Disclaimer: I own nothing.

In other news:

It's official. I need a Beta Reader. I need someone who knows Fairy Tail's characters inside out because my research still isn't deep enough to reveal everything I need to know.

In response to the reviews:

I've noticed that a lot of people think of this particular Shirou as a weak one. That's only natural: Emiya Shirou was a huge pushover in the Holy Grail War before he met Saber, even with his Structural Grasp and Reinforcement magic. So in response to that:

I say again, he is NOT weak. Judging him by his inadequate Tsubame Gaeshi is like judging Rider by her chained daggers, or judging Saber by her Invisible Air. Sure, he isn't as hax as UBW Shirou, but you'll see that in some ways he is more powerful than his Rin-paired counterpart.

On Shirou's love for Saber: Saber is going to play a huge part in Shirou's development, even if she doesn't appear in person. That said, my writing on her love is indeed quite crude, so I'll work extra hard on that.

On Fairy Tail Characters' development: it's not fair of me to underwrite Fairy Tail characters like that. I'm still learning, but I'll see if I can flesh them out better through the course of this fanfic. This chapter is an attempt to flesh out the no.2 of the fic, Erza Scarlet. Please review her accuracy, and be honest about it. My writing can't improve if I don't see somewhere to improve on.

Thanks guys for following me so far, and sorry for the ranting. Here's the next installment!

"Don't push yourself, Erza!" Gray yelled worriedly from the back seat. The Magic Mover tore its way through the canyons, its rickety wheels shaking the already rickety railroad as it passed. Erza's eyelids grew heavier, and the flickering sea of lacrima that was Clover Town dimmed, but the Requip mage blinked her eyes and kept going. There was a guildmaster's meeting going on there, and Erigor was headed toward it. Every second counted.

"WHOA!" Natsu screamed. Erza looked up, and she cursed.

The shimmering and flickering glitter of Clover Town was briefly masked by a growing silhouette- the shadow of a titanic demon as tall as the mountains itself. In its skull pulsed a single purple light, an evil eye that only spread malice and death alike upon whom its gaze touched- ample evidence that the situation had just worsened beyond her imagination. It seemed that Erigor had already made it to Clover Town, and judging from the wooden demon body towering above the mountain range before her, he'd somehow managed to summon the demon within the satanic flute. If Erigor could get it to play the Song of Death, the entire town would be dead within minutes.

Even now, a giant purple sigil emerged above the titan's head, its intricate and deadly runes covering the sky and bathing the ground in its ominous light.

"Hey!" Gray's usually calm voice was tinged with surprise, and Erza found herself glancing back, only to be set straight as the Magic Mover beneath her buckled. "It looks like the Titan is fighting somebody. Can you see anything?"

Erza looked up. It seem that the Titan wasn't having a nice time, either. It cut short its incantation and flailed its gigantic arms at a person whom they couldn't see, but from its frantic efforts and somewhat frustrated expression, the mage was coping well with the attacks.

Phew, thought Erza. At least they were puttting up a fight.

Just then, the Titan wound back and plunged its humongous fist into the ground. The explosive haymaker shook the rickety railway and nearly threw the depths of the deep.

Natsu lurched. "I think I'm going to vomit!" The black-hair teenager whipped out his arm. "Ice Make, Silencer!" his hand burst to light, and a glistening white pacifier found its way into the firebreather's protesting mouth. A second later, the same pacifier slammed Gray over the head, only for its wielder to receive a punch to the face.

"What was that for?"

"You started it first!"

"Silence!" Erza roared. The two rowdy mages straightened immediately and gave each other a suffocating hug. Erza ignored both of them, her eyes following only the perilous railroad and the tenuous fight. It seemed that Lullaby had thrown a powerful punch, but Erza noted belatedly that the mage had survived it, as almost immediately two winking dots struck the Titan and left two shallow marks across the Titan's torso as they were deflected. They were spinning blades, Erza realized, as the two dots drew a circle behind the giant.

Another pair of blades shot forth from the forest. Her heart sank at the sight. The spinning falchions had been thrown with considerable power, but Erza had just seen two of the same blades get deflected off of the Titan's body. Perhaps he was losing strength, unable to offer a more powerful strike. Perhaps those four swords were everything he had. Either way, those attacks couldn't hold Lullaby back for much longer. Her time was running out, and she had to get there before the unknown mage faltered and the demon continued his spell-

CLANG!

