A white haze loomed over the room like a storm cloud. It was sad to say that the smoke was the most pleasing part of the room, and that was really saying something. The rest of the room looked like the laboratory of a mad scientist, or an alchemist, or a necromancer, or even a witch doctor. In addition to the laboratory look, the walls were lined with shelves filled with murky, eerie vials as well as wicked looking supplies. The room also had multiple tables that served as operation surfaces, if the stains from the patient's fluids were anything to judge by.

Needless to say it was not a nice room to be in.

"Do you really have to smoke while you do this? Can't you do that when you're done?" Shirou asked nervously, while sitting shirtless on a blood stained table.

The mad scientist, necromancer, alchemist and/or witch doctor himself looked up with disinterested golden eyes. Pathfinder, the Vance knight medic, sat behind his desk with a pipe hanging out of his mouth and Shirou's chart in front of him. As Shirou found out twenty minutes ago, it seemed that the tall white haired male was the head medic for the Vance knight. A job that caused him to be rather inactive when compared to his comrades.

"Don't lose your head cherry top." Pathfinder said dismissively and puffed his pipe. "I hate tobacco, and these herbs have medical benefits. Trust me, I'm a doctor."

"For some reason that doesn't assure me one bit." Shirou's eyebrow twitched and his nose crinkled at the smell of the smoke. It smelled like coriander, only bitter. However, that smell was easily eclipsed by a more rustic scent: death. The whole room smelled like death, but the scent was mostly concentrated at the table next to Shirou. Surprisingly, or rather unsurprisingly, the table had a large cloth covering an object on top of it.

"That is Herbert." Pathfinder spoke up with a smirk, apparently noticing that Shirou was eyeing the large object. "He... drank the wrong vial."

"A vial of what?" Shirou shivered. "And what is with that smirk?"

"Or at least I think he did." Pathfinder continued before stroking his chin. "The one he drank might have been the right one. They both could have been deadly." The white haired male nodded. "Yeah, that was it. So, I guess I should start labeling my mixtures now."

"Oh boy."

"Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I was examining ruby locks."

Shirou sighed and and shook his head. The circumstances that lead to this situation were rather, well, strange. When Shirou returned home, the cut that he got from Melona hadn't healed completely and it was big enough for most to see it. When Count Vance saw it he had a fit and ordered Shirou to not only see the Vance family doctor, but also the guard medic. It was a complete shift from the normally indifferent and somewhat distant Count Vance that everyone knew.

"Yesterday was a weird day to begin with. I really shouldn't be surprised that another weird thing happened." Shirou thought, before looking at the murky vials over on the shelves against the walls. "This stuff looks like poison. Ah, now I understand."

"Well, you're fine." Pathfinder said leaning back in his chair and taking another puff. "There were no traces of poison in the wound and its healed already. Your body is in peak condition so I'd say you're fine. You're chart is quite impressive."

Shirou groaned and face palmed. So basically, both of these checkups were for nothing. They had no other purpose other than to tell him what he already knew. Well, that was four hours of his life that he wasn't going to get back. They were also four hours of his life that he could have spent researching the creature he encountered yesterday. He had a feeling in his gut that another encounter with Melona was just over the horizon, and this time he will be prepared.

"Um... I forgot to ask yesterday, but did you and Jack find the other missing people?" Shirou asked while scratching the back of his head. He meant to ask when they got back but he was whisked to the doctor so fast he didn't have time.

"Yes we did. They were in bad shape but were otherwise alive." Pathfinder said lazily. "I gave them an ointment that speeds up regeneration but stings like all kinds of hell."

"Sounds like a handy mixture." Shirou commented while putting his shirt on. "Are you a medicine man or something?"

The white haired male shook his head. "I like to think of myself as more of a shaman, but a medicine man isn't wrong I guess." He puffed his pipe. "My parents were witch doctors and taught me everything they knew."

"Witch doctors?" Shirou quirked an eyebrow. He knew what it was, but he wasn't sure if the meaning of the word was the same.

"Aye." Was the lazy response. "Witch doctors have many roles that they can fill. However, we specialize in treating aliments caused by witches." Was the not so lazy response. "But, even among the witch doctors back home, my methods have always been... unique."

