Two days ago, the world experienced what scientists can only describe as a "supernatural phenomena," a "rare treat for all of us to bear witness to." America claims to be researching what caused the pseudo-solar eclipse, but the Soviet Union claims the United States was responsible for the event itself. No one is sure what really occurred, but many selfies were taken with the bleak sky. Families came together to bathe in the darkness, unaware of any truth behind the event, and unburdened by any care.

No one, that is, but the few survivors.

But today is a day altogether different from two ago. It is the evening of a funeral service in a small town in Japan, a service for a young man who lived quietly and died suddenly. The murderer has yet to be caught, and while the family and federal services are on edge about the entire matter, one resident of the house seems at peace with the devastation. A white circus-styled tent is set up in the middle of an abandoned field. Tables sprinkle the land with food and beverages for the coming and passing guests, and a gentle band plays classical pieces for the mourning. The sun is bright after its rest, and the grass is as green as it even has been.

In the back right corner of this service is a table with two occupants; one, a teacher of the young man, the other an illusive classmate that only passed by the student in the hallways. The teacher smokes aggressively – he is a self-proclaimed hater of everything Japanese – so if his infestation of the atmosphere wasn't enough to ward others away, it was his sour personality. A cloud lingers over that man, and for the first time in years, that cloud contains particles of regret.

Lots of frustration, but a little bit of unmistakable regret.

The girl sits properly, for, unlike the teacher, she is well-educated in the area of funerals. They both dressed appropriately for the occasion, but neither wanted to step foot in the city's bounds. Thus they sit stiffly in their black uniforms, her back straight as a board, his slouched over. He takes up two seats, his feet propped up; her feet are collected underneath her in a delicate manner. They almost seem like normal human beings to the naked eye – irritated and agitated, yet not immune to the weight of the situation – but that is the naked eye.

A girl makes her way from the white circus top tent to the man and young woman. Her arm is in a sling and her hair drapes down over a bruise on her right check, but beyond that, she is indifferent to the situation around her. In fact, this is the girl that considers herself "at peace." The man does not notice her at first, his mind a million miles away. The young woman, on the other hand, notices the girl right away.

"Sorry to bother. May I join you?"

"Please do, and you are no bother to us. We are your guests. Please, sit wherever you like." The young woman stands up, eyes down, weary of this small town. Many things happened here, as this is her hometown; once, many lives ago, she fought in a similar war. She wants to pay homage to the people that made her who she is, but it is the first time since her initial departure that she has come to this corner of the world.

The young woman bows her head and sits back down as the girl refuses to do so. The man eyes her, unmoving. The girl doesn't need to confirm who he is – she knows all to well this uninvited guest's name.

She is silent at first, and the young woman waits patiently. "Thank you for coming today. I know you weren't on the list, but you must have been close to Takao if you came all the way out here."

She's sharp the young woman muses as she pages through plausible responses. "Yes, your brother was a classmate of mine. I am Tohsaka Rin, and it is a privilege to meet you… it is unfortunate it had to be these circumstances, however."

The girl watches the young woman with unchanged eyes. "Yeah. Unfortunate." She turns towards the teacher, watching him carefully. He realizes the silence and sighs internally. He faces the girl, dark eyes catching brilliantly in the light as she addresses him. "You don't have any obligation to be here, so feel free to leave."

That's rude both travelers simultaneously think.

"It wasn't your fault that Takao died. He did this on his own, he requested to be a part of the research team." The man's eyes widen slightly as the girl continues. "He pursued the cases further than he was asked to, that was on him. It was on him and no one else, so you have no reason to be here."

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Silence.

The sound of gentle laughter in the background lights up the tense situation as the breeze brushes all of their hair; she knows all about us. It is in her eyes, it is in her bruise. No one yields as the two travelers eye the aged girl, and the girl stares bluntly back.

She remembers something and reaches in her sling.

"I can't tell if I'm supposed to trust you guys, but my brother trusted you, El-Melloi."

"The Second."

"Sorry?" She didn't know he could actually speak. The man drops his cigarette and crushes it under his boot as he sits up straight. For some stupid reason, he forgot his pipe back in his office. He'd been forced thus to buy cigarettes – Japanese cigarettes, of all things. Old habits die hard.

"It is Lord El-Melloi the Second."

The young woman looks ready to snap at the man, but bits her tongue at the last second. The girl doesn't move, her hand still buried deep in her sling.