It was a jarring ring that reverberated forth from the Titan, and even Erza, whose hearing was beginning to weaken with the loss of her energy, could feel it singing through her rickety Mover. Before her disbelieving eyes, the white sword behind the Titan swung back with a force that made her blink again in surprise. Black met white, and the two bladed disks arced behind the Titan, leaving a pair of deep gashes in the demon's side. The giant Lullaby's body lurched under the weight of that strike, and its stumbling legs crashed through the tree canopy in their clumsy attempts to step back.

"Yeah!" Natsu cheered. "Beat that guy! Don't let him harm old man Makarov!"

To think that that second attack, more ineffectual than the first, would cause so much damage! Erza couldn't help but wonder at the sight. For the mage to have revealed this attack, though, he must've been getting desperate. Once the demon knew what had just happened, he would definitely guard against it, and it wouldn't work again, not when he knew exactly what the mage was capable of. That seemed like exactly what the mage was doing, though, as a white blade swished through the canopy toward the giant's narrow waist.

Gray echoed her thoughts. "I don't think that would work a second time-"

It was just as she expected, Lullaby raised its arm to block the ivory-white falchion flying towards its torso. But the falchions weren't as simple as she thought, Erza realized. As if it'd noticed the White sword's furious attack, the black blade spinning away from Lullaby spun from its innocuous path and took a nosedive toward the Titan's exposed back.

"-wait. It actually might!"

Before Erza's disbelieving eyes, the two blades struck the Titan. At the very moment that the white falchion deflected off its bulbous arms, its obsidian counterpart left an ugly gash through the monster's side.

"That was amazing!" Natsu cheered. "How did he do that?"

"Were you even watching!?" Gray snorted. "It seems that the guy fighting Lullaby expected it to ignore the flying blades behind his back, so he made use of the attraction of the two blades to strike the Titan from two different angles simultaneously." He paused thoughtfully. "I'm not sure what he's planning, though. It seems like that's his ace move, and he's going to do it again with the other white blade behind Lullaby, but the Titan's definitely expecting it now." He gushed on intently, as if he'd all but forgotten that they'd been squabbling intensely earlier on.

The mage was doing an excellent job, Erza agreed, but there could only be so many gimmicks the mage could pull before he ran out of energy. Clover Town was getting closer and closer, and she only hoped she'd reach before the mage ran of tricks. Erza redoubled her efforts, and the mover surged toward the station in the distance.

Sure enough, the Titan had caught on. He'd positioned his two spindly arms to prevent the same trick- a trick that the mage had decided to reuse, Erza noted with surprise, as a black arc hurtled toward the Titan and drew the circling white sword toward its disfigured torso. At this rate, Lullaby could easily block both of them and punish him for his predictability.

Just when Erza thought the mage was done for, a third pair of swords tore through the forest, their keen edges spinning rapidly toward the Titan's two flanks. While the Titan's giant palms swatted the first two blades from the sky, the newest pair of razor-edged blades crashed into either side of the Titan!

Erza stared at the circling swords in disbelief. The mage wasn't intent on delaying the Titan, she realized. He was out to slay it! Those mysterious blades that circled the Titan were never meant to kill it in their first strike, but to build up the mage's meagre advantage and deliver strike after devastating strike!

But it wouldn't be enough, Erza knew. Lullaby, being an ancient demon that possessed great power, would cost a fully charged Erza Scarlet a lot of trouble to defeat alone. While the mage using them could no doubt exploit their flexibility by using more finishing moves, they could not hold back an intelligent, durable giant forever. She had to get there before the mage gave way, before his attacks lost effectiveness.

Clover town station appeared behind the mountains, the Titan's image increasing in size with every second. She just had to get there, get in front of the Titan before the mage killed himself slaying it. She blinked the last of her drowsiness away and upped the gear again. The drain was beginning to cut into her reserves, now, but there was no way she'd let that slow her down if there was a life in the balance!

Her eyes turned to the fight, and once again, she nearly crashed her Mover into the mountains. A red-cloaked man had burst out of the tree canopy. His opal armour glinted menacingly with its proud silver gleam, and a sly smirk veiled the steely intensity of his gray eyes. Try as she might, Erza couldn't find anything about him that she could recognize- but those giant, winged swords behind him!

Erza could vaguely tell that they were the very same swords that the Titan had suffered a moment earlier, but now they spanned the entire length of his torso, their feathery mottled blades covered in metal shards like the sharp feathers upon black-and-white wings.

The wings of an angel, Erza thought in her weak delirium. Those wings, evolved giant blades of their unlikely falchion counterparts, painted the story of a man who always punched above his weight. The red-cloaked man would never overcome Lullaby with his strength alone. Even so, the mage gave everything he had, no matter how small, to achieve the victory out of his reach. He engineered each step with the miniscule arsenal that he had, calculated every move, and drew a battle plan that would bring a Titan to its knees. His flawless battle strategy, backed up by the small but defiant arsenal within his grasp, reinforced by the stony determination of the lowly mage to slay the mighty Titan before him, became the wings that carried to him his victory- bladed wings that now joined their flying counterparts and ripped simultaneously through its chest!

"That's Emiya Shirou!" Happy yelled. "I know it doesn't look like him, but I can feel it!"

The mage that was Emiya Shirou burst through the Titan's body. Lullaby roared, gasping at the numerous cuts and tears in its chest. As Erza feared, however, Lullaby wasn't down for the count. His towering frame remained focused on the victims the red-cloaked mage had left behind. The terrible magic sigil above him vanished with an air of finality, and it opened its gaping maw to let out its blood-chilling scream.

Shit!

"Cover your ears!" she yelled, but it was already too late. The song that had gathered within the Titan's musical body was complete. The flute just had to open its mouth to deliver the death blow.

Any moment now, Erza thought, the flute would begin his inevitable song. It would deliver a death blow that would wipe Clover Town clean of all its lives...

The blow never came. Lullaby opened its mouth, but the song that had hummed in its belly only fizzled out before they could even reach its pharynx.

The holes, Erza realized excitedly. The mage hadn't slain the Titan himself, but his determination had cut hole after hole in the giant Titan's body. The song that should've been broadcast through its magic aperture escaped through those gaping gashes! Erza couldn't approve of the mage's suicidal determination, but she had to admit that his strange blades- he was a requip mage too, Erza guessed- had bought them an impossible victory. But even then, the Titan was still moving, still perfectly capable of killing everyone with its fists and its other magicks, and the red-cloaked mage was clearly out of trump cards.

Erza doubled her speed, her mover roared down the tracks. She crossed her fingers as she drove. Please don't let anything happen now, Erza thought with all her might. Don't let him come up with something before I get there!"

The station's gigantic building grew closer with each passing second.

Natsu whistled. "Wait... Lullaby is trying fire magic!"

Gray facepalmed. "You have to tempt fate, don't you Natsu?"

"Stop fighting!" Erza yelled.

"AYE!"

Natsu and Gray chirped in unison. Erza ignored both of them, her eyes fixed upon the Titan.

Between the skulled flute's terrible jaws lit a brick-red sigils, with tongues of flames for its runes. Why did this have to happen- and now, of all the times it could've? The red-cloaked mage wasn't Natsu, who was immune to any form of fire. Not all the Guildmasters had fire resistance too, and even those who did... could they really stand up to a giant demon's flames? They'd all be burnt to a crisp! She was already so close, too- her flame armour would have taken it out if she had a few more seconds, but those invaluable seconds would be denied her as Lullaby barbecued every Guildmaster in sight...

"RHO AIAS!"

The ground shook under the sheer shock of Lullaby's blasting inferno. Its shock riled up the flimsy Manamobile under Team Natsu, but the triplet ignored it, their gaze ensnared instead by the glorious pink silhouette. Right before Lullaby's eager, flaming torrent a purple shield flowered, its seven tender layers reverberating in harmony as they cast a resonant umbra against the demon's horrid flames. Right before Erza's eyes, Dante's Inferno burst into existence, only to wash harmlessly past Clover Town as they were deflected by the holy ward's valiant light!

"Amazing!" Natsu cheered. "Even after that furious fight with Lullaby, he still has the energy to cast this!?"

He'd voiced it, and Erza knew it all too well. Casting such a shield would cost any mage an arm and a leg. For Shirou to do so, after summoning and using four pairs of blades against the demonic titan Lullaby… there was just no way he could keep this up, not forever. She had to get there, take over before the mage lost all his energy and Lullaby walked over him-

But it was too late. As her Mover entered the train station, as she leapt off with all the strength her exhausted body could muster, Erza saw the red-shrouded figure soaring above the Titan's head. His hands grasped around a spiral-edged sword, his arms raised to plunge its ivory white blade into the Titan's evil eye.

"-CALADBOLG!"