"Oh really?"

Pathfinder sighed. "You're free to go." The medic's eyes suddenly lit up. "Unless, of course, you want to test something for me. I guarantee you that it is safe... for the most part."

"No thank you!" In a red blur Shirou zoomed out of the room leaving an astonished Pathfinder behind. It seems he was finally catching up to Elina.

A moment went by before Pathfinder sighed and puffed his pipe. He lost more test subjects that way. He really needed to change his pitch and it was pretty obvious what he was doing now wasn't working. Maybe, leaving out the part of it being mostly safe would do the trick.

Shirou whistled as he walked down the hallway to the library. He was in pretty high spirits despite the fact that only moments ago Pathfinder had tried to get him to test... something. He didn't really know what Pathfinder wanted him to do and he really didn't care. Shirou would rather fight a hoard of Dead Apostles than go back there. The room itself was pretty off putting, and Pathfinder's questionable medical skills didn't help either. The fact he poisoned a patient didn't exactly scream professional.

"Well, that is one room I never want to go back to." Shirou thought as he entered the hallway that had Leina's and Elina's rooms. He smiled when all the memories of the good times he had down here flooded his mind."Been a while since I've been down here. It's as peaceful as I remember."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" A shrill cry cut through the air like a knife.

Shirou stopped, scowled, and sighed. "Yep, saw that coming. This world just likes to prove me wrong."

The shout came from Elina's room, the one closest to where he was. He could tell because the voice nearly shattered his eardrums into billions of pieces. Elina had always been the most vocal of the Vance children, more than Claudette, and much more than Leina.

"Let's see what is going on." Shirou thought and peeked his head into Elina's room.

Elina was standing, arms folded, in front of a kneeling girl who was saying something but not loud enough for Shirou to hear. His eyes shifted towards the back of the room were the rest of Elina's maids were gathered, surely cowering at the sight of Elina's tantrum. This 'tantrum' was actually just Elina's superiority complex at its best. A fact that Shirou was quite aware of despite her never showing it for her family to see.

"Now, let's try this again." Elina said much quieter and calmer tone than before. "What did I ask you to get?"

The maid, the one kneeling in front of her, whimpered and once again muttered something too quiet for Shirou to hear. He was pretty sure she was apologizing though. However, whatever the maid said just seemed to tick Elina off even more.

"Speak up! I can't hear you!" Elina growled, yeah, she was in a mood.

The girl flinched at either the volume of Elina's voice or the sharpness of her words.

"I... I-I'm sorry." The girl whimpered just loud enough for Shirou to hear it this time. "I... I didn't k-know that it was go-goat's milk."

"Well, learn the difference!" Elina snapped. "Seriously! You are so useless! Maybe I should fire you right now!"

"No!" The girl cried quite loudly despite how quiet she was just a moment ago. "I mean... you don't have to do that."

"Why?" Elina said simply, "Who gave you the right to boss me around!? Whoever did was gravely mistaken!"

"But I..."

"Silence!" Elina screamed. "That is the last straw! You're fire-OW!"

Before she could finish that statement, a hand came down on Elina's head. The blow wasn't strong enough to cause any real damage, but it was firm and it certainly hurt. The blonde girl hissed and held her head before she spun around to face her assaulter.

"Who dares...!" She started to snarl but stopped dead in her tracks.

When she turned, she found a very displeased Shirou standing there. He was looking down at her with a disappointed look. However, it took her a few moments before she seemed to realize that he was giving her that look. He never gave her that look. That look was one that in an instant, she came to fear and one she dreaded.

"O-Onii-chan." She unknowingly stammered.

"Hi…" He offered, displeasure present even in that one word. "Are you going to fire me too?" Elina flinched. "Or would you rather I show myself to the door?"

"N-no. I..." She stopped, there was nothing she could say. She'd been caught.

Shirou crossed his arms. "We'll talk about this later." Elina flinched again but nodded sadly. He turned to the other maids. "You're free to go. I'll get Elina's milk."

With that said, the maids and Shirou left the room, leaving a stunned Elina standing there. She couldn't believe what just happened even though it literally just happened. Maybe it was the shock, or is it because she hadn't been scolded in a while… but she knew what it really was. Her brother was very kind to her and not once did he give her such look. Sure, he did scold her and he did scowl at her, but he never gave her a look like that.

