Disclaimer: The following is a non profit fan based story. That means I make no money from this what so ever. Fate Stay Night is owned by Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon, while Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax and Hideaki Anno. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 4: A Rather Painful Start

If you had asked Shirou any other night how his evening would have gone when he had left Homurahara Academy, he would have answered that he would've just gone home, eaten dinner, maybe practice his mage craft (Well he would never say that), and get some sleep if he wasn't fixing or working on something.

However, tonight was not this kind of an evening.

First, he had been stabbed in the heart and was technically killed by a blood thirsty spears man after stumbling upon a secret fight that the spears man was involved in. Then, after being miraculously healed, the same man tracked him down at home and tried to kill him again. After being cornered by the blue spears man, Shirou was saved (in his mind) by the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Said girl then called Shirou master and rushed into a fight against the spears man.

It was then, after being stabbed by that man's spear-Gae something?-and the spears man retreated for failing to kill her in one shot, did the girl identify herself as Saber (She did say that she was called Saber. Shirou may not have heard her.) Saber then explained to Shirou that she was summoned to be his servant for some type of grail war.

Then, Saber rushed out of the backyard, sensing two more enemies approaching and dealt with them. She then proceeded to jump over the roof of the house to 'deal with the enemy'. It was then, after chasing after Saber to the front of the house, that Shirou saw her nearly slash a man in red who had been in the fight at the school with Lancer, in half. The red clad man then disappeared on order from a mysterious second person, who Saber had decided to pursueh.

If Shirou had not called her back, Saber would have probably killed the second person. Saber then became angry at Shirou for stopping her from attacking an enemy. It then turned out that the second person happened to be his school's idol student, Rin Tohsaka, who also turned out to be a magus!

So this was now Shirou's current situation. He was sitting in his living room, watching Rin, whom Shirou had invited into his house much to the displeasure of Saber, looked over the shards of the broken window he smashed into while running from the spears man. Shirou took his attention away from the female magus to look at the other occupant of the living room.

Looking at said girl, Shirou noticed that Saber, who was still in her armor, was in a simple word, tense. She had one eye locked on Shirou, and the other moving around the room, more specifically, observing every little action of Rin's. Shirou could tell that the blond was in a position where she was ready to engage the other magus if necessary.

The teen sighed as he turned back to the twin tailed girl. 'I should be surprised right now, but after what has happened over these past three weeks, I'm not.' Shirou watched as Rin pricked her finger and drew blood from it. She then let a drop of her blood fall onto one of the glass shards, and after letting the blood fall onto the shard, Rin began to chant in a different language. As Rin finished, the pieces of the broken window began to fly back into place and reformed the window, much to Shirou's amazement.

The girl turned her attention onto the brown haired boy, who was still in awe. "There," she said, with a triumphant smile decorating her face, "I'm quite sure you can do that."

The boy shook his head. "No, I can't do anything like that."

Rin face faulted at his answer. "What, that is the first thing they teach you."

Shirou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well I only know what my dad taught me."

She looked at him with a single raised eyebrow. "Which was...?"

"Structural analysis, projection, and reinforcement."

The female magus palmed her face when she heard his answer. "Of the all types of magecraft, you had to learn those three."

Shirou replied, "Eh?! What's wrong with them?!"

Rin glared at the boy. "It's because they are almost completely useless!" She pinched her nose and sighed deeply. "I'm assuming that you already know about the position that you are in, correct?"

The male rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as she asked this. "Well, uh," he started. His view turned back to Saber before returning to Rin. "Not really. I only know what Saber has told me and that isn't really that much help."

The twin tail girl sighed again. She then looked at the brown haired boy. "Listen closely then," she began, "You have been shanghaied into a secret war which happens every few decades fought between magi. You and I along with 5 other magi are chosen, or in your case dropped in, to participate and each summons a Heroic Spirit to aid them in battle."

Shirou blinked at what his school mate had said. "Heroic Spirit?"

"Yes," she replied while nodding, "A Heroic Spirit is someone in life who has achieved great deeds in their life and have become objects of worship, even after their death."

The boy then turned back to look at Saber as he heard this. "So Saber was a hero in life?"

Rin nods her head in reply to his question. "Yes. Each Heroic Spirit is then placed in one of the seven Servant classes: Lancer, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Caster, Assassin, and your servant, Saber."

"Wait, Archer? That's the guy who was with you right? Where is he anyway?" Shirou asked as he had noticed that the tall tanned man was not present.

"He's on the roof right now keeping a look out for an enemy servant," she explained.

"Well, I guess that is a good idea," Shirou said thoughtfully.

"Since we are on the topic, I would like to ask Saber a question." Her eyes turned to the servant in question, who stared right back at the student. "I presume that since your master here knows nothing about the Grail War, and because he is so inept, you have not fully materialized. Am I right to assume?"

The female knight nodded. "Correct, because Shirou does not possess the necessary mana, I am unable to fully materialize and because of that, my wounds will take longer to heal."

Rin placed her hand on her forehead and sighed. "Good lord, if I was your master I would have fixed both of those problems in mere seconds."

The brown haired boy frowned when he heard Rin say this. "Are you saying I'm not fit to be a master?"

The girl frowned back at him in reply. "You're not even close to being fit."

Shirou slumped down at her words. 'Well you don't have to be so blunt about it,' he thought sadly. He was beginning to see exactly what Issei had meant when he had said that Tohsaka was evil.

The twin tailed girl gave out another sigh, "It has just been a long evening, and chances are, it's about to get longer. No use helping it," she said while turning around, "Come on, let's go."

"Go?" Shirou asked. "Go where?" Where would they even go at this time at night?

Rin looked over her shoulder at him. "To see the one who oversees the war," she replied.

Later:

Rin's eye twitched as she, Shirou, and Saber walked through the night to head to the church. Today, in a word, was frustrating to the Tohsaka heir. And the frustrations just kept piling on.

First, when she had arrived at school this morning, she had discovered that someone had started to place a bounded field around the school. Rin had determined that it was an enemy master who was setting up the barrier, but the reason for its placement was lost to her other than it was for the war.

Second was the encounter with Lancer. Okay, she wasn't so much frustrated at the encounter with the Servant of the Spear, as more anxious. The fight between him and Archer had kept her on edge during its entire duration. Oh don't get her wrong, she had full confidence in her servant, but could he lose the snide remarks? One could only hope so. But, when Lancer had been about to unveil his spear's true power, she felt concern for her servant then. Even Archer admitted that he would have died if the spears man had gone through with his attack.

It was only thanks to Lancer changing his attention to Shirou, and given chase to him, that both she and the tanned servant were still alive. That didn't mean she was heartless, it only meant that because of Shirou's presence, they survived. However, Rin felt almost heartbroken when she saw Lancer had killed Shirou. How could she not feel that way? He was her crush. If he had died and Rin couldn't do anything to save him, how could she tell...

Thankfully she had been able to heal his wound, but the downside, according to her tanned servant, to that was that she had to use her father's gift, which Archer reminded her about when she used it. It's not that big of a deal, as she had made plenty of magecraft gems to use (What do you think she had been doing for the last ten years leading up to now?).

Then, when she had returned home, Archer made her realize that since Shirou was alive, Lancer would hunt him down and kill Shirou again, and Rin would be damned if all that work to save him would be burned away into ashes. Luckily, Archer was able to track Lancer, and this allowed the pair to rush to Shirou's home. When they had arrived, Rin was about to enter the home to see if the boy was all right, only to blindsided and have Archer nearly sliced in two by a blond female knight. A female knight, who just so happened to be the seventh and final servant in this war, Saber. But that was not had frustrated her. It wasn't even when she had found out that Shirou, Emiya Shirou, the 'Fake Janitor', the school's personal handyman, was actually a magus that she became frustrated.

A third-rate magus at best, but one nonetheless.

No, what frustrated her was that Shirou had been the one to summon Saber, and he had no clue about what the 'Grail War' was or how the war worked.

It wasn't fair! Why did he get to summon the best class?! Stupid house clocks! Stupid house clocks for being one hour ahead!

It was then afterward, after Shirou had stopped Saber from making her into sliced fish, that the young boy had invited the heiress into his home. Rin then proceeded to learn a little bit about him during their talk. One fact about him was that he could only perform three spells: structural analysis, projection, and reinforcement. Of all the different types of magecraft that there were, he had to know the ones that are the most basic, and have little to no use in them. So after giving him a brief summary of what the war was; Rin felt it best that he learn more from the war's overseer. That man may be a no good, fake priest, but at least he knows what he is talking about when it comes to the Grail War.