The giant explosion cast Clover Station in a dark Silhouette. The mover tumbled before a crushing shockwave. Through eyelids that fought to keep open, against a blast that threw Natsu, Happy and Gray flat against the ground, she could vaguely make out an orange-headed adolescent, shrouded in smoke and steam alike, crashing down on her.

Makarov looked anxiously at Shirou's bandaged body..

"Take good care of him, Mirajane." The platinum haired girl shared his worried gaze and nodded, and then they left-Mirajane heading toward the kitchen area, Makarov strolling out with an inscrutable expression upon his face. He turned his head at the door. "You too, Erza."

As he left, Erza's gauntlet slammed hard on the table and sent her mug over the counter, where several lucky rats happily slurped up its murky contents.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable!

Erza had known that most of the Eisenwald guild would fall easily to her Heaven's Wheel armour. The plate had been designed for crowd control, something that it excelled at. She'd brought along help in the form of two teammates- Gray and Natsu- who'd handled Erigor's lieutenants admirably well. If she'd had the sense to leave just one single person outside the station, her team would've easily stopped Erigor from reaching Clover Town entirely. But no, Erza had ordered both of them after Eisenwald, and before they knew it, the entire team had been trapped in the dark Guildmaster's Wind Prison for several precious hours.

And in that tiny window of time, Erigor had gotten to Clover Town, summoned Lullaby's demonic form (somehow), and nearly gotten her guildmaster killed. She'd seen everything from the railway, from the giant skull-headed titan rearing its head at Clover Town, to the giant explosion that'd removed the Titan's body entirely. And throughout the course of the entire battle, Erza could only make her way wretchedly through the rails toward Clover Town, could only watch the fight as its insurmountable distance kept her from taking over that impossible battle. She'd made the mistake of not bringing an extra mage, even when there had been one handy.

And the cost of her mistake had been Emiya Shirou.

She looked at the Orange-haired adolescent. To say that the poor man had been through a war and a half would've been an understatement. Scratches and scars covered every single inch of his unevenly scorched skin, itself mottled in burnt scraps and scars. The worst of it was shrouded in steam- copious amounts of hot fog that rose from the young mage's body even now as it smouldered like red hot iron dunked in water. His skin burnt to the touch, not a single water bath could cool him down, and there wasn't a single thing Erza could do to get him to wake up. Heck, she didn't even know if he'd ever wake up.

And all of that was thanks to her mistake- Erza's mistake. If she had been there, the Fairy Tail mage called Emiya Shirou would never have had to face the deadly demon on his own. He would never have become- like this…

A gentle knock distracted Erza from her thoughts. She looked up. Mirajane was standing at the door, a concerned expression on her face and a bucket of snowmelt in her arms.

"He's still burning, isn't he?"

Erza nodded. She took the bucket of water from Mirajane's arms. The rag unfolded in her rugged hands, and she eased it slowly across the teenager's ragged skin, slowly and carefully spreading Gray's snow water across the teenager's burning skin. Gray's melted Ice-Make snow steamed off his skin easily, but she persisted, easing the rag carefully throughout the teenager's once-fair skin. As her hands wiped his blemished surface, the red-haired mage glanced curiously at the flame-haired mage. Part of her wanted to berate him for his utter stupidity- just who would risk his life to fight such a monster, knowing that his loss and possible death was on the cards? Sure, he was still alive now, but that had more to do with Erza, Natsu and Gray being just in the right place than it did with him.

Strangely enough, it was her own voice- a deeply buried, and yet disturbingly reminiscent memory- that answered her. There was only one type of person who would devote every ounce of his strength to an endeavour so hopeless, and she knew exactly what it was. After all, She'd done it before. She'd mustered a rebellion against all hope and fought back a dark guild, all for the person whom she loved.

The snowmelt dripped liberally off her hands. The red-haired mage glanced at the unconscious tracer. Very gently- more gently, even, than Erza's hands had been for a long time- she folded the rag in her hands, and laid it on the adolescent's head. The dripping cloth burst to steam, but Erza only replaced it in the bucket and set it back on the mage's head. All the while, her thoughts only lingered on the mysterious teenager. Who was he? Just what was his magic about? And most importantly, why did he try to fight Lullaby, even though he knew that it'd kill him? Her mind tossed restlessly, just as her hands dunked the cloth again and again into the emptying barrel, until fatigue finally claimed her and set her to sleep.

Swords.