"Was he... mad at me?"

A few hours had passed since the incident with Elina and everything had really, really quieted down. It was quieter now than it was before Shirou scolded Elina and it was actually quite disturbing. It was only this quiet around here at night and/or when something bad happened, and in this case it seemed to be the latter. The entire estate was as quiet as a graveyard and not a single soul dared to break the silence.

The only place that seemed to be unaffected by the silence was Shirou's shed/workshop. Shirou himself was inside and looking at a book he found in the library, Orsen-Well's Bestiary, a compendium of beasts of this world. It was the first step to discovering the weakness of that annoying pink haired slimy woman.

Shirou sat on the floor and after carefully examining the contents of each page flipped. He really needed a desk in here.

"Abarimon, nope. Aspidochenlone... cool but no." Shirou thought, "Geez, none of them look anything like her. They aren't slimy."

Shirou's search for the species of the mystery creature was fruitless so far. Melona was slimy, pink and moist, but none of the creatures so far matched that description. There were a few that matched the description partly but lacked the other necessary features. At this point he was more in interested in looking at all of the creatures as a whole rather than looking for a specific one.

"The beasts in here are a lot like the ones in the Medieval Bestiaries." Shirou noted, having read a few of them himself and fought the beasts themselves. "A few of them I've never seen before, but they're similar for the most part."

Even though Shirou was focused on the book, his eyes were slowly drifting towards a common kitchen knife placed in the corner. The knife had been there since yesterday and was a part of an experiment Shirou came up with. He'd been living in this world for fifteen years and had yet to figure out of this world had Gaia, the planet's will to survive. As far as Shirou could tell, the answer to that was either no OR Gaia didn't have a strong presence in this world.

"I think that at my current level I can keep that knife here for a week, as long as Gaia doesn't interfere." Shirou noted before looking back down at his book. "If that knife dissipates before a week is up then Gaia exists. If it doesn't than Gaia is either weak or doesn't exist here."

The experiment would be finished soon enough, but there was another matter that needed attention: the Noble Phantasm. He learned a while ago that every time he traced them, a little more of them appeared each time. However, the amount gained required him to reinforce his eyes to see it. So progress was only millimeters of difference and it would be a long time before he could trace an entire Noble Phantasm. However, he could still trace normal weapons and he assumed he could trace the unusual weapons like the Black Keys.

"All in good time." Shirou thought simply before taking out his journal to record information that the bestiary provided. "Now, back to business."

A few had passed since the incident with Elina and everything was back to normal, at least for the most part. However, there were a few peculiar things as well, such as Elina going out of her way to avoid Shirou and Leina being more vocal than usual. To anyone who spent a lot of time in the estate, those two occurrences were among the weirdest and knew that this was just the beginning. After all, weird things travel in packs around here.

It was the middle of the afternoon and rays of the afternoon sun were shining through the large windows of the dinning room. The light illuminated the long cloth covered table in the middle of the room as well as the fine glasses, porcelain plates, and clean silverware. Regardless of the time, the dinning room was a lovely room to be in.

Maria and Shirou sat at the north end of the table. Maria was wearing a simple white dress and Shirou was wearing his body armor, like usual. He felt no reason to take it off since he was usually going on tasks anyways.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Maria asked and knitted her fingers together.

Shirou sighed. "Ah, well, I was thinking about going on a journey in year or two from now."

Maria nodded. "I can understand that." She said simply. "You have been cooped up in the estate for fifteen years."

A smile played at Shirou's lips. He was glad that Maria understood, if he asked Count Vance he would have been rejected instantly. The aging count probably would have made a clever excuse to go with it as well. Count Vance was predictable like that.

"So, what do you think?" Shirou asked.

"You have my blessing. I think having a person as kind and helpful as you going around would be good." Maria replied with a sincere smile. "You don't really have to ask Earl. When you're ready to go, just go and I'll smooth things out with Earl." She finished with an amused smirk.