"Alright, Lord El-Melloi the Second." She rolls her eyes. The man almost smiles… almost.

"He trusted you, so I think that this belongs to you." She hands him a ratty book no bigger than the palm of his hand. He takes it wearily and immediately leaves through it: the power the surges from the book is powerful alone… it's like an unchained hound, yet obediently waiting for the command to kill. The energy sits, a ball of coiled potential. The girl continues.

"This was his journal on the research. I added some of his loose papers that were drifting around his room. A friend of mine broke the blood-barrier on it and added a few notes. I can't very well read what he put down, but some of it seems relevant. I added my account of what happened, too."

"And what happened, exactly?" The man closes the book and rests it carefully on his folded leg. "The official report says you were found in front of a hospital and you claimed you had no memory of the twenty-four hours prior."

The girl remains stoic. "A man in red saved me. That I know. Everything else," she nods to the moleskin. "Is in there."

"Not everything." The young woman muses, gesturing with her chin to the girl's dress pocket. No one moves.

"That belongs to me now. It was a friend's, then it was Takao's, and now it is mine."

"Whatever is it you have could be used as a weapon in the wrong hands. Are you sure you can hold on to it and keep it safe?"

"It's a tool, not a weapon. It's a tool for protecting those you care about and nothing more. And no," she looks between the two guests, "I don't think its safest with me. Not with who I am today. Not yet."

The man smiles now – its more of a wry grimace than a smile, but it's unmistakably the cocky grin of a fox. "I feel a proposition coming."

"I trusted my brother's livelihood to you just as he once did." The girl sticks her chin in the air. "I want to go to the Tower to study, to continue his research."

"You're barely passing your classes now," the man leans back again, eyes closed, arms folded. The girl doesn't question how he knows this: there's no need. "Why should I allow you into my facilities?"

"Because I know what your goal is." His eyes open, and the young woman sits up straighter. "Takao was aware of some people trying to destroy the Holy Grail. It's a curious thing," the girl turns to face the young woman, "that a Tohsaka, which helped make the Grail, is now trying to destroy it, but I'm in no place to judge. I want to study magic." She asserts quickly without hesitation. "I want to join you at the Tower. If I need to play the part of a custodian, fine. Whatever. But I want in."

"And what would you possibly be able to bring to a prestigious school such as mine? How would you contribute?"

"Nothing. Like I said, I'm not much right now. And without a hand, I'm even worse than I was a week ago." She removes her arm from the sling and waves her stump in the air. As her sleeve falls up her arm, scars like lightening bolts race up her forearm in hisses of indigo and blue. The Tohsaka woman catches her breath: the man's hard face slightly softens as he traces shimmers of green swimming in the veins. "But I didn't go through hell for nothing."

The small group is silent until the man heaves himself up. He stands in front of the girl as the young woman joins him on her own two feet, her hands tracing the linen of the tablecloth as she rises. The three stand together as background laughter sails through the gentle atmosphere.

The man puts the moleskin in his coat. "I will consider what you have said, and you will be contacted promptly."

"Thank you."

The man takes his leave, and the young woman sighs, this time with a little more expression on her face. "I'm sorry, he's a little hard to handle. He doesn't like losing."

"Losing? To me? Is that what he thinks just happened?"

"That, and what has led to us being here." The ladies watch the man's hunched back as he walks further away. "He may deny it, but he does care for all of his students. Your brother was exceptional… who knows, E-M might have even seen himself in Takao."

He spins around to glare at the girls. Tohsaka smiles and bows deeply to the girl. "I am so, so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. I appreciate you saying that."

"I do have a question, however."

"Shoot."

The woman stands at full height once more. "Who was the man in red?"

The girl blinks. "I have no idea. He never told me. He was some sort of angel from hell or… something."

Tohsaka smiles slowly as she takes her leave after another delicate bow. Her eyes wench shut as she considers all of the possibilities that could mean. "Well, all I can say is I'm glad you're here with us today."

To the woman's departing back, the girl quietly replies. Her hair catches the wind, and she curls it back behind her ear, exposing her bruise to the world.

"Yeah. Me too."

: - :

The girl you once saw before you is no more. Once a child deprived of reason for life, the young woman today is a hero of her generation, a spirit focused on good-doings in honor of her late brother.

She attended The Tower as a student after working three years in the library and as a personal assistant to Lord El-Melloi the Second. