The main reason that i'm starting the story in the 3rd day is that the first 2 felt like too much about exposition and explaining the story's setup, things which i felt should be unnecessary for the story.
3rd Day – Part 1 – Meetings
He is in a fire. It was as if he had gone back in time. Once again, Emiya Shirou was in that sea of fire, that bottomless pit of despair. All he has to do is endure, as he will eventually wake up, but it's still a disturbing vision. He feels as if he's going to suffocate, he is at his limit when something happens again.
Again? Yes, once before the fire in his dream simply disappeared without trace, in its place was something else. A pile of ash. Ash as far as the eye can see. And a figure in the middle of it.
"Are you ready to be a Hero of Justice?" He feels like he was asked this once before, but this time the dream simply ends before he can reply.
As usual, he wakes up and has breakfast with Sakura and Fuji-nee. Nothing's really different from always, but somehow he feels some kind of uneasiness. Was it because of the weird ending of his dream? Then he immediately thinks it strange. Was there even a strange ending to my dream? It was all kind of fuzzy, so he simply ignores it.
On the way to school, Sakura noticed a strange wound in his hand, but he doesn't feel anything. Surely he just cut it somewhere. It certainly couldn't have any deeper meaning, was what he told himself, so he just went on and shook his feeling of uneasiness.
As he arrived at school, he thought himself even more vindicated. There's nothing wrong, I can't even feel anything strange, so there should be nothing going on. So why didthey feel like such empty words?
This is the way that things should be. Shirou thinks to himself as he packs up and leaves his classroom after helping Issei. Then he bumped into Shinji.
"Agh, watch where you're walking!" Now that he thought about it, lately Shinji has seemed strange, almost as if something was ailing him. Actually, now that Shirou took a really good look at him, Shinji looked quite pale. He might have talked like that, but the truth was that he had just used Shirou as a support not to fall.
Shirou suppressed any annoyance he felt at the way Shinji talked and said, genuinely concerned. "Hey, Shinji, you okay?" The response was almost too obvious.
"Am I okay? Of course I am okay!" He should have expected it, Shirou was ready to argue about it when Shinji seemed to realize something and completely reversed. "No, actually, I'm not okay."
"Huh?" Now that was unexpected.
"You see, I'm not feeling very well right now. But I was still supposed to take care of a few things in the club room." Somehow he managed to make it sound like he was doing Shirou a favor by telling him that. "So, someone like good-boy-Emiya, who always goes around repairing things at school, wouldn't let poor old sick me do all these chores, right?"
Shirou couldn't help but feel frustrated. No, there is no need for frustration. It might be Shinji, and it might feel like he's being manipulated, but Shirou just can't turn down a favor for someone looking like that. Did Shinji catch a cold or something? It didn't matter.
"Fine, I'll do it for you. Just make sure to have plenty of rest, you really don't look good."
"Yeah, yeah. Then, I'm counting on you." As always, he didn't sound thankful at all.
Tohsaka Rin couldn't help but feel some sort of relief after finding out exactly what it was that she had found in the school's roof earlier: Some sort of magical mine, so skillfully made that she was only able to detect it after getting close.
There were a few good things about it and a few bad things about it. Its structure and probable radius effect being the whole school, it was probably the only one made. However, Rin could only bite her lip in frustration as she realized that if the Magus that set this up wanted it so, she would be dead. It wasn't proximity activated. Well, at least I would have been the only one killed in tats case.
Still, she needed a lot of concentration to disarm it without blowing up the whole school. She looked at the knight next to her, who was looking around nervously. "Saber, I'm going to need at least a minute alone to take care of this, don't let distractions interfere with this." The knight nodded.
"Distractions, huh. You talking about me?" Good thing she still hadn't started. That was exactly what she meant.
The owner of the voice was squatting in the roof's rail. Rin immediately realized he was a Servant. Ugh, what is this? He seemed to be wearing nothing but a helmet she was sure she had seen before in an ancient Greece documentary and a red cape. It was dark and she really didn't feel like taking a good look to see whether or not he was naked besides that.
Wordlessly, Saber charged at him. "Hey, hey, nothing to say before we start?" The Servant defended with his round shield but still feel to the ground level alongside Saber.
Good one, Saber! I'll be along just as soon as I finish this here. It took a little longer than she realized.
By the time Rin got there, Saber and the Servant seemed more intent on gauging each other and look for possible opening than exchanging blows. They were less than ten meters apart.
"That's impressive, Lancer, I'm quite sure I have never seen a warrior with such an extraordinary defensive and counter-attacking technique." That certainly explained how the battle seemed stalled.
"Ha! The only flattery I need is your blood on my spear, Saber. Landing a blow on a warrior of your caliber would be the greatest testament to my ability this fight could show." He carefully approached, a small pace at a time, shield at the ready, lance over it.
"Well, this is flattery that I can't willingly give!" Saber charged in and sidestepped the piercing attack. However, she could find no opening as the shield protected most of Lancer's body, so she had no angle.
Lancer adjusted his position with one step and tried to pierce saber again, but this time his spear was parried. Saber tried to make an opening, but was mercilessly pushed by Lancer's shield.