Swords overrun with grass stuck out beneath his feet. Swords hummed excitedly above his head. Beneath his feet, shrouded by mats of grass and white flowerettes, gleamed blade after discarded blade. Above his head, sword after shining sword hung in the air, humming with barely concealed excitement. Everywhere he looked, Shirou found a sword- many swords- before him, pommels gleaming as if they were trying to invite him, to get his hand around their handles. As he walked, their long and epic histories flowed into him, filled him with the memories of great knights and swordsmen alike, and challenged him to better each and every one of them.

Shirou sighed. He was spoiled for choice, wasn't he?

He knew exactly where he'd gotten the image of each swords. When the arrogant King of Heroes had tried to kill him, he'd chosen the single worst method to do so. The resulting sword spam gave Shirou a high-definition view of most, if not all, legendary swords to exist. Equally (un)fortunate was Shirou's amazing structural grasp- which, Shirou thought haplessly, had dutifully and flawlessly copied every one of them into his imaginary world, even if he hadn't consciously realized it at the time. He'd unintentionally flooded his own armoury with more swords than he could use in a lifetime.

But he couldn't use all of them, too. His reality, his magic, wasn't exactly like Archers- even though Archer was technically just him in another universe. Sure, his mind had been filled with the piecemeal memories and skills of all the swordsmen he'd projected before, and sure, he could project each and every one of them (if they weren't huge alien Mysteries like Ea), but he couldn't use them. The effect, he knew, would be much like a baboon hammering on a laptop. He simply did not believe in these swordsmen, so he could neither embody their existence, nor reconstruct their otherworldly feats.

Then again, even the omnipotent, composed Rin would blow up a lappie in a second.

Shirou chuckled at the thought. Come to think of it, the tsundere mage extraordinaire'd left for the Clock Tower right after graduation, and Shirou had been so busy with his life-saving that he hadn't found any time to meet her, at all. It seemed that she hadn't quite lost her temper- Shirou found her writing frequent letters on a particularly annoying blonde Finnish girl who opposed her at every turn- and even dealt her a Suplex when they'd finally come to blows.

Shirou vaguely wondered what she'd be like if she had been here instead of him. Knowing her, she'd probably build an empire off her jewels and begin plotting world domination, all in an elegant Tohsaka style.

But what if Saber was here?

The world began to shake. Shirou felt his hand tremble. He looked down at it, and the blue-and-red sapphires upon the blade winked back at him. The golden crossguard, the royal lavender handle and the regal inset of Caliburn stared back at him. It hummed eagerly in his hand, a warm presence he'd grown to miss, and for a moment Shirou could imagine the petite blonde standing next to him, admiring the grasslands spread before them with those candid emerald eyes.

And as he turned to meet her gaze, a giant axesword filled his vision.

Erza stirred. Her stiff limbs creaked to life. She brushed aside her long hair and looked up at the orange-haired teenager through sleepy eyes. His head lolled slightly to one side, and his eyes creaked open.

Emiya Shirou was awake.

Emiya Shirou was awake!

Suddenly, Erza was wide awake too.

Her hand rocketed to Emiya Shirou's forehead.

He wasn't burning anymore. His forehead remained cool, drenched in Gray's icewater and sweat. Erza sighed.

"So you're finally awake, Emiya Shirou."

"Saber?"

Erza's eyes snapped round. She stared blankly at him. Shirou stared back, his eyes as wide as an owl.

"Wait, who are you?" the teenager asked. "You're wearing armour, but I'm pretty sure you aren't Saber..." He scratched his head. "Oh, right. I'm not in Fuyuki city anymore, am I? Huh, so being slashed by Berserker again was all just a dream..."

"Saber? Berserker? Fuyuki?" Erza scratched her head. As far as she could guess, they were probably all pseudonyms for people with different skills and roles, and Fuyuki was probably some place in Earthland-though she'd never heard of the place before-wait, did he just refer to her as Saber? "Did you get hit in the head, Shirou?" Erza continued. "I've never heard any of those names before. They're not from Fiore, are they?"

A startled look crossed Shirou's face. Erza almost didn't notice it before Shirou's apologetic smile replaced it. "Sorry. It's just that I've never seen you before..."

Right. He hadn't even seen her before, had he?

She broke into a comforting smile. "I'm Erza. Erza Scarlet."

"Erza... Scarlet?" Shirou wondered. "Hmm, Makarov did mention you before. Though," he offered a gentle smile. "I don't see why he thinks you're so bad."