The redhead laughed. Yeah, that was definitely something that he expected Maria to say. It was no secret that Maria was a little rebellious and she often did things without Count Vance's consent or when he told her not to do something, but she did it anyways. That was just the kind of person that she was. However, Shirou couldn't shake the feeling that Maria's rebelliousness would have a price to pay one day.

"Thank you Ms. Maria. As always, you've been a big help."

"No problem Shirou, but I want you to make me a promise."

"Yes?"

Maria smiled gently. "Promise me that you'll help as many people as you can along the way."

That was when Shirou saw it, the image of his adopted father, Kiritsugu Emiya standing right next to Maria, smiling. Maria and Kiritsugu were so much alike yet so different that it hurt to even think about it. He noticed their similarities a long time ago, but now it appeared that they had something else in common. It was clear their methods were different but they had the same interests.

"Thank y-"

At that moment a loud thud resonated within the room and both Maria and Shirou turned to see a maid collapsed on the floor. The maid herself was young, no older than thirteen, she had shoulder length brown hair, a well developed yet surely still developing body and wore the standard maid uniform only in a smaller size. All in all, she was quite attractive and she still had yet to bloom. For an odd reason she looked familiar, yet so unfamiliar.

"Oh dear." Maria said in an unnaturally lady-like manner. She even put a hand on her cheek and frowned. "Poor thing. Shirou, be a dear and take her to Jasper. He should be in the medic room."

However, as she said that Shirou had already gotten up, scooped the girl up and ambled as fast as he could out of the room. "Way ahead of you Ms. Maria." He said as he disappeared from sight.

"That's my boy. He's already reading my mind."

Shirou's eyebrow twitched as he stood in front of the door to the room that he hoped he wouldn't have to ever see again: the medic's room. But here he was, standing outside the room while carrying an unconscious maid bridal style in his arms. No big deal, it was just a normal day in the life of Shirou Emiya-Vance. But that didn't mean that it wasn't awkward and that look from passers-by weren't any less piercing. Although, carrying an unconscious woman like that would warrant stares.

"I really hope Claudette doesn't see this. She'll have my neck if she does." Shirou thought impatiently.

As if on cue the door opened and a disheveled Pathfinder came into view. He looked terrible with a capital T. His snow white hair was now spotted with marks as black as coal, and he had similar spots all over his body and armor. His eyes were bloodshot had big raccoon-like rings around his eyes, not under his eyes but around his eyes. Essentially, he looked like a dalmatian with raccoon eyes.

"May I help you?" Pathfinder asked in a surprisingly neutral tone.

"Yeah, this girl she..." Shirou started before Pathfinder hand up shot up to stop him.

"Say no more. What you do with the maids in your free time is none of my business." The white haired male said, confusing Shirou. "Bring her in."

Shirou had a pretty good idea what that first sentence was supposed to mean but ignored it in favor of getting this girl help as soon as possible. Pathfinder had stepped aside and Shirou walked in to place the girl on the first table he could find. The room still smelled like death but there were a lot more herbal scents than before so it wasn't as strong. Shirou looked over to see Pathfinder fiddling with some vials and mixing things together.

"What are you doing?"

"My damn job?" Was the sarcastic quip.

Shirou scowled but said nothing. He simply waited for Pathfinder to finish whatever he was doing, and fortunately he didn't have to wait long before the medic produced a green fluid. The medic walked over the maid and literally opened her mouth and poured the fluid down her throat. Shirou was astonished but after a few seconds later the maid opened her eyes to reveal emerald green orbs.

The redhead turned to Pathfinder. "What was in that stuff?"

"The root of a Bedlam Bloomer. It has stamina restoring properties, which was perfect in this case since our maid friend is suffering from exhaustion. I wouldn't expect anything less from Elina's punching bag."

"So this is who Elina threatened to fire." At that time Shirou was more concerned with scolding Elina than memorizing faces. "I guess Elina has been bullying her for a while if she's this bad off."

"Speaking of the little brat. I haven't seen much of her lately. You two have a fight or something?"

"She's mad at me."

"For?"

"I punished her for threatening to fire..." That was the moment when Shirou realized he didn't know the girl's name.

"Nyx. Her name is Nyx."

"Where am I?" The said girl now identified as Nyx asked. She literally just came to her senses.