She had no choice but to jump back, as if she insisted she would probably have lost her balance and been a victim of Lancer's spear.
"Very good, for a woman. It's been long since I fought anything but trash. But then again, trash in enough numbers can be good discipline training." Saber glared at being called a woman, but kept her stance. "Oh? You don't like to have your gender pointed out, eh? That's good. Then prove it to me that women are good for more than birthing warriors."
He assumed a different stance. His shield was positioned more to the side, as if Lancer was protecting someone other than himself. A huge amount of magical energy started to accumulate in both the shield and spear, but the bulk of it seemed directed to the shield.
Oh, so that's why he's provoking Saber, his Noble Phantasm is of the defensive kind, probably a counter of some sort. In which case, Rin shouldn't let Saber attack carelessly.
"Saber, don't let him provoke you."
"I know, Rin. I won't attack unless I can be sure to at least avoid his counter." Still, there was something in her eyes that showed something more dangerous than her falling for his provocation: The excitement of fighting a worthy opponent.
Lancer seemed a bit disappointed. "What? You're not coming? Fine, I'll just have to walk to you, let's see how long you can endure fleeing from a walking enemy." And he started walking, an ominous walk, which seemed more unstoppable than many charges.
This is bad. Rin had a feeling that Saber would eventually feel compelled to challenge it, her honor as a knight made sure of it, such a pure frontal challenge of might. So she had to defuse the situation somehow. If she ordered Saber to prepare her Noble Phantasm, would Lancer back down? No, probably not, that might be his objective in the first place, but would she have a chance with a regular attack? She does have her sheath, no, at the moment it was with Rin, and the moment that Lancer gets to Saber, it probably wouldn't end with just one attack. So she had to do something, maybe order a retreat with the Command Spell? Think. Think!
"Who's there?" Something, no, someone distracted Lancer, but it was enough to defuse his Noble Phantasm. Thank goodness. Saber jumped at the opportunity, but despite his awkward stance for the situation, Lancer defended himself just fine.
Wait, that's not the time to feel relief. Whoever it was, that person was just a witness to the fight between two Servants. That person just witnessed magic. Rin bit her lip as she remember the rules of Magi, but she couldn't stay there, first she had to go after that person.
Rin started to run at the direction where the sound came from, but Saber kept attacking Lancer to keep him at bay. "Hey, Saber, you sure you can just let your master be? The third one that was watching is sure to be angry at having lost the chance to see my Noble Phantasm."
Saber glared back at him. "I would if I had the luxury of not paying attention to you." Surprisingly, Lancer answered by jumping back and relaxing his stance.
"Well, to be honest, this helps me as well. You see, my Master just want to gauge the other Servants and it would trouble me if you simply disappeared because your Master got killed. Go on and protect the little girl."
Saber sees that Lancer is honest and lowers her stance as well. "I thank you, Lancer. Let us meet in battle again." She heads to the school building, where she feels her Master is.
"Yeah, yeah, just go. Still, what a tough little girl. I bet she would be able to give birth to a great warrior. Ha! Look at me, thinking about such things when all I came for was to battle. Well, no reason to go easy on her." Lancer laughed to himself a bit.
What was that? What the hell was going on? Shirou couldn't help but be fascinated by that fight. However, they saw him; they know he was there, so he could do nothing else but keep running.
He kept running until he ran into someone else, falling on his butt. "Ouch, what is someone doing here at this…?" He grumbled until he realized what the person in front of him was.
Strange clothes, a menacing aura. There was no doubt about it, the person in front of him was the same as the others in the school ground. What is going on?
The man smiled and bowed. "Servant Archer, at your service, I would tell you my real name, but I'm afraid it might not be of much use to you."
"What?" Shirou was still trying to understand what was going on when something landed on his lap. Combat first-aid? Why would he be given such a thing?
The man who called himself Archer shrugged. "Yes, confusing, but you see, orders are orders. It's one-time only, but it should keep you alive a little longer. And who knows, if someone pumps you full of magic you might not even die from this." He held an old six-chamber revolver in his hand.
It was then that Shirou understood. He was going to be shot. Then, he would die. There was nothing he could do about it. But was there really nothing? Was he going to just be shot like this? If so, why would the enemy bother to give him…
Emiya Shirou never got to finish that thought, as everything became numb as the bullet pierced his heart and disappeared, just like magic. So this is how it ends. Should have been his last thought.
He was sure that he heard a voice. Something about going after whoever it was, then something about why did it have to be him. Perhaps it was all just his imagination.
As he woke up, it all had seemed even more of a dream for Emiya Shirou; however it was all too real considering he was still in the middle of the school's corridor and there was a stain of blood, his blood.
In a daze, he cleaned everything and went home, but somewhere in the process, he saw something else. A necklace. What am I doing? He might question himself, but there was really nothing else he could do. If he only went home and had a good night's sleep, perhaps this would all prove to be just a dream. He grabbed the necklace and went his way.