She rubbed her temples in an attempt to soothe a rising migraine. "Emiya," the heiress said slowly, "we are trying to not be noticed by anyone right now. But this...this does just the complete opposite and makes us stand out like a broken thumb!"

What she was referring to, would be Saber's current attire; a giant yellow rain coat.

Shirou scratched his cheek nervously. "Well," he began, "I originally tried to get Saber to take off her armor, but she refused. So this was the only thing I could find that would be big enough to hide her and her armor."

The knight in question nodded her head. "I will not be ill prepared in the face of an enemy."

Rin sighed, 'Could this get any worse?'

A few minutes later, the trio arrived near the entrance of the Kotomine church. As the group neared the entrance, they saw another person leaving the church. From what Rin saw, this person looked to be a girl who appeared to be near her and Shirou's ages. She had bluish black hair that went to her shoulders and bangs that formed a 'M' at the front. The girl also was wearing what looked to be a nun's uniform

'Most likely someone from the church,' Rin thought.

She then began walking towards them in a calm manner. The trio, however, did not stop as she walked towards them, and continued moving forward. The only one, who actually kept focus on the new girl, was Shirou, who moved his head to follow her body as she passed the group. Then, as she and Shirou passed each other, the brown haired boy saw her glance at him.

Even if it was only for a mere second, Shirou could felt as if his entire body froze as his eyes met hers. Under the sharp gaze of the blue eyes, Shirou could feel that she was reading him and his soul like a open book.

The young boy had then stopped in place to turn back and watch the retreating girl. Never once did she turn back to look at him. Never once did she say who she was. All she did was continue walking away from Shirou and the group in her calm and orderly fashion. And all Shirou could do was just stare at her disappearing form with a million questions bouncing around in his mind.

"Shirou?"

He jerked as he heard his name called. Shirou turned back to see Saber staring at him.

"Is there something the matter? You have stopped walking," the blonde knight asked.

Shirou rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Uh, no, there isn't. Sorry..."

The knight nodded at his answer in satisfaction. "That is all right, but I believe Rin is growing impatient with having to wait on us."

The young magus only nodded at her words as the two proceeded to catch up to the waiting girl.

"Well here it is," the student idol said as Shirou and Saber walked up to her, "Kotomine Church."

"Shirou," Saber said, causing said boy to look at her, "I have escorted you this far, but I believe it is best if I remain out here. If you will in the church, I have no doubt that I will be able to find you if trouble arises."

Shirou looked at the girl before replying, "Are you sure?" She nodded yes. "All right then…" Shirou and Rin made their way into the church, with the twin tailed girl leading him. As they walked through the entrance, Shirou looked at her and said, "Hey Tohsaka, the overseer, does he lives in this church?"

Rin nodded at his question. "Yes, he also happens to be a magus and my legal guardian. You could even say he served as a second teacher for me."

The boy's eyes widened at this answer. "He's priest, but he practices magecraft?"

The girl stopped, which in turn caused him to stop, so he did not run into her. "His name is Kotomine Kirei. He was a pupil of my father, just as I was, and because of that, we've had to put up with each other for years now. But if I had my way, we wouldn't have anything to do with each other."

"And I would have preferred that my student be a little more respectful of their teacher." The boy used every ounce of willpower to prevent himself from showing any signs of fear. He saw an imposing figure walk out of the darkness into the light, at least 6 feet in height alone, with brown eyes and hair, the latter styled as a mullet, and was wearing a priest uniform with a large overcoat and a golden cross hanging from his neck. The man smiled as he looked at Rin. "It is good to see you as well Rin." His gaze then turned towards Shirou. "Who is this?"

The girl raised her hand in a fashion that suggested she was showing him off. "This is the seventh master. He's just technically a magus, but he is so inept that it hurt to just leave him alone."

The man gave a small toothy grin at her answer. "Well then," he began, "I am Kotomine Kirei, the priest of this church. What is your name my son?"

"Shirou," the brown haired replied, "Emiya Shirou."

The man, now identified as Kirei, narrowed his eyes; but his smiled did not fall. "Emiya," he mused. "So, you are the master of Saber, correct?"

"Far from it," Shirou exclaimed, causing Kirei to raise an eyebrow due to the boy's answer. "I don't know about anything this Grail War, or servants, or whatever! I'm not a master of anything!"

The man just looked down at the boy. "So you really do not know your current situation?" he said, "Very well, since this is the first time Rin has ever asked for my help (Rin "Who would want help from you?"), I will comply." Kirei stood up straighter as he began to explain, "Being a master is not something you can just throw away. It is a test granted to you to succeed. Those commands seals on your hand are proof of your status as a master."

Shirou then looked at his hand to see the image that had appeared on his hand after Saber had appeared. The image was a blood red sword of some kind. "What are the command seals?"

"The command seals are your proof of contract with your servant. They also give absolute control over them. You may also use them to force your servant to commit deeds they would not want to do willingly. For instance, you may order them to kill an innocent bystander."

Shirou's hand tightened.

"Or you may order them commit any deviant or sexual act you please."

The boy then blushed, but it was covered by the look of disgust on his face.

"Or you can even order them kill themselves."

This caused Shirou's eyes to widen. 'Kill themselves?'

"Any command you want, the command seal will have the servant perform the action. But know this, each master only has three command seals, and once they are gone, it is up to your servant to determine their loyalty. And that usually depends on how you have used them." He said this with a smile that made Shirou almost shiver.

"Well, what if someone was to give up there command seal," the boy asked.

Kirei chuckled at the question. "Then that person would be a fool." Shirou glared at the man, but it did nothing to him. "The commands seals are not only absolute control, but also miracle workers as well."

"Miracle…workers?" Shirou asked.

Kirei nodded, "Yes, they can be used to order the servant to win, which would allow them to go beyond their normal limitations or they can be used to summon your servant if you are far away from them. In this war, command seals are very valuable weapon you have. To give them away freely would be a true act of stupidity."

"Stop prolonging everything Kirei," an annoyed Rin huffed. "I brought him here so he could learn about the rules of the war, not something his servant could tell him."

Kirei looked at Rin and signed, "Very well," he said tiredly, before gaining a serious look, "listen closely Emiya. Every few decades, seven magi are chosen to be masters and to summon a servant to fight for the Holy Grail."

"Wait a minute," the boy interrupted, "The Holy Grail? You mean the one from the legend?"

Kirei replied, "Make no mistake, when the item materializes in our world, you find that this indeed the true Holy Grail, and the one who obtains the chalice, will get their wish."

Shirou looked at the priest quizzically. "What wish?"

The older magus smiled at the boy. "Any wish. The grail will allow you to obtain your one true desire. You could even go back in time and redo your whole life over again."

"Okay, but," Shirou began, "Why don't people just share it? Why kill each other over it?"

The priest held his chin in his hand at this question, as if he was pondering it. "That is not question I can answer, but for someone else to do."

Rin then looked at Shirou before speaking. "Emiya, there is no universal rule for the war that states you have to kill every master." The boy then looked at her confusedly. "The grail is a spiritual object, only a servant can make it appear."

"Yes that is true, but," Kirei interrupted, returning her interruption from earlier, "the best way is to kill the master."

Rin gritted her teeth in annoyance as the man had cut her off. "Kirei….."

The older male then looked back at Shirou before continuing. "Tell me something Emiya, do you believe that you can beat your servant?"

Shirou was taken aback by this question. He thought about the fight of Saber against Lancer. Watching the two servants fight, showed him that they were something above human. "N-no."

"Servants are the spirits of heroes of legend, Heroic Spirits, whose stories are still told today. They are beings of higher existence more so than humans or masters. Even another servant would have a difficulty of beating one. That is why defeating the master, be it killing or not, is the easier and more favorable route. However, defeating a servant will have the same outcome as any." His face then became serious once more. "But do know this, even if you have killed an enemy servant, it will not mean that the master will truly be out of this war. A master who has lost their servant can form a new contract with a servant who has lost their master." Kirei then regained his smile. "Once only one servant remains, the Holy Grail will then materialize once more time in our city."

Shirou paused at those words. "O-once more? You mean this has happened before?"

"Yes, this will be the fifth time our beloved city plays host for the Grail War," the priest answered, "However, due to the events of the last war, the intermission between each was reduced."

"Events?" Shirou asked.

Rin nodded, "In the last war, one master had refused to fight any other masters, chose to hide and avoid conflict at any point. He was labeled a coward."

Kirei nodded grimly, "Indeed he was, and because of this, he was deemed unworthy of the grail. However, this did not stop him from trying to take grail by force. But because he was labeled as unworthy, the grail had rejected him and caused a catastrophe upon the city. That was ten years ago."

