wonder exactly what you are doing here, considering that it was your side's servant who made all the killing. Quite opportunistic of your family to avoid blame on this manner." Fiore frowned at the accusation, while approaching the couple.

"Assassin had gone rogue. It was my duty to stop it before it spread out of control. Though I would hazard a guess that you had already taken care of the situation."

Fiore looked hurt by the accusation, though Shirou could not tell with magus.

"So, what now…are you attacking me…I would rather face servants rather than magus, but if you attack me, then I will have to defend myself."

"This is Yggdmillenia land you are trespassing, so I have every right to stop you where you stand."

Shirou and Arturia saw one of the robotic arms open its limbs and glow in dark yellow energy, meaning it was time for evasion. Surely, the weapon discharged it like a machine gun, forcing Arturia and Shirou to each run in different directions, though Fiore had enough limbs to attack them both. Shirou then unleashed Kanshou and Bakuya, throwing the brother swords in different arcs with Fiore in the middle. He saw the other metallic limbs block the swords, but the goal was met as he attacked her with his arrows, taking care not to aim at vital spots. Still, her metallic limbs took care of the projectiles.

"You have to do more than this…"

Shirou then looked around searching for Arturia who was hiding from the bullets as well. He sent her a mental command and saw her nodding at him from afar.

Shirou then summoned a pitch-black projectile for his longbow. The memories he had from Archer's Reality Marble also had provided him with knowledge of all the swords that Archer had laid eyes on and traced, including this one that he had summoned. Called Hrunting, Shirou had reinforced his bow, while aiming for at least two of Fiore's robotic arms. As soon as he pushed the bow string, the sword took the shape of an arrow. Shirou rolled away from the car he was hiding behind and unleashed the powerful projectile. Fiore was surprised at the speed and power, forcing her to block. The impact shattered at least two of her limbs, sending Fiore flying to the ground in deep pain. The woman was even more frightened when the blond woman that was with her opponent appeared in her trajectory with a seemingly invisible sword and took care of her other limbs.

Fiore was on the ground as she looked at her enemies with a frightened visage.

"I suggest you use one of those command seals to escape like your other family member did. While I cannot say I will strike you, I can't say the same for my wife here."

Fiore looked at the golden eyes shining in the darkness and swallowed nervously. Arturia had lifted her sword upwards, still maintain eye contact with the downed girl.

"Archer…by the power of the command seal, take me back to the castle." Chiron quickly appeared in front of the downed girl and vanished with her just as Lancelot appeared by their side.

Arturia released a sigh in dismay at the theatrics and looked at her husband with a frown on her face.

"What must you pose me as the bad guy here, Shirou? We both know that you would have let her go…" The husband scratched his head at the pout displayed by his wife.

Lancelot was quite amused as he dematerialized. Hell, he never wanted to be close to the king when she was upset with something.

Shirou is her husband, so it comes with the territory.

"Oh brother…" Shirou smiled at the scene and tried to reason with his wife, who was crossing her arms and turning her head away from him. "It's tough for me to fight someone in a wheelchair."

"Humpf…"

"Say Turia, how about I compensate with a lovely dinner, huh." The former king opened one of her eyes and looked at her husband for a while, smirking in a predatory matter.

"Sure, but it will take more than just dinner for me to forgive you Shirou."

He knew what his wife meant by that look on her face as it appeared right after they had a nice work-out together.

He just wondered if what his wife had in mind would happen before or after dinner.

Author Note

Ok, for those who were surprised, yes, one of the things I had decided to change was the storyline. So, Shirou ended up dealing with Assassin of Black in the beginning as per it was requested of him by Waver.

Anoother specific change from the Fate Aprocrypha that I will divulge right away is that this story will follow more closely to the theory of Fate Stay Night's Grail War, meaning that the grail will only be available once only one servant remained. It baffled me to see in the anime that the grail was accessed before the war even ended. That being said, tell me your thoughts, please.

See ya next chapter.