No, there is no way it would turn out to be just a dream. That pain, that feeling of a bullet piercing his heart… He would never be able to dream of such a thing.
Dying was such a strange sensation. He was sure he was dead, but how is he alive right now? "Oh, he said something about something…" No use, his mind was too dizzy.
As he got home, it all he could do to simply collapse in the living room, nobody would blame him if he just slept there, right? After all he had just come back from the brink of death. He just needed to rest a bit. There was nothing wrong with just lying there for a while.
As the time passed, Shirou started to think a little clearer. "He did say something about someone pumping me with magic." Perhaps it had something to do with the necklace he found and took with him. So someone saved him, huh. He wondered who it was.
The pain came back, Shirou groaned for a few moments, then realized that he had no time for that. CLANG! The bell from the ceiling rings was alerting him to an intruder.
Quickly he looked for something to use as a weapon, the closest thing that he found was the poster that Fuji-nee used to attack him earlier. Diving for it, he started the only magic he could perform. "Trace, on." Soon, it was much stronger than it appeared, and Shirou readied himself for the enemy.
And he waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
"What is going on?" It seemed like an eternity and nobody attacked him, Shirou almost felt his tension melting. But he couldn't afford to let his guard down. If it was the same enemy as in the school, he knew one moment of carelessness could mean death.
He carefully looked around the house but found nobody, so there were only two places the enemy could be. As he stepped outside, it felt too obvious, the shed's light was on. As he carefully approached, he could hear sounds coming from its inside.
Eventually, the irritation of having his place so shamelessly rummaged through overcame his fear and he stomped inside the shed, poster in hand. "What are you doing?"
"Ah, there you are boy; look at this, this just awesome. My instincts never let me down when I have to find stuff like this."
"Huh?" The man who had just shot Shirou not too long ago seemed like a little child that had just found a new toy. In one of his hands he had a bullet, in the other a small case.
"I've never seen a bullet that felt quite like this. Some sort of custom-made ammunition? This is just fascinating. Too bad only four of these are usable. Though I guess I'll take them all to analyze what they are made of. What?" Shirou just stood there dumbfounded.
Whatever mission the man originally had, such as killing Shirou, he seemed to have completely forgotten it over this case of bullets. It didn't matter, it was only to easy to deduce who this case belonged to: Kiritsugu.
His irritation intensified even more. "You can't have it."
"Huh?" Archer looked like he couldn't believe that the boy he had just shot not so long ago could talk back like that.
"I said: You can't have it!" This was something precious that Kiritsugu left behind, as if Shirou would just let it be taken away.
"It looks like someone here really doesn't want to make it through the night." He put the bullet back into the case and put his hand in a strange portal in the air, a gun came out with it. "You know, I was going to give you a chance to live. Just play a couple rounds of Russian roulette and then let you go. But you see, this gun here doesn't have multiple chambers to play Russian roulette with, too bad." He pointed the gun at Shirou.
Shirou just charged at him. It didn't bother him anymore that he would die. All he could think about as saving the case of bullets, which Kiritsugu left behind.
When he realized it, he was looking at the shed's ceiling. That's strange, I don't remember being shot. Which is because he was not.
"What?" He could not understand why he just saw Archer being thrown. Archer fell outside the shed.
Shirou looked at where Archer was standing before; as he did a completely different scene was before his eyes.
She had a long, deeply dark hair, it made a good contrast with her pale face, which seemed full of devotion. She wore a warrior's armor, but not any kind of warrior. It was a light armor, suitable for a person concerned with their mobility and that of her mount. Shirou wasn't too sure, but if one word suited her, it was beautiful. Maybe it did not do her enough justice, but he thought that this was the closed word he could find.
"Are you the one to be my master?" Shirou just sat there taken aback by her and did not find an answer. "It seems the time is not right."
She looked in the direction of the shed's exit, near which Archer was composing himself. She started to make her way there when Shirou finally found an answer.
"Wait." She stopped for a moment. "Are you an ally? Or a foe?"
"You might never really accept me as an ally. But at the very least, I'm sure I am not your enemy." She stepped outside to confront Archer. He had a dissatisfied look on his face.
"Damn. Well, this is within what my Master told me should happen. Anyway." He stopped for a moment. "Rider, yes? Would you be so kind as to simply let me make my retreat now?" Her reply was to drawn a bow faster than humanly possible and shoot at him. "Hey, hey, a bow? I'm the archer here… technically."
Archer kept defending from the constant stream of arrows aimed at him with a rifle armed with a bayonet. He still had the case in his left hand. Meanwhile, he kept moving closer to the wall. When he got close enough…
"You bastard, I'm not letting you get away after you tried to kill my Master." She jumped over the wall to go after him.
Shirou finally recovered himself and stepped outside the shed. He could hear sounds of fighting outside. "What is going on, exactly?" He walked to the gate and slowly opened it. As he stepped outside, he saw a confused looking Tohsaka Rin.
They looked at each other for a few moments, and then Rin said "Greetings, Emiya-kun." As if they had just meet in a normal situation.
It took him a few moments more, but Shirou replied. "Oh, yeah, hello Tohsaka."