AN: Thank you all for your reviews, favs and alerts. Really lifted my spirit and got me writing this chapter. Actually I was grinning like a loon for about an hour when I first saw I had reviews and that some had faved. Much appreciated!

Now, I'd say this came out okay, but feel free to remark any errors or things that could've been better. Please note that this is my first fic and this chapter is the most I have ever written in one sitting. Suffice to say essays and me did not mesh well in school.

Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The works used are the properties of their respective owners.

He felt the calling of a summoning again, and it proved to be another slaughter. He mentally sighed. He who wanted to save everyone reduced to this state all because of a careless deal to save a hundred. But all he had done since was to kill. Endlessly killing everything in sight. Always this mindless slaughter. He wanted it to end! And to make it end, he would kill his past self, Emiya Shirou, if he ever got the chance.

Surely a paradox would occur, and he would summarily be destroyed. Non-existence sounded very promising compared to the eternal suffering he had to endure, forced against everything he stood for, killing guilty and innocent alike without any control of his own body.

It seemed as if an eternity had already passed since he was alive. But he knew better than most that "time" was a loose concept for those that stood outside it. And now he was summoned again. But something was different this time. He didn't feel the oppressive overtake of his mind during the summoning. Knowledge was instead imprinted. Knowledge of a holy grail war, and of the "modern world". Instead of a mindless killer, he would be Servant Archer.

Now he was really excited. If he remembered correctly he would be summoned by the Japanese beauty Tohsaka Rin. His one chance to kill his past self. And this time he promised himself that he would not fail.

To his immense surprise it was not Rin he saw after being summoned, but that idiot of an idealist, Emiya Shirou. His past self. His origin. His Enemy.

When this thought registered in his mind he leapt into action. Before Shirou had the chance to react he was one head shorter that before. 'This was not supposed to happen' became his last thought as he left the world of the living.

Now that the paradox had transpired, the world went into action. Alaya, the will of humans and the de facto owner of EMIYA wanted to keep him, so instead of destroying him made time reverse to the point of the summoning and allowed EMIYA to keep the memories of the event, to prevent causing an endless loop.

Archer/EMIYA still unaware of him predicament saw Shirou in front of him again, unharmed and unconcerned. And so the cycle repeated. Now the second time it happened he began to suspect some sort of foul play. But still, killing Shirou was the foremost desire he had at the moment. So he killed him again and again.

After the sixth death of Shirou Archer stopped to think for a few seconds. He absent-mindedly completed the bond to Shirou. It was after all an instinctive one for Servants to make to their Masters.

Now regarded as not a completely uncommon fact is that when two compatible souls come close they begin to resonate. This between lovers would be the often romanticised soul bond. Between friends it would result in some sort of brother/sisterhood or other form of family like relationship. Also depending on the compatibility it could result in various abilities, like sensing where the other is to various degrees, empathic links and even shared vision in rare cases.

Now two instances of the same soul formed a bond, which only serves to enhance the resonance. The result was interesting to say the least. For Archer this meant that the memories of his life began to come back to him, while Shirou got some glimpses of his possible future. But not much had happened as of yet. But thanks to some unconscious understanding Shirou knew that if he didn't do anything he would probably die.. again.

Archer at this point fearing even more interference or possible loss of his sense of self lashed out at his perceived Enemy yet again. But this time Shirou had had the time to do something in defence.

"Trace on," he quietly recited his aria to activate his circuits. He had seen the signs of the attack. The slight tensing of muscles of his Servant. He would probably strike against the neck with his posture. So Shirou, as fast as he could, raised his arm in defence and reinforced his clothing and skin as Archers weapon arced through the air.

Archer felt his blade stopped by something solid.

"Huh?"

Looking where he struck at the Enemy he saw his blade, sunk into the defending one's arm and a portion of the blades edge resting against his neck, but not actually cutting it. Shirou had actually managed to defend himself with reinforcement of his clothes and body. 'He shouldn't be this skilled before the war' he thought.

'Come to think of it, how the hell did he summon me and not Saber as he's done before.' Looking back he saw the circle drawn in blood used for the summoning. 'Perhaps I can let him live long enough to explain it.'

"Ouch. What the hell do you think you are doing!" Shirou yelled indignantly at his Servant.

"Trying to kill you. Why else would I attempt to cut your head of," came in response from a somewhat amused Archer.

"What for? Aren't Servants supposed to protect their Masters? Come to think of it, you don't resemble King Arthur. Who the hell are you?" Shirou asked, adrenalin from the near death experience fuelling his courage, and dampening his pain.

Archer did not care to be put on the spot by this idiot, so he promptly withdrew his blade, drawing a cry of pain from Shirou, and took a thoughtful pose.

"Why should I answer you that? It was you who summoned me. If you do not know who I am you have only yourself to blame for you ineptitude, do you not?" Archer half asked, half stated as he let the blade disappear.

"I suppose. But who could you be? I have no other relic here. Nothing that would overpower the one I have to summon Arthur," said Shirou in response.

"I see no relic," Archer observed . "So what did you use?"

"You do not see it because it's inside of me. I don't really know how to extract it so I used myself," Shirou stated.

'That makes sense. But one thing was still not adding up. Still, if he somehow summoned me before Rin summoned her servant it would work' Archer thought.

"What is today's date? And what time is it." Asked Archer.

After some grumbling he got his answer. It was 1am three days before his other summons by Rin. But the really unsettling thing now that he noticed it was how he knew that it was so. He should not, so he could only conclude that the previous surge of knowledge had something to do with it.

It seemed a lot of it was not really memories as much as information he had about things when he thought about them. Not unlike an encyclopedia, he had to look for the information concerning various things instead of it being readily available.

"By the way, I think we should put a bandage on that before you bleed out. It would be annoying to have to look after you if you lose consciousness after all." Archer remarked as he looked at Shirou's half cut off arm. A little of the bone was even visible.

"Oh yeah. So... Not going to kill me then?" He asked as he went to the nearest cupboard to look for something treat his injury with.

"I'll refrain for the moment" he got in reply as Archer took the old sheet from Shirou's hands when it was found and deftly tore it into strips to use as temporary bandages.

Shirou sat in silence while he was tended to by his Servant. Come to think of it, he didn't really know what Servant he had summoned. He supposed Saber since he was cut with a blade. But something in the back of his head told him otherwise. So when his arm was thoroughly bandaged he proceeded to gather some information about his Servant.

"What class are you? For some reason I do not think you are Saber though you used a sword just now," said Shirou.

"You would be correct in you assumption. I am Archer, specialised in range combat. But my melee capabilities are nothing to frown upon.," answered Archer. Having had some time to calm down a little he decided to give his past self some clues as to who he really was.

"Now as for my identity I suppose I could give you a clue. Who do you think would be logically impossible to summon for anyone? That should give you the answer you seek," Archer said confidently.

'Impossible to summon huh... And why add "for anyone"? Weird.' Shirou the thought back to the moments before Archer attacked. 'Something happened. Before he attacked me I felt as if I knew him.'

Shirou looked very intently upon Archer. The mystery of his Servant's identity was a hard one, but he had been given clues. 'Impossible, hmm...' And then it dawned on him. The contours of his face, his body. It was the same as his own somewhat. Like looking in a mirror and see an older, stronger self. And like a dam breaking, visions played before his eyes, too fast to really be perceived but he could make out at least one coherent thing. His possible future stood before him.

"Whaaat! You! What the hell? This cannot be. How could I possibly summon myself. From the future no less! And why would I ever try to kill myself! I makes no sense!" Shirou burst out. "Wait. Since you could be summoned you, I must have become a Heroic Spirit? So I succeeded in the end?" he finished, prompting for confirmation.

"Now this is directly related to why I tried to kill you, and in fact, killed you several times before. While it is true that I could be considered a Heroic Spirit I do not consider myself as such. There are differences between Heroic Spirits that ascended on their own merits and those like me that did it with "help"," said Archer "I've spent my existence since my death endlessly killing humans, and I'm sick of it! I thought that if I could kill myself a paradox would be created and I would be destroyed but that did not happen."

"For some reason the world do not want to relinquish me so instead of destroying my existence it rewound time. I kept my memories, I guess to prevent an endless loop, and killed you again and again. But it seems the odds are stacked against me," laughing a mirthless laugh Archer continued. "The irony. I wanted to save everyone I could, and now have to spend eternity killing them for the benefit of the many... All because of your selfishness! Your ideal and your dream of becoming a Hero! This is why I wanted to kill you! Can you understand that!"

Taken aback by the sudden rant from his Servant he could not think of something an answer. But the words resonated in his head, in his soul. The powerful feelings flooded over the link shared between Master and Servant, and Shirou felt that he could somehow comprehend. The more he thought about Archer's words the more he felt he understood him. But what could he do for him? Something about what he had said, "While it is true that I could be considered a Heroic Spirit I do not consider myself such. There are differences between Heroic Spirits that ascended on their own merits and those like me that did it with "help"." Could that be it?

"Archer, permit me to ask a question. Could you not just ascend as a true(?) Heroic Spirit?" Asked Shirou after thinking about it for a while.

"While the idea may hold merit I no longer have the capabilities to do so after my death and ascension." Countered Archer.

Archer was quiet for a while, with a very contemplating look on his face. As if faced with a new discovery and not really knowing what to do with it. He looked over at Shirou and seemed to consider something very carefully.

A few minutes of quiet thinking later he looked up with a resolved look on his face. Shirou had a feeling this was going to change a lot for him from now on, so he tried to look as prompting and aware as he could but he could feel his consciousness slipping. 'I really lost too much blood before' he thought.

"You unexpectedly provided the most obvious solution. You shall become the Hero I couldn't. The Hero that is just about impossible to become in the modern world. Doing this will replace EMIYA the Counter Guardian with EMIYA the Hero. A most fitting revenge against the world, against Alaya, for not allowing me to be destroyed," said Archer.

Shirou could only bob his head up and down weakly at this point. Archer finally noticed Shirou's condition. He looked him over, concluded that it was probably just tiredness coupled with the blood loss and then proceeded to pick him up.

"I will protect you now. Rest and regain your strength. We have much to do yet" Archer said softly as he carried Shirou from the shed to the house.

On the way Archer stopped to marvel at his old home for a moment. It really felt unreal to be here. A wave of feelings long suppressed washed over him as he stood there. He felt compelled to say something, and settled on the phrase he had though he would never have the opportunity to say again.

"Tadaima"

End Chapter 1

AN: Please leave me your thoughts in either a review or a PM. It does not matter if you thought it sucked, if it was the best you've read this year, or if you are disappointed by the direction of the story or whatever else. I want to hear about both the good and the bad, so that I can hopefully improve.

Big thank you again to all reviewers and everyone that either faved or put this on their alert list.

I'll try to keep a bi-weekly updating schedule. That said, next chapter may be out sooner, rather than later.