"This is the medic's room. You collapsed and ruby locks carried you here." Pathfinder said as he pointed at Shirou. "If you'll excuse me. I have to check on my supplies in the barracks." With that said he left.

"Th-thank you, Master Shirou." The maid said barely loud enough to be heard.

The redhead smiled. "No problem. I'm glad I could help Nyx."

"Y-you know my name?" The maid flushed, her voice shrill and high pitched.

"Pathfinder just told me. He also told me that Elina's been bullying you for a while now."

Nyx frowned and lowered her head. "Yeah, she has. I need this job so I put up with it."

"Why?"

"My mother is sick." Nyx lowered her had even more. "She doesn't have much time left and... and if I.." She stopped as tears welled in her eyes.

Nyx suddenly felt her self being pulled up. She looked up to see that Shirou had embraced her. Her cheeks flushed red. She could feel his body push up against her own, it was surprisingly muscular, not many teenagers had this much muscle.

"Sorry, if this seems a bit sudden. I just had the urge to hug you, honest. I'm used to calming my sisters down this way." He told her and it was the truth. "I'll help you as much as I can Nyx. I promise."

"R-really?" She asked as he released her from his embrace.

"Yes." He replied honestly. "What is that you need?"

"I-I was saving money for the medicine."

"How much does it cost?"

"One thousand gold. It's extremely rare." Nyx lowered her head. At this point things were looking bleak. She only had four hundred, nowhere near her goal.

"Will this help?" Nyx looked up to see Shirou extending a bag of coins her way. "I have about five hundred."

"Y-yes." A blush spread across Nyx's cheeks. "Th-thank you, but I only have four hundred. There is still one hundred to get."

"Sh-Shirou-onii-chan." A voice resonated.

Both Shirou and Nyx turned to the door to see a red faced Elina standing there. She'd either been either crying, rubbing her face, or working out. She was wearing a sky blue dress, her favorite if Shirou recalled it right.

"Yes?" Shirou asked plainly. He was still kind of annoyed with her.

"I'm sorry… I'm really sorry." Elina whimpered as tears seemed to well up in her eyes.

"I see." Shirou said as he walked up to her and ruffled her hair affectionately. "I forgive you. Although, I would like your help with something."

Elina's eyes lit up and her enthusiasm returned. "Anything!"

"Lend Nyx one hundred gold please." He asked. Normally, he wouldn't have done something like this, but it sounded like Nyx's mother was gravely ill and besides, Elina needed to atone.

"Oh," Elina turned to Nyx, who flinched at her gaze, must be a reflex. "Nyx was her name? Okay, anything for Onii-chan!" She cheered before she skipped out of the room.

"Your sister has one hundred gold just lying around?" Nyx asked.

Shirou chuckled. "Yes she does. If she asks for something, she'll get it without fail."

"Master Shirou."

Said man turned around and was surprised at what he saw. Nyx with the most adorable smile he had ever seen, it was also the first time that he had seen her actually smile. He liked her smile, it really fit her

"Thank you."

Shirou's cheeks flushed red and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "No problem."

At that moment Pathfinder walked into the room and observed what was going on. "I have the feeling I missed something cheesy."

To the reviewer that suggested the story idea, I appreciate the gesture, but I have no clue what the White Knight Chronicles is. It does look like something I would like so I'll look into it.

To the other reviewer, Incest is not my thing.

AN

Story Related:

Nyx:

Yeah, I messed with the timeline right there, but as I have said a few times before, this is an AU. Plus, and wanted to see if I could pull off that Shirou x Nyx moment, it turned out pretty cheesy actually. Although I bet some of you are like:

"Shirou x Nyx! 12/10 would ship!"

Am I right? I also think it's better for Nyx's attraction to grow over time rather than to simply be attracted to someone you barely know. At least that is what I think. I'm not use to writing romance.

Gaia:

It was brought up in chapter, but it Gaia's presence has yet to be confirmed in this world. If Gaia is a force in this world will be answered next chapter because I started to run out of steam with this chapter.

Beta Reader

My Beta Reader AstralJean has been a big help and these chapters would turn out so well if wasn't such a big help. He's been an awesome beta reader so far so give credit where credit is due.