Shirou froze up at Kirei's words. "T-ten years?" he asked shakily. "Does that mean…." He couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't want to. He was hoping that it wasn't true.

It was all in vain.

"Yes," the priest said, "The Fuyuki Fire of the Shinto district, the fire of ten years ago, was because of the grail."

At that moment, Shirou could almost feel the fires of ten years ago surround him. He could hear the screams of those who were in pain. He could see the carnage brought on by the flames surrounding him. And all this…..all this because of a simple prize?!

"But now the time has come for your decision." The young magus was brought out of his vision by Kirei's voice. "Now is the time for you to choose; will you be a master and participate in this war for the grail, or give up your command seals, forfeiting your right as a master. But do know, if you choose the latter, I will gladly give you sanctuary within my church and guarantee your safety since I am the war's mediator." He then held out his hand to Shirou. "Well my son," he asked, "What is your choice?"

Shirou looked at the priest and then back at his hand which held the command seals. He looked at them with determination in his eyes, and looked back at Kirei. He had made up his mind.

Later:

The duo had begun to leave the church with Kirei seeing them off, as he was Rin's guardian. Shirou turned back to face the priest when a thought occurred.

"Ummm, Kirei, I have one more question."

The priest furrowed a single eyebrow. "Yes?"

Taking it as a sign to continue, Shirou did just that. "That girl, who had left earlier, the one with blue hair and the nun outfit, is she-"

"If you are going to ask if she is a master, then no, she isn't," Kirei interrupted. "She is just someone from the church who had come to inform that she had been sent here to Japan by her superiors and that she would be in the city close to us."

Rin scowled at Kirei and asked, "And when was I going to be informed of this?"

Kirei looked innocently at her and said, "It just must have slipped my mind."

Rin just grumbled and turned and walked away. Shirou had begun to follow her, when he was stopped by the older male.

"Emiya Shirou, what is your dream?"

The boy in question looked at Kirei for a moment before answering. "I want to become a Hero of Justice and save everyone."

The man smirked at his answer, "Such a noble quest, but any hero must have an opposition. Perhaps this comes in the form of one who has caused fire and brimstone to rain upon the city or it can come in the form of those who you trust the most."

"Trust the most?" Shirou repeated confused.

"In any case I wish you a good night." With that said Kirei turned around and walked back into the church, closing the door behind him.

Shirou let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding as he made his way over to Saber and Rin.

Saber was the first to speak up, "Shirou, have you concluded your business here?"

He nodded his head shakily. "Y-yeah, I have."

"And?" she asked, "What is your decision?"

Shirou looked at the ground for a few moments, and then, he looked up at Saber. "I may not be the best choice, but I've decided to be a master. If you will allow me to be your master…"

The blonde knight smiled softly at the boy as she shook her head. "It matters not if you are not the best choice. From the moment you summoned me, I swore upon my sword to protect you. I will gladly have you as my master."

The brown haired youth had then smiled back at the girl. "Great," he said, "let's do our best together." As he said this, Shirou held out his hand to Saber for a handshake. The knight could only look at his hand in complete shock and surprise. Shirou noticed her look and blushed in embarrassment. "Um, did I do something wrong?"

The girl once again smiled and shook her head no. "It's not that, you just caught me by surprise Shirou. You are no ordinary master," she said as she took his hand in her gauntlet and shook his hand.

From the side, Rin watched as Master and Servant shook hands as equals, positions aside. 'You truly are just that Emiya,' she thought.

Later:

The trio, after leaving the church, had then made their way to street that split Rin and Shirou's neighborhoods apart. The young heir turned back to look at Shirou. "All right," she said, "I've helped you as much as I can. Next time we meet though, we'll be enemies."

"That only begs the question, why did we even help this guy," Archer asked as he materialized in front of the group.

Rin looked at her servant in annoyance, "It's because he stopped Saber from cutting both of us down, so we owe him. As the Tohsaka heir, I will pay back a favor when I owe someone."

Archer sighed, "Very well, as your servant, I will trust your judgment as my master." He then disappeared into his astral form to continue healing from his wounds.

"Jeez, that guy," Rin grumbled. She then looked back at Shirou and said, "As I said, I've helped you as much as I can."

The boy just smiled at her. "Thank you Tohsaka," he said with sincerity, "Despite what people say and how you present yourself, I think you are a really nice person inside."

Rin blushed lightly, but thanks to the time of day, it could not be seen by the boy. "D-don't say weird things like that!" 'Damn him and his charming smile and nice words and AUUGH!' "Like I said, next time we meet we will be enemies! So just watch your back, all right?!"

Shirou raised his hands in surrender and laughed nervously. "Heh heh heh, sorry Tohsaka."

Then, Saber stiffened and quickly turned around, jumping in front of her master's form. "Shirou!" she called. Shirou was confused by her actions, but Rin could see what Saber was doing; she was protecting her master from an incoming enemy.

"Well onii-chan~," a mysterious child-like voice spoke through fog as it drifted onto the scene, "I see you've finally summoned a servant. Good for you~." Then, walking out the fog came the same girl Shirou had saw three weeks ago. He knew it was her; her pale skin, red eyes, snow white hair, purple jacket and hat, and her voice had confirmed it to be true. The small girl, after walking out of the fog, then performed a curtsey to the trio. "Hello, my name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, nice to meet you all." The way she said this was all in an elegant manner and fashion, but for some reason it sent a chill down Shirou's back.

Rin had shown that she was concerned by the appearance of the little girl. "Einzbern?"

"Do you know them Tohsaka," Shirou asked.

The twin tailed girl nodded grimly. "Yes, the Einzbern are ancient family of magi. They've had representative fight for them in every grail war."

The snow white haired girl nodded at Rin's words. "Yep~," she said, "I came out tonight with the hope of meeting other masters. Since I found two of them, I'd like to introduce you to my servant."

As if almost on command, the thick fog behind her parted to reveal a tall, dark, very menacing figure. The figure was a gigantic man with huge physique wearing some kind of battle skirt, holding onto a club-like sword that had looked to be crudely cut out of stone. Although he had the appearance of a man, his sheer presence felt more like that of a monstrous beast of lore; his long shaggy hair and glowing red eye only served to reinforce this image.

Rin looked on at the beast with concern. "Her servant…no way…we can't go up against something like that. It's totally out of our league."

Illya either heard Rin and chose to ignore her or couldn't hear her. Either way, she smiled devilishly. "I don't need to know your names, since you are all about to die. Ready? Go get them. Ber-ser-ker~!"

Hearing his master's orders, the beast-like servant charged forward, giving out a loud roar, "▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!" The servant of madness then raised his stone sword in the air to bring it down on the group before him.

Without another word, Saber discarded the raincoat, and summoned her weapon to block Berserker's weapon. As their weapons met, the ground beneath Saber became a crater due to the sheer power of the strike of the monster-like servant alone. Realizing his attack did not work, Berserker lifted his sword back up for another strike.

This time, however, as the blade/club came down, Saber jumped out of the way to dodge the blow. As she moved from her spot, the knight watched as the larger servant's weapon connected with the ground, causing an explosion of debris. She had no time to think though, as she saw Berseker drag his sword club across the ground to strike her. Saber brought her weapon up to block the strike, and jumped back as another one came as fast, if not faster, than the last one.

The blonde knight then rushed forward, her weapon raised, to strike at the black behemoth servant. However, as she swung at him, the servant bent backwards, performed a back flip, while kicking Saber away.

'How can he be a Berserker, yet be so nimble?!' Saber thought.

Illya giggled at the fight between the two servants. "Your pathetic servant won't be able to do anything against Berserker," she bragged, "He's the strongest Greek hero!"

"Greek hero," Rin repeated slowly. Her eyes then widened. "Wait, you mean he is-"

"Yep," the younger girl answered, "my Berserker is none other than the great Herakles!"

Rin began to tremble at her words. "No way," she said, "how are we supposed to go up against a servant like that?"

Next to her, Shirou was also feeling worried; but not for his own safety. His concern was for Saber as watched her fight the monster servant, Berserker. She was outclassed, he could clearly see that, so why was she still fighting.

Saber had then jumped on top of a light pole to try to get higher ground against Berserker. This proved to do nothing, as the beast merely just cut down the pole, forcing Saber to jump off. However, as she jumped off, the knight had tried to bring her sword down onto the beast, only to be swatted away and sent tumbling to the ground.

When Saber hit the ground, she used her weapon as a crutch so that she could stand. But even then, it was still difficult for her to do so.

Watching her struggle, Shirou became horrified at the sight of Saber. She was beaten, bruised, bloodied, struggling to remain standing; yet she still was trying to fight. And for what; to protect him! Her entire condition right now was all because of him.