He made to get out of bed, but Erza was there before him. "You shouldn't get up so soon," she chided. Gently, but firmly, she nudged the seemingly injured boy back into bed. Shirou blinked owlishly at the hand on her chest, and then at Erza, who only pulled the blanket around him. Shirou glanced up at her. While Erza kept a stern look on her face, her eyes mellowed as she tended to him, and her hands handled his bedsheets gently. "You're not fully recovered. If you want to do something, leave it to us." For Erza to care so much about him, a guild member she'd never met before... Shirou had to admit, she was very impressive indeed.

Still, she didn't know anything about Shirou. She didn't know about the legendary sheath embedded in his body, and she didn't know the sword that he held, that told Emiya Shirou to get up from his bed. He wouldn't let Saber keep him in bed when he had a Holy Grail War to stop, and he wouldn't let Erza keep him in bed even if she thought it was best for him.

Before he knew it, Shirou had grabbed Erza's hand. Gently, but firmly, he moved it aside. With just as much care as Erza herself had had, Shirou lifted the bedsheets, got up from bed, and sat beside the armoured mage. He turned, and met Erza's shock with a determined grin. "I appreciate your care, Erza, but I can't accept it. I can't afford to waste a single moment lying down like this." He took off his shirt. "See? I'm fully healed." Sure enough, the bruises in his shoulder, where Erigor had hit him thrice in a row, had vanished. His skin was mottled no longer. Aside from a somewhat deep tan on his arms and his face, there was almost no sign that he'd even fought Lullaby the previous night.

Erza studied him. "You think you're already okay? Then I guess I won't stop you. You are a powerful mage, after all." She offered a hand; Shirou accepted it gratefully. "Though, I am surprised that I have never heard of you before. Are you the apprentice of some summer mage? Or, perhaps..." Shirou felt a chill down his spine as Erza glanced over him again. "You're from another world..." The room temperature dropped a few degrees, and Erza was very sure it had nothing to do with Gray's snowmelt bucket next to her. "Either way," she continued to the suspicious tracer, "It's nice to meet you."

Shirou couldn't help shaking the feeling that Erza knew something, but now wasn't the time to ask. "It's nice to meet you too, Erza-san," he replied in kind. "Thanks for treating me back to health, too." He looked at the bucket next to Erza. "You guys put a lot of effort in, didn't you? man, even the water is different. It feels so refreshing."

"It's Gray's magic. He used his Ice Make magic to make fine snowflakes, which we then left to melt." Erza whistled. "Consider yourself lucky. Not many people get that treatment from Gray."

"Ice make Magic? So Gray's an ice magician." Shirou looked up. "Come to think of it, I heard Mirajane mention something about Gray, Natsu and you being the strongest team in Fairy Tail." His gaze hardened. "There's something I want to know, Erza… why did Mirajane say that?"

Erza turned to Shirou, orange eyes met brown, and steel met steel.

To Erza, it was as if she'd laid eyes upon a graveyard. The perilous grassland before her were littered with swords. Swords stuck out of the ground, like so many makeshift grave markers for nameless warriors. Swords hung in the air, their unmoving forms pointed toward her, deathbringers proclaiming their very next victim. She was a weaponmaster, but the very moment she laid eyes on these swords, she could almost feel it immediately- that none of these swords could be hers to wield.

To Shirou, the deadly eye before him struck trepidation into his heart. His magic circuits froze over, his skin felt cold, and he could feel his arms and legs shivering as his blood vessels frantically pumped shot after adrenaline shot into their quivering forms. It was like staring into the striking at the spiked armour of a barbarian warrior- just the wicked barbs all over the steel plate threatened to break any sword that dared to come near it.

A shiver ran down both their spines.

"I'm not answering that question," Erza snapped. "I'm a busy person, and since you're recovered, I'll take my leave."

She gave a suspicious, sidelong glance at the boy on the bed. You're dangerous, she thought, as she strode out of the door. I can't trust you. I'm not going to let you run free in the guild like this, not until I find out just what you're up to.

As Erza left, Shirou found himself staring into his hands. That brief vision still made his hand tremble uncomfortably. It felt like a serious case of dyslexia- like he'd just opened a Japanese book and found all the characters scrambling themselves right before his eyes. It was something that he should have understood easily on sight, with his Structural Grasp no less, and yet every attempt he made to understand just who she was ran straight into a brick wall. Perhaps it was because they were miles apart, different people with polar views on how life should be lived, whose very nature clashed with each other at every chance they had.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was because even he could not understand a person who was just like himself. Either way, he would find out.