Non-Story Related:

Akame Ga Kiru

AGK is by far my favorite manga. It got an anime a few days ago and I'm impressed by how well it turned out. This is definitely a category that I'm going to write a story with in the future. I think it needs more stories, but I don't think it needs stories where Naruto can use 3 teigus at once. No thank you

Naruto Stories?:

Likely not. Personally, I have no problems with Naruto as a series, I do, however, have issues with the crossover fanfictions that walk over the other series just to build Naruto up. You know what I mean: making him godlike, decreasing the power level of the universe he's in, giving him someone OP (Overpowered). I'm sorry, but I can't stand that. Now if it's a good story, I can overlook somethings.

However, I won't leave a bad review just because I don't like how the story is set up. I won't go out of my way to point out things I don't like so I just move on and be done with it.

If I ever do write a story with Naruto, it likely won't have Naruto or Sasuke in it. I like Itachi though, so it would probably be about him.

If you disagree with me that's fine and you're entitled to that. Let's just agree to disagree then.

Preview:

Below are a possible scenes from the possible story I mentioned last chapter. AstralJean helped with a bit and the quality is pretty low because were just trading possible scenes with each other. If they seem crude and if some characters of OOC that is probably why.

Before you ask, "Who is Zane?", I'll answer it. He's an OC, my OCs are always side characters by the way. He has a personality similar to a mixture of Miya (Sekirei), Aneko (Highschool DxD), Itachi (Naruto), and Vergil (DMC). He specializes in illusion magic and he has vast amounts of magical power.

Take 1:

"Wait, you want me to what?"- Gilgamesh
"You heard me, slap yourself blondie." - Zane *Still smiling*
"Why?"- Gilgamesh
"Ah, you're a 'king' after all, and the only one worthy of touching one is another king.." - Zane *still smiling*
"I refuse! How dare you even suggest thing you filthy mongrel!" - Gilgamesh
"Okay, I guess you don't want this job then. We're the only place that will hire you blondie." - Zane
"...I hate you."

Take 2:

"..."- Archer
"Hello, there sir. I'm the manager, Zane Endsworth, and this is the store butt monkey-I mean janitor, Blondie the princess."- Zane
"...I hate you." -Gilgamesh
"Hate? What a naughty word to use. Maybe I should punish you."
"..."- Archer *walks away*
"Have a nice day sir, come again." - Zane.
"Where are you going?"- Gilgamesh
"To get a camera." - Archer

Take 3:

"C-calm down Gilgamesh I didn't mea-"- Shirou
"Shut up mongrel! What does a proud woman like Saber see in you when she could have the King of Kings!" Gilgamesh declares with closed eyes.
He opens them up and sees Saber standing next to Shirou who is doing his best to not laugh.
Sabar calmly stares at Gilgameh, take out some food, eats it, throws the trash on the ground and say. "Clean up this mess... King of Janitors"
Gilgamesh is close to fainting.
Zane comments. "More like a king of red butt apes"
Gilgamesh's soul starts leaving his body.

Take 4:

"What is it mongrel?!"
"Oh nothing, just keep doing your job janitor boy." Lance throws a piece of gum on the floor and walks to the counter to check on something while laughing.
Gilgamesh grits his teeth but then a light bulb appears above his head. He gains a smile filled with evil.
Lancer walks back to the exit but suddenly slips on the floor and slides straight into a wall, head first. He screams "What the hell?!"
He looks back and sees a whistling Gilgamesh put a sign, "Be careful, slippery floor"
"You basta-rd! It's your fault!" Screams Lancer with a bleeding head.
"Oh I don't understand what you're talking about I'm just doing my job. Don't blame you inability to read on others... *evil smirk*... you dog."
Gilgamesh walk away laughing.
Lancer smirks "So that's how you gonna play it you golden pri-ck! I'll show you!"

"Oh my, it seems that I have to lay down the rules for you." Zane says from behind he counter a creepy smile gracing his face. "I won't have any tomfoolery in my store unless I allow it."

"Well sh-it. I just recovered from the that damn Repeating Death Illusion." Gilgamesh

"What?" Lancer looks at Gilgamesh. "Is that bad?"

"Here, let me show you and you can figure it out for yourself."

Questions, comments, concerns?