Illya giggled again at the sight of the bleeding servant. "That's it Berserker," she cried enthusiastically, "Now finish her off!"

At the command Berserker raised his weapon up, and swung it at the knight.

On instinct alone, Shirou rushed forward to Saber, and pushed her out the way from Berserker's attack. Berseker struck Shirou with such force that he was flung a few feet away.

Saber looked over to where Shirou landed with widened eyes. 'Shirou?!' She watched as his body lay on the ground, limp and unmoving, because he took an attack that was meant for her.

Everyone was shocked. Rin looked from Shirou to Berserker in concern. 'This is bad,' she thought, 'with Emiya down, there's only one less of us for her to kill.'

Illya just frowned and said, "This got boring," and began to walk away. "Come on Berserker, we're leaving." Without complaining, the hulking servant disappeared as if by his master's command. The pale skinned girl looked back at the trio (well duo, since Shirou is dying or is dead.) and smiled. "Let's play again soon, onii-chan~." With that said, the little girl master walked away into the fog, leaving the three alone on the street.

Rin sighed with relief as the other girl left. "She's gone." That relief soon evaporated into annoyance as she turned to look at Shirou. "And what did you think you were going to accomplish with that little stunt?" When she received no answer, this only increased her annoyance. "Hey, are you even listening?!"

But everything she said fell on deaf ears, as Shirou's entire world went black.

At the same time:

"What the hell was that?!" asked one man to his partner.

The other man shook his head. "I don't know man."

These two men were tasked by Commander Ikari with one task; watch the Third Child. It was easy and simple for the past three weeks. The kid went to school, sometimes went to work, and went back home. But tonight, the kid returned home much later. Then after a while when he returned home, two people, a girl who looked like she went to the same high school as the kid and a tall man in red, arrived in front of the Third Child's home.

Then some woman in armor jumped down from the roof of the kid's house and appeared to have slashed at the man in red. That's what it looked like; whatever weapon she used must have been hidden, because they saw no weapon in her hand. What was really strange was that after the man was attacked, he literally disappeared. After the man disappeared, the woman had then charged the girl, only to be by stopped by the Third Child who had come out from the gate. Apparently the kid must have invited the two other into his house; because they all went into his home and did not come out for a while.

When they had come out, the trio had left the house to go somewhere. The two Section 2 agents had trailed behind them, watching them from a distance so they would not be caught. They had then ended up at some church after a few minutes of walking. However, for some reason, only the girl and their target had gone into the church. The armored woman, who for some reason was wearing a giant yellow raincoat, had chosen to stay outside.

After a few minutes the two teens had come out and rejoined the woman. They then set off from the church, with the agents trailing behind them. The trio had then come across a small girl and a gigantic beast-like man who followed her around as a dog on a leash. The armored woman had proceeded to fight the giant beast, but then gotten beaten and thrown around like a rag doll. The two had not seen what had gone on afterword because they ran away from the scene and ducked into an alley. However they had managed to record a little of the fight on a camera they had.

"This needs to be reported to the commander," the first one said. His partner nodded at him and took out his cell phone. The first man kept a lookout for anyone who could have followed them. "What the hell's going on Tamaki?" As he turned around, his eyes were the size of saucers. His partner had been impaled through the heart with a red spear of some sorts. "Tamaki?!"

The spear was pulled out, causing Tamaki's body to fall onto the ground. The one holding the spear was a blue tights wearing man with a scowl of pure disgust on his face.

"Like I told the kid before he became a master," he said, "There can be no witnesses."

His spear shot forward.

The night was a peaceful one. Stars lit up the sky and the sound of cicadas rang through the air. It was a night that Shirou would remember as long as he lived.

The night his adopted father, Emiya Kiritsugu, died.

Over the past couple of years since Kiritsugu died, he had seen this scene multiple times in his dream; this along with the fire.

The boy turned to look at his father. The man had his eyes closed and appeared to be dosing off. "Hey old men," he said, "are you asleep."

The man's eyes slowly opened at the sound of Shirou's voice. "Sorry Shirou," he said, "I was just thinking about my dream."

Shirou cocked his head in confusion and blinked. "Your dream?"

The black haired man nodded. "Yes it was a silly one. I wanted to become a Hero of Justice and save everyone. But I gave up."

"Eh, why though?" the younger male asked.

He replied, "Because Shirou, as I grew older, I realized I couldn't save everyone."

Shirou shook his head at his father's response. "Well then, I will accomplish that dream. I'll become a Hero of Justice and save everyone."

Kiritsugu just smiled at the boy before shaking his head. "I guess I can leave things here in your hands."

Then, the dream took a turn for the worse.

Appearing around Shirou, were huge flames, almost similar to ones of the Fuyuki Fire. But this felt much different than the fire of ten years ago. With that fire there were debris of several houses littered around; this fire leveled everything to the ground. For miles among miles, he could only see the dancing flames atop of a barren wasteland.

Then, as he turned around, he looked up to see some kind of behemoth. The monster looked down at him, before looking up at the sky and unleashing an earth shattering roar.

Shirou woke up in a cold sweat, breathing in and out rapidly. 'What was that?' he thought, horrified at the sight in his dream. He had seen the fire of ten years ago multiple times, but this…This was something new entirely.

It was then that Shirou realized where he was. He was situated in his futon that was in his room. He noticed that light was shining through his window, giving him the impression that it was morning. It was then his thoughts turned back to the events of the previous night; Lancer attacking and trying to kill him, summoning Saber, choosing to become a master in the war, Illyasviel and Berserker ambushing them...

'Wait,' he thought, 'Tohsaka, Saber!'

The boy rushed out of his room and ran to through the hallway to the dining room, where he saw Rin Tohsaka, not only alive, but going through his kitchen. She seemed to have noticed him also, as she acknowledged him, "Oh, you're awake. Good morning Emiya," and went back to rummaging through his cabinets.

"Tohsaka," he said.

"Do you know that you don't have any good tea bags," she said as she took out his tea set, "If you are going to have tea, you should at least have the triangle shaped ones."

"Tohsaka," he repeated, but a little louder this time.

"But, that's just my preference," she said, continuing to ignore him, and pouring herself a glass of tea.

He snapped. "Tohsaka, what are you doing in my house?!"

Rin held up her hand as she drank the cup of tea she had prepared. When she had finished, she finally looked at Shirou. "Hold on, first I want a thank you. It wasn't easy dragging you home."

"Dragging me home?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, dragging you home after that little stunt you performed." That last part she had said with a scowl. "Seriously, what did you think you were going to accomplish by pushing Saber out of the way from that attack?"

Shirou frowned at the girl, "Well I couldn't just stand around and let her get hurt."

The twin tailed girl sighed, "Only you Emiya can think of something like that."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied back. She stood up straighter and walked up to him. "So, what's your plan for the war?"

"I don't really have one, truth be told I don't even really have a wish for the grail."

"You better not let Saber hear that, or else she may kill you."

Shirou looked shocked at the girl's words. "She would kill me?"

She scowled at him once more. "Wake up Emiya! It's not just the master that gets a wish from the grail, but the servant as well. Why do you think they compete?"

"So Saber has a wish she wants the grail to grant?" the boy asked, to himself.

"More than likely," she answered. "And besides, if you think like that and allow other masters to run around freely, lots of people are going to get hurt." When she saw his confused and shocked face, she elaborated on her statement, "Servants require their masters to supply them with mana. In cases where the master cannot do this, they can have their servants feed on humans; beings who are made out of mana, to obtain the energy they require. What do you think all these gas leaks that have been happening are about?"

Shirou's eyes went wide as saucers at this statement. 'Humans being fed on?!' he thought in horror.

The heiress, either not noticing the look on his face or not caring, continued, "If you let the other masters run around and do what they like, a lot of people are going to get hurt."

Shock turned to anger, as Shirou narrowed his eyes sharply and balled both of his hands into fists. "I won't let that happen to anyone!" he shouted.

Rin replied, "Tch, if you want to do that, you have to stop thinking of Masters as humans," she said as she walked past him towards the door. She stopped and looked over her shoulder to send him a final glare. "And you also have to remember, I'm a master too."

The boy unconsciously gulped as he watched her leave, and thought on her departing words. In simple terms, Rin was telling him to watch his back around her. But she wouldn't attack him for no reason, right? Not after how much she had helped him and Saber last night.

'Wait….Saber!'

He had been so into the conversation with the female magus that he had forgotten about his 'servant'. The boy rushed back into the dining room to search the house for the blond swordswoman.

At the same time:

"Is it really okay to just leave him alone like that?"