Well, a hero can't lie in bed all day long. Shirou left the bed and walked out. The guild hall before him was practically empty, the jobs request board packed full of jobs of all types, and Shirou knew exactly what type he'd be aiming for. I'm going to become a hero of justice, and I'm going to start now. His eyes scanned the job board…

"Wanted! A team of heroic mages to take out a Dark Guild and rescue their captives! Meet at Oshibana Town for details."

Exactly what he had been looking for.

The reward may have been a paltry twenty thousand jewels, but there were lives hanging on the balance. There were people who needed saving, people who needed a hero of justice, and as a person who aspired to save everyone, he could not give up on them.

He tore the job request off the board-

"Wait."

-and froze.

The metal-gloved hand on his shoulder jarred him. He turned expectantly, only to be met by Erza's scarlet mane and plain Heart Kreuz armour. A startled expression crossed his face, swiftly replaced by stoic eyes and thin lips.

"Erza Scarlet." The name tumbled awkwardly off his lips; his tongue protested as its impulsive response vanished into the depths of his voice box. "You have something for me?" His shoulder trembled under Erza's strength. The burning smell of freshly forged steel flooded his nostrils. Her distrustful gaze burnt into his eyes, and Shirou knew that Erza would not let him go.

"Hey, if it's about my injury, you don't need to worry. I'm definitely well enough to go on a quest."

He loaded Monoshizao's circuits, and materialized the firing hammer in his mind. Sure, Erza was not a mage whom Return of the Swallow could easily destroy, but even a swordswoman as masterful as Saber would hesitate before such a deadly technique, and all he needed was a moment of hesitation to begin his quest.

Erza kept her deadly gaze focused on him. "You're going on a quest alone, Emiya Shirou? I believe that the request specifically said a 'team', and not an individual." Her glare deepened. "Just what are you up to?" She redoubled her hold on the strange mage's shoulder. The kid was preparing something, Erza knew. He had the look of a cornered beast in his eyes. His shoulder was trembling under her viselike grip. But Erza was resolved; until she knew exactly what Emiya Shirou was up to, he wouldn't be going anywhere.

The Guild hall dropped a few degrees. Even the old-timers turned over and glanced at the two mages, as they scowled at each other in silence.

Makarov felt a sense of dread incoming. Surely Erza and Shirou didn't mean to destroy the guild hall!? Repairing that building after each fight cost a fortune, and he hadn't counted all the lawsuits he had had to fight for his guild members' violence! He could feel a giant sweat drop squeezing uneasily out of his forehead.

"Hey, Erza, Shirou!" Mirajane called out cheerfully. "If you both want to go on the quest so eagerly, why don't you both go?"

Well…

It wasn't that Shirou had issues with Erza going with him. From what Makarov had told him, Erza Scarlet was quite the reputable mage. Since he obviously didn't know who he'd be up against, and how many, having a valuable ally would likely increase their chances of victory. Well, that was if he could trust Erza to protect the lives at stake, but given what he'd seen of Erza's care for him...

"… I guess we could form a team," Shirou suggested hesitantly. "Erza Scarlet, would you like to come along?"

Erza raised an eyebrow, first at the affable Mirajane, then at the orange-headed adolescent. "I don't think there's a problem," she replied. "With you injured already, you'll definitely need some help." It was the perfect excuse. While they carried out their quest, Erza Scarlet would get an incredible view of Shirou's magic and of his motivations. She would finally find out what made this dangerous mage tick. If he tried anything funny, Erza Scarlet herself would be there to stop it.

"It's settled, then." The two of them shook hands tentatively, but with their eyes intently focused on each other, none of them noticed the loud thud behind them.

"Hey, Guildmaster~!" Mirajane ran cheerfully toward the bar. "I present to you, the strongest team of Fairy Tail- eh, Master, where are you?"

"He's not on the table?" Erza wondered. Shirou turned and scanned the guild hall. Indeed, Makarov was nowhere to be found, though he could've sworn the old man was sitting on the bar table just now-

Wait. What was that colourless thing behind the bar table? Shirou and Erza stretched over the bar table and stared down. Sure enough, there lay their Guildmaster, and for some reason- he was out cold?

"Guildmaster!" Shirou cried. He couldn't find a pulse! "Guildmaster, are you alright?"