The twin tailed girl sighed, either in tiredness or annoyance (she didn't know which, and right now, she could care less), at her servant's question. 'I though this matter had already been discussed Archer?' she asked through the mental link that the two possessed.

"I just want to be one hundred percent sure," the white haired servant replied back. "I mean, you didn't have to lug that idiot home and explain all that stuff that you said to him back there. His servant could do both actions."

'Look, I did it because I we owed him again. Despite his incredibly stupid action with taking an attack from Berserker to save Saber-' Archer's eye twitched, but he said nothing '-his little stunt caused the Einzbern master to leave, with our lives intact; so we owed him for saving us, again might I add.'

One of Archer's eyebrows rose due to her answer. "Are you sure that's why you did that? Or, was it because of some kind of feeling you have-?"

'Archer, stop it,' Rin interrupted, 'What's done is done. And like I said to Emiya, the next time our paths cross, we're enemies.'

The Servant of the Bow did not say anything as he stared at his master. He knew from personal experience that Rin's words were the truth. But he wondered if she would truly go through with her promise if she and the Emiya boy encountered each other. He could only just sit back and wait to see if Rin did.

Meanwhile, at the Emiya Residence:

Shirou stood in the house's dojo entry way and looked in on his servant. After Rin had left, he searched the house to find the blond swordswoman. He checked all the rooms that any person would normally rest in. Finally, when he checked the dojo he found her. Up against a wall and in seiza position was the young girl with her eyes closed; as if she was sleeping.

The teen then took a moment to really look at her. Because last night was so…hectic, he never got a good look at Saber. But now, he would repeat his previous statement: Saber was beautiful. The oncoming streams of sunlight made her seem even more gorgeous.

Saber then opened her eyes to look up at Shirou who was still standing at the entrance. "It seems that you are awake and well."

"Yeah," Shirou replied as he walked towards her, "What about you though? Are you okay?"

The blond knight then rose from her position and replied, "I am fine, it is nothing that won't heal. But Shirou, I want to take a moment to tell you something about your actions which concerned me last night."

The male's eyebrows furrowed at this. "Um, okay, what?"

Her eyes looked straight into Shirou's own. "I would prefer that my master not do as you had done last night." The boy's eyes grew wide in surprise at her statement. "Combat is my area of expertise. As my master, I'd like you to stick to what you excel at. It is my job to protect you, not the other way around."

"But if I didn't push you, you would have died!"

"If that was the case, I would have died," Saber responded neutrally, "Regardless; my fight with Berserker was not something that you should get hurt over."

Shirou was shocked. 'How can she just say those kinds of things as if her death meant nothing?' His eyes then became angry. "You're a girl; a living person damn it!" he almost shouted at Saber.

"My gender means nothing. I am a sword to protect you that is it" she replied coolly. The knight sighed, "Putting that aside Shirou, there is something else I wish to talk to you about."

"What?" he asked.

"Due to our estrange bond, the prana that I am receiving from you is little; because of this, I will not be able to fight and utilize my fullest capabilities."

"So are you going to feast on innocent bystanders to get the prana you need?" Shirou asked harshly, remembering that Rin told him that servants would commit such an act to get stronger and make up for little mana.

Saber's eyes narrowed and gained a cold edge to them at Shirou's question. "If you wish for me to commit such an act you will have to use one of those precious commands seals. I would prefer not to resort to such a lowly tactic as that." Her words were laced with steel as she spoke.

The young magus sighed before giving the blond knight a small smile. "Well that's good to know. Sorry if I offended you by asking that. I just had to be sure."

"It is fine Shirou," she replied as she lost her steely eyes, "you had a right to ask me, so I am nowhere near offended. But in any case, with what little I do not believe I will be able to use my Noble Phantasm unless in an extreme emergency."

Shirou tilted his head to the side at her statement. "Noble Phantasm?" he asked.

Saber nodded while she replied, "Yes, a Noble Phantasm is a servant's trump card in the grail war. They are items we Heroic Spirits have used in life to the point that they become our symbols. You already saw Lancer use his."

"Oh, right, that spear he was using. I think it was called Gae Bowl or something, right?"

"You are close Shirou. His Noble Phantasm is called Gae Bolg, the spear belonging to Ireland's Child of Light: Cuchulainn."

He took in this information Saber provided. A thought then struck him to which he voiced, "So does that means your weapon is your Noble Phantasm?"

The knight nodded at his question. "Yes, but I do not believe it is wise to reveal it." Shirou looked at her confused, and Saber continued, "A Noble Phantasm is the key to a Heroic Spirit's very identity. To reveal it would be giving away your very name, and with that every weakness you have as well. The only reason Lancer revealed his Gae Bolg was because he believed he could strike me down with one hit."

"So," Shirou started, "I should just continue to call you Saber and not know your true name?"

"That is best case," the swordswoman replied. "I apologize if this upsets you-"

"No, its fine," he interrupted as he shook his head, "if you feel that keeping your identity a secret is the best plan right now, I have no complaints."

Saber looked at Shirou for a moment before giving a small smile. "I thank you then Shirou for understanding."

Growl

Although faint, the noise from Shirou's stomach was loud enough to be heard by Saber and made him lightly blush. "Heh, I forgot that I haven't eaten anything since last night," he said sheepishly while scratching his cheek. "Would you care for something to eat too? Sorry all I can make is Japanese meals."

Saber's face returned to her neutral state as she nodded. "It matter not, food is food. Hunger is the enemy."

Shirou smiled at her response. "Come on to the kitchen, and I will try to get something made quickly," he said.

Later:

Saber watched as her master, Shirou Emiya, toiled in the kitchen to prepare their meal. As she observed him, the blond knight also took a moment to reflect on what she has learned about her master so far.

The first and most obvious thing about him was his name. This would be her second war fighting for the grail, and the second time she was summoned by a man named Emiya. Her hands balled into fists; nails digging into her palms at the thought of that first man. It was not proper for a knight to hold grudges, but in this last war she made a few exceptions. Her biggest grudge was against her master: the man who stole her one chance; her one chance to save kingdom. She could literally feel the grail in her hands, only to have it ripped away at the very last second by her master. Now here she was, 10 years later, summoned to fight in the 5th Holy Grail War, with a master whose last name was the same as her last master.

It couldn't be coincidence that Shirou and that her former master were both named Emiya. But from experience with him last night, she questioned if the two were related.

This then brought her to observation number two: Shirou acted as an unorthodox master. He treated her as a person instead of a weapon. He saved her life when her job was to save him. His eyes were angrywhen he asked if she desired to feed on humans in order to obtain more prana to sustain her. He did not act cold, cruel, or calculating such as a usual magus, but instead kind, compassionate, and headstrong.

But what was the most unusual was that, Shirou felt that it was his place to save her. He deliberately took a fatal blow that she was to take. If not for his fast healing ability, Shirou would have died. Confronting him about this, telling him how unnecessary it was to save her life if she was in danger, caused Shirou to give her an answer which angered her. 'What does he believe me to be; a defenseless girl?'

Her thoughts were then interrupted as Shirou set a cup in front of her and a bowl full of rice with shrimp sprinkled on top and a pair of chopsticks before her. "Since both of us were so hungry I tried to make something simple. Sorry if it's not much."

"It matters not," she replied, "As I said, hunger is the enemy. What matters is what I have eaten has defeated the hunger." Saber picked up the utensils given to her and arranged them properly in her right hand. Using her left, the blond knight picked up her bowl, picked up a small clump of rice in her chopsticks, and placed it in her mouth.

…

She then took another bite; then another one; then another one. In a few seconds she had reduced her portions by almost half of what she started with. 'My chefs,' she thought as she continued to eat her meal, 'please forgive me as I say this, but nothing any of you could have made could possibly surpass this meal that I am eating now.'

As he ate his own serving, Shirou watched as Saber quickly, but in a dignified manner, ate the rice and shrimp he prepared. 'I guess she is enjoying it and that is good to know.'

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted as he heard the living room's phone ring. 'Who's calling at this hour?'* Setting his bowl down, Shirou picked up the phone. "Hello, Emiya residence," he answered.

"Shirou, is that you?"

The young magus's eyes widened at the sound of the voice coming from the phone. "M-Misato?" he asked nervously.

"You recognized me just by the sound of my voice, I'm flattered!"

Shirou sighed, "Is there a specific reason you called?"

"Oh, you're so bold Shirou! But you do know that I'm older than you right?"

He blushed from the obvious teasing his superior officer was giving him over the phone. "You know what I mean."

"Right, in all seriousness, I'm calling to remind you that you have a synch test in about an hour thirty."

He froze at Misato's words. The synch test; how could he forget his synch test was today?! Well in all fairness, the previous night was so hectic that his thoughts were occupied by the grail war. He must have remained silent longer than he thought because the next thing he knew, Misato was speaking again.

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"N-no, of course I didn't! It's just…just…"

"Just what Shirou; I'd like to now."

'What do I say: It's just that last night I was killed by a crazy spears man who happens to be some kind of hero of legend, then I was brought back to life somehow, only for that same spears man to hunt me down to my house for me to be saved by a beautiful girl who happens to also be a hero of legend. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I'm her master in a war fought between magi for omnipotent wish granting grail. That definitely will going to get me labeled as a crazy and a one way ticket to a padded cell. Think Shirou, think!' He then looked over at Saber finishing her tea.

An idea struck the boy fast and hard. "Well you see it's just that an acquaintance of my dad's arrived in town yesterday. So since she had nowhere else to go, I offered to let her stay here. I spent most of last night trying to help her get settle in and helping her get accustomed to her new settings." 'Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it…"

"…OK I understand."

Shirou mentally gave out a breath of pure relief. 'I just dodged a bullet there.'

"But do know that you do need to come in for your test today. It's important Shirou."

Said boy straightened up as the purple haired woman said this. "Yes ma'am, I will be there."

"Where will you be?"

Shirou stopped himself from jumping when he heard a third voice from behind him. He turned around quickly to see Saber standing right behind him. 'How did she get this close to me without making a noise?'

"Shirou, I asked where you will be going?" she asked again.

"Um," Shirou started, "Well you see, it's this organization I work for. They need me to come in today to get a few tests done."

"Is this something that must be done?" she questioned.

"Yes," he replied.

The knight nodded. "I understand."

The young magus blinked. "You do?" he asked.

Another nod, "Yes, if this test unavoidable, and you must absolutely go, then I will accompany you."

Shirou's eye widened in shock from Saber's statement. "W-w-w-w-what?!" he nearly yelled.

"As I said, if you must leave to go somewhere, then I will follow you," she responded coolly, "As your servant, it is my job to protect you from harm with my blade."

"That's not the problem here Saber!" he exclaimed, "You can't just follow me around where ever I go!"

"Who can't follow you everywhere you go?"

'Aw crap,' Shirou mentally groaned out. He forgot that Misato was still on the phone and with his yelling; it wasn't that difficult to hear what he was saying. "W-well you see Misato, it's just that…that…"

"It's just what Shirou? Can your father's friend not be left alone so she needs to follow you everywhere? Or is it because she finds you too irresistible and she'll get lonely without you?"

'Actually its answer C: she refuses to leave me alone because she fears someone will attack me,' he thought.

"Shirou." Said boy turned to look at his servant. "If you were to prepare yourself, I will be able to handle your current problem."

The boy raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure," he asked skeptically. Her answer was a nod. Shirou sighed as he handed the phone over to Saber, "You can try. I'll be right back." With that said he headed out of the living room and to his room down the hallway.

When he got into his room, Shirou looked himself over in his mirror. 'Well,' he thought, 'I guess these clothes can work.' The young magus then saw his bloodied shirt from the night before. 'I guess I should get rid of that one. If either Fuji-nee or Sakura saw it, they would flip,' he thought with a grimace. But the time to dispose of the shirt was not now, but later.

The boy then picked up the shirt and threw it in one of his drawers. 'Out of sight, out of mind,' he thought. Giving himself one more look in the mirror, Shirou exited his room and headed back into the living room.

As he entered the room, he noticed that Saber was just hanging up the phone and greeted him. "Ah, Shirou," the blonde said, "Are you ready to leave?"

"Uh, yeah I guess," he responded lamely.

Saber gave him a curt nod. "Good," she responded back, "then let us be off."

Eyebrows furrowed at Saber's words. "Let us?" he asked.

"Yes, let 'us' be off," the blond knight stated, "I convinced your commanding officer to allow me to accompany you."

"Wait," Shirou interrupted, "Misato did what?"

"You did what?!"

Misato winced at the volume of her friend's voice. "I may have allowed Shirou to bring along an acquaintance to NERV," she responded back nervously to the faux blonde doctor.

"Captain Katsuragi," Ritsuko said in a voice that ran cold shivers down Misato's spine, "Only NERV operates are allowed within the headquarters. Civilians are not allowed anywhere near the facility, nor are they supposed to know what goes on here. Why did you think it was okay for an associate of one of our pilots to accompany him?!"

The purple haired woman winced at the tone of Ritsuko's voice. "I'm sorry okay," Misato exclaimed, "I couldn't argue with her! She had some sort of power that I couldn't refuse her!" Just talking with that girl (Saber was it?) was difficult for Misato, as the captain found herself over powered just from speech alone.

The blonde doctor sighed over the phone. "We'll deal with this later when the commander returns. Don't think you are off the hook captain." All Mistao heard after that was the dial tone.

She turned to look at her roommate; a hot spring's penguin named PenPen, and asked, "You're with me, right?"

PenPen just looked at her and waddled to his freezer.

Misato hung her head depressed. 'Is today 'everyone Gang up on Misato Day'?'

As they walked together, Shirou glanced occasionally at Saber. When the two left the house, setting out for the train station, something had begun to annoy Shirou concerning Saber's look: her clothes. Her apparel consisted of a white button up shirt with a blue tie ribbon and a long blue skirt.

'Where did she even get those; I don't think I have clothes like that at home.'

He must have been staring too long at her as Saber asked, "Is there something wrong Shirou?"

He blushed and nervously scratched his right check with his index finger. "Well," he started, "it's just that I was wondering where you got those clothes."

A blonde eyebrow rose at his question. "I believe that they were provided by the grail."

"The grail," he asked confused.

Saber nodded, "Yes the grail. When a servant is summoned, the grail then provides them knowledge about the modern day world to allow them to fit in and not be noticed."

"Huh," Shirou responded, "That's pretty cool."

"Yes," Saber said, "I guess it is."

The two continued on in silence until Shirou accidently bumped into someone.

"Oomph," Shirou grunted as he fell onto his butt.

Without a second beat, Saber was down at his side. "Shirou, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

The young magus chuckled nervously as he answered, "Yeah, I guess so. Wait! What about the other guy." He then turned his attention onto the person who he had bumped into and got of a good look at her. It was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, almost the same age as Misato. She had brown hair that went all the way down her back to her bottom, pure white skin, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt.

The boy rushed over to the fallen woman. "Are you okay," he asked with his hand extended out. The woman shook her head and looked up at Shirou. It was at this moment that Shirou could see that the woman's eyes were blue. He asked again, "Are you alright."

The woman smiled and took Shirou's hand to pull herself up. "I'm not hurt if that is what you are asking," she responded. "I'm sorry I ran into you. I wasn't paying close attention to my surroundings."

Shirou shook his head as he said, "No, it's my fault. I wasn't looking and I am sorry if I have offended you in anyway."

The woman giggled. "My, what a gentlemen we have here. Not many people would take the blame for something like this."

"Well, you know," the young magus responded laughingly while scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "It's the right thing to do as it was my fault."

"It also shows the kind of person you are," the brown haired woman said. "May I know your name?"

Shirou blinked at her question. "Oh, of course; my name is Shirou, Emiya Shirou."

"Emiya, hmm," she said. The woman then turned to Saber. "And might I ask yours?"

"Saber," the blonde knight's response was quick and sharp.

"I see," the woman said. She then picked up a bag beside her and walked in the direction that Saber and Shirou came from. She then stopped and said, "My name is Aoko if you are wondering. Perhaps I'll see you two around." Aoko then turned around and walked away.

When she was gone, Saber turned to look at her master. "Shirou that was a very dangerous move just now."

"What was," he asked.

"When you gave that woman your name. She could have been an enemy master."

"You don't know that," he responded back skeptically, "You're being paranoid."

"I'm being cautious Shirou. Unawareness is the enemy."

"I thought hunger was the enemy?"

"It was and still is, but so is unawareness."

"We have a lot of enemies don't we?"

"Indeed we do Shirou, indeed we do."

The pair did not exchange another word until they reached the train.

Aoko Aozaki then stopped. "Emiya, hmm," she mused, "So that was the kid of the Magus Killer?" She thought back to the conversation between them. "Honestly, I can't see the relation."

Her thoughts then turned to his companion; the girl who called herself Saber. "So that was a Herioc Spirit, huh?"

As the train stopped at the entrance to NERV's H.Q., Shirou and Saber headed for the main entrance. "So that was your first time riding a train," the young magus questioned the servant.

A curt nod was her reply, "Yes, but as I said, the grail provides knowledge of the modern day world to us servants, so it was not anything special if that is what you were wondering."

The two continued on, exchanging small talk, until they reached the entrance. As they walked through the entrance, Shirou noticed two people coming towards them.

These two were Misato and Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, the former looking nervous and the latter annoyed.

'I knew she wasn't allowed to let Saber come with me,' Shirou thought.

As they got closer to the captain and the doctor, Misato sheepishly called out to him, "Hey Shirou."

Deciding to throw her a bone, since this was probably his fault, he greeted her back, "Hello Misato." He then turned to the blonde doctor standing next to Misato. "Hello Dr. Akagi, how are you?" he asked.

"I am fine Shirou, thank you for asking," she answered sharply. Yes, she was as annoyed as she looked. "I am, however, interested in your friend right there. My name is Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, and you are?"

"My name is Saber," the blonde knight responded.

The doctor raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Saber….?"

"Just Saber."

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between Shirou and Saber, as if she was studying them. "I see…" was her response.

"So, uh," Misato interrupted, "you are the girl who I talked on the phone?"

The knight turned and focused her eyes at Misatos. "I am, and you are Misato. It is a pleasure," she said to the captain.

"Ahem," the blonde doctor coughed, "I believe now is not the time for formalities."

Saber raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Is there a problem doctor?"

"Yes Saber," Ritsuko replied back, "you see-"

The faux blonde was interrupted by the blaring sound of an alarm and the blinking red lights on the walls.

Upon hearing the noise, Misato immediately became serious. She turned onto Shirou while saying, "Shirou, it looks like you're going to have to cancel that test. You got another appointment to deal with."

Knowing exactly what the purple haired woman spoke, Shirou nodded his head in confirmation. "Right," he said before he dashed between the two women and down the hallway. Saber began to rush after him, before Ritsuko stepped in her way.

"Look Saber, as I was trying to say before-"

"Move."

It was just one word, but it was that all it took. The blonde doctor moved aside to allow the girl to run past her and after Shirou. Both the captain and doctor watched her retreating form, before Ritsuko shook herself out of her stupor.

"What just happened?" she asked out loud.

Misato answered for her, "The same thing that happened to me."

Meanwhile:

'So this is it huh,' Shirou thought as he finished putting on his plug suit and making the final adjustments to it. 'What started three weeks ago, happens again today.' Most people would be nervous and scared out of their wits if this was to happen to them.

But not Shirou; he made a promise to save everyone and he would not quit because of some kind of alien monster.

As he exited the dressing room, he noticed that Saber was standing right at the entrance. 'How did she get this far?' he thought in shock from seeing the blonde knight this far into the facility.

"Shirou, if I might ask: what are you about to do that requires that kind of clothing?" Saber asked him as he started his way down the hall.

The young magus blushed when she asked him this question. He was embarrassed that a beautiful girl such as Saber saw him in an outfit this tight. 'Well at least it's not a girl's one that I'm wearing.'

"Shirou, did you hear what I asked?"

'Crap,' he thought, 'I must have been quiet too long.' He then looked over his shoulder at his servant while replying, "Well, you see Saber…this suit is for what I do at NERV."

Her eyebrows furrowed at him, "Which is?"

Shirou sighed and said, "I'll tell you later, okay Saber?"

Knowing it would be useless to try and continue, Saber ceased her questions and followed behind her master as he continued on.

After a while, the two came to the EVA loading dock. As the two walked on, several people in the area looked in curiosity at the strange young blonde woman following the EVA pilot to his plug. One thought ran through every single mind as they watched the two:

'Who is she?'

When they reached the plug, Shirou turned around and saw that Saber was still with him. "Um, Saber," he started nervously.

"Yes Shirou, what is it?"

He scratched the back of his head as he replied with, "You can't come in the plug with me. You know that right?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And why not?" she asked.

"Well you see it's because…because…you just can't!" he exclaimed.

"I fail to see a reason why I cannot follow you into this plug as you call it. If I am to protect you, I must always be with you," she stated with authorityin her voice.

Shirou tried to come up with a counter argument, but he could not. "You see it's because-"

"It's because it messes with the pilot's synch rate and overall performance," came the voice of Dr. Akagi to the rescue. He also noticed that Misato was following, both of whom were wearing equally serious and grim faces.

Saber looked at the doctor in confusion. "Synch rate? Overall performance?" she questioned the two.

Ritsuko sighed as she began to speak again, "Look, Saber, I can't tell you anything without special permission, but until then we really need you to allow Emiya to go alone in the plug and come with us to wait for him."

The blonde knight looked at the two women with cold, intense eyes. "Can you guarantee his safety?"

Misato nodded and answered firmly, "I promise you as his commanding officer."

Saber looked back and forth between the two, before looking back with narrowed eyes at Shirou. "I expect a few answers after this Shirou." The boy nodded at her. She sighed before turning back to the captain and doctor. "Very well then, please take the lead," she said. "And Shirou…" She looked back at him one more time. "…be careful." The young blonde allowed herself to be led by the two older women (technically, Saber is older than both women, combined even).

The young magus sighed in relief as he watched Saber walk away. He turned back around and stepped into the plug and closed the hatch behind him.

"You can stay in here until we can get this whole situation sorted out," the purple haired captain said as she led Saber into some kind of breakroom, consisting of a table, some chairs, and a couch

"I would prefer to wait somewhere so I can at least keep an eye on Shirou," the blonde knight stated.

Misato sighed. "Look," she started, "I know this isn't the best situation, but it's all that is available to you right now, okay?"

The knight looked into the woman's eyes. "Very well, I appreciate that you have done this much for me captain and am sorry if I have come off as rude to you."

"It's fine," Misato said, "I can see that you are worried about Shirou and I respect that. But we can't just let civilians in like this. The fact that you are here and haven't been thrown in a cell for intrusion is a testament to how lucky you are." The captain sighed again before giving Saber a small smile. "We'll try to get this all figured out, but until then please wait here. Shirou will be safe, I promise." The blonde knight stared at Misato before giving a slow nod. Misato gave Saber another smile as she exited the room, closing the door behind her.

Saber looked around the room in caution. 'Just because I'm alone does not mean that I am not being kept an eye on,' she thought. While she was alive, Saber had learned to always keep an eye on her environment as a precautionary measure in all situations.

But being alone did give her one thing: time to think on what was going on at the moment.

'What was the Dr. Akagi talking about; synch rate; overall performance; none of it makes sense,' the blonde knight thought. 'Also, what is so important that Shirou would not tell me nor allow me to follow him into that plug as he called it? For that matter, why couldn't the captain allow me to at least be somewhere that I can watch Shirou?'

She looked back at the door as she thought, 'Whatever the case, I will get answers to this. But if I must wait here, then I have no choice but to comply.'

The blonde knight then pulled over one of the chairs so it faced the door and sat. She placed her chair that was so if Shirou was in grave danger, she'd be able to get out much faster to help him. But for now she sat and waited.

'Interesting,' thought Caster as watched a crustacean-like creature glide across the earth through some kind of crystal ball, 'So these are the Angels.'

Upon her materialization, the servant of spells, like every servant, was provided knowledge of the modern day world. Of the knowledge given to her, Caster was most interested with these beasts called 'the Angels' that were spoken of from a text known as "The Dead Sea Scrolls". Although the grail provided her information about the Angels, it did not give a clear image on what they looked like; but she now saw them. She smiled in wicked glee. Oh what it would be like to capture one of these 'Angels' and study it. The possibilities were literally endless with this unknown species.

'Unfortunately, two problems strike that idea down,' she thought. The first problem was what intrigued her about these goliaths: they were literally an unknown factor to her. She had no idea as to what their strengths, weaknesses, capabilities were! But what she did know about them were from the very vague text of the DS scrolls. Even so there was not enough to work on!

Her second problem lay with what she was summoned for: the Holy Grail War. Caster's situation is what people from this era would say "a rollercoaster of drama". First, she had been summoned by a master who was not only an arrogant fool, but a small minded, ignorant pig. Because of this, Caster had killed him the first chance she got.

This only led to more complications because without a master, she would receive no prana and without prana, she would not survive for long. But luckily, she found a new master: a man who was the first true person to help her. The downside is: he was not magus. This meant he could not give prana. Thankfully, there was an entire town full of prana to sustain her. For the past couple of days, Caster had been using her familiars to attain the prana that sher would need to survive this war.

Caster wasn't completely heartless, as she only took just enough from each human that she needed. It's not like she was draining them dry, even though the amount she was taking from each person would cause them to go into a coma, but that is beside the point.

Her plan for the war was simple, but effective: Caster would wait it out while every other servant and master killed each other, swoop in, finish off the last remaining pair, and win the grail. Of course, she did take precautionary measures in case a servant or master tried to attack her at her base of operations; that homunculi and her Berserker learned that lesson. Even if he is a back talking mutt, Assassin does prove to be useful as a guard, so he would a tool against invading enemies.

But now she had wrench thrown in her plan. A giant, monstrous-like wrench to be precise.

From what the Dead Sea Scrolls stated, accroding to the grail, these Angels were beasts of destruction. They apparently have one goal in mind: human destruction. That was going to be a problem. Caster needed time to win the grail but these monsters appeared at random. Not only that, they were unknown creatures to her. She had no idea how to combat against these creatures if she was to go up against one.

Plus, her master was human, that meant the 'Angels' would try to eliminate him as well. She would never allow such an act like that happen as long as she still drew breath. But again, how was she to protect him if she had no idea on how to protect him?

'But,' Caster thought as the image in the crystal switched to the image of a young boy, 'he might know how.'

A woman with purple hair going to the ground and wearing a very scandalous outfit stood at a home's rooftop. However, even though she was visible, no human would be able to spot her, unless she wanted them to. One of the many perks of being a servant.

As she stood on the roof, the woman looked in the direction of the city next to Fuyuki, as she felt the presence of the beast in that area. However, the woman didn't exactly know what the beast was or what its purpose was; she could only speculate and guess. 'Perhaps could it be a beast of Gaia or some type Phantasmal species?' the servant thought as she continued to look in the direction that the unknown creature was in.

But the servant could care less about what this strange new beast was or its purpose; she had her own problems to deal with. 'Like the case of my master,' she thought bitterly. When the servant was originally summoned, her original master had been forced to relieve her command seals and title of master and give them to her brother.

Her brother was a piece of work; arrogant, self-centered, cruel, whiny as a child would be, and foolish (to name a few of his traits). That's not to say she wasn't trying to work with her brother, but it was more along the lines that he is impossible to work with. The woman is always left with a bad taste in her mouth and an enormous migraine every time she speaks with her brother. .

The only reason her brother was still alive was one reason and one only: the woman's original master, asked, no begged the servant to protect him. The servant had no choice in the matter; she could not deny her true master's wish, no matter how much she wanted to. So for the war's duration, Rider would protect her 'master' and help him achieve victory. She then could feel her master calling for her.

'Most likely another 'brilliant plan' on how to defeat the other masters,' the servant of the mount thought as she left to join her master's side.

As he stood on top of the skyscraper, Lancer looked out into the distance and sighed. 'What's the point of being a hero, if you can't actually be one when it matters?'

As Kirei walked up and down the church's aisle, he thought about the events of the previous night. His ward, Rin, had brought to him the seventh and final master of the grail war. According to her, the master of Saber was an inept magus and barely knew any magecraft.

But that was not what interested Kirei about the seventh master. No what got him truly interested in this 'Shirou' was his last name: Emiya.

It had been nearly ten years since the moderator had participated in the fourth grail war, but he remembered it as if it was yesterday. Ten years since his battle with his former enemy, and now, ten years later, fate has placed another Emiya within the grail war. But while the Emiya of the fourth war would kill one person to save another, this one, much to Kirei's amusement, wanted to save both.

Kirei would definitely keep an eye on this boy. Thinking of the previous night, his thoughts shifted over to the visiting church member that had been sent by the church higher ups down to the border of Fuyuki and Tokyo-3. The member had informed him that some type of alien, designated "Type-Angel", as the higher ups called it for some reason, had appeared and that she was to keep an eye on this new species.

Kirei thought, "Sending an agent down to observe a situation that could affect humanities survival is not uncommon. But for them to send one from the Burial Squad to do that observing?"

"Hmm, it seems this year is just full of surprises," the priest mused.

Aoko Aozaki looked down at the woman on the bed in Aoko's motel room. When the magus found her, the woman had lost a lot of blood from the place where her left arm was chopped off. She was in critical condition, but with the treatment that Aoko had given her, she would be fine.

This woman was indeed lucky; if Aoko had not found her, she would never have made it past another day. It was then that magus got a good look at the woman with heavy bandages placed were her left arm was. She wore what looked to be a black two piece business suit and a red-violet neck tie. The woman's hair was short and magenta colored and she sported a mole right below her left eye.

The female magus's eyes widened at the sight of the woman on her bed. 'Aren't you…'

"Last time they gave us 15 years. This time we just had 3 weeks," Misato said bitterly as she beheld the sight of the second Angel upon the giant screen in the Central Dogma.

"And with Commander Ikari being away on business no less," the blonde doctor said aloud.

The purple haired captain shook her head, "That doesn't matter," she said, "Whether or not the commander is here, we still have a mission: defeat the Angels for all of humanity." She then turned to one of the CD's "bridged bunnies" and asked, "What is the current position of Unit 1?"

"EVA-Unit 1 is on the launch pad and ready for deployment," the short brown haired female replied.

Misato nodded at her answer and turned back to the screen. "Shinji, are you ready?" she asked through the com link established between the Central Dogma and Unit 1.

"Yes," was his reply. There was no hesitation, no stuttering, nor signs of being unsure. Shirou had said all he needed to in one word: 'I'm ready for this fight.'

"All right then," Misato yelled after his response, "EVA launch!"

When there's no more good fanfic updates, RoboVolcano4 rises again! That's right, I'm alive and I bring you the fourth chapter of 'Fate/Stay Evangelion'. Which reminds me, I really need to change that title, it's not the best title I've come up with. By the way, do you know how many views this story now has? IT'S OVER 9000! Memes aside, sorry this chapter is so late. I've had a lot of crap going on in RL: finals, ACT, personal business, and work. But I gave you all a chapter with a word count of 14,926. That's nearly 15,000 words or 1500 tens! And that's a lot.

But anyway, let's do a quick review of this chapter shall we? Rin informs Shirou of the Grail War, Shirou meets Kirei, then meets Illya, which leads to a fight between Saber and Berserker, Shirou does his first act of stupidity heroism, is scolded for it, brings Saber to NERV with him, and is set to fight the 4th Angel in the next chapter. Whooh! That was another thing with this chapter that took so long, I didn't know where a good place to stop was and how much to really write. Originally this chapter was meant to be much longer, but I decided against it, so I hope you enjoyed it.

Review:

Sourl3monz: Well, no one was really doing this kind of crossover and the only other one that I saw that kind of did it was dead, so boom I decided to write this. Yeah, when I first thought up this story, I immediately wanted to combine the grail war with the Angel war. It allowed me to have a lot of free range and character interaction between the series. Plus a post war Shirou in NGE would just be a copy of gabriel blessing. That's is not something I want to do.

The Archsage: Well say no more, I have not abandoned this series and don't plan to do so in the series. I do indeed know that the Grail War in Fate canon did not last long, but do not fret, for I have come up with a way to make sure it does not end too soon before the other Angels show up. Thank you very much for the compliment, I hope you enjoy the story in it's future comings.

7thManiac: Yeah, it's not going to be easy to convince Saber that he needs to go fight a giant monster that could possibly destroy all of humanity. But all shall be revealed in future chapters.

necro-wolf: Yep, but I am up for this challenge! Glad to see you did come back to give the 3rd chapter a read.

Incura: Well I'm glad that it has potential. As for the walls of text, I will try to fix that in the future, so thank you for telling me that. Also, the story lines are only apart right now. Don't worry about it, all will change.

Der Ritter: I will keep that in true mind. Right now, I posted this chapter on BL to have those guys get a look at it, so hopefully they can give me their opinions.

alpha95: Well I'm happy that you reviewed my story, so cry your manly tears! TEARS THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS! Ahem, anyway, thanks for the compliment, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, hope you enjoy this one as well.

Hypothetical Spiritual Entity: Probably my favorite thing with this story is going to be all the character collisions that happen with each character! Ooh boy, that's going to be a ride. But I'm glad that like the chapter.

Now then, before we close I want to say this: Do not ask me what route in the Fate story I am taking. This is going to be a surprise and I don't want to say right now. So please do not ask anymore. One more thing, there is a poll on my profile for future story ideas that I would like you guys opinions on, so please go vote. Now then, if you liked this chapter and this story, please follow, favorite, and leave a review. And if you really enjoyed it, please tell anyone who likes both these shows about this fic. I will try my very best to get the 5th chapter out as fast a humanly possible, but in the mean time, I will see you all in the nest chapter or story, buh bye~

Next Chapter:

"You disobeyed a direct order!"

"If I died, but stopped the death of humanity, what's wrong with that?!"

"You were tasked by Kiritsugu Emiya to protect Pilot Emiya, were you?"

A Heroes fight: the 4th Angel and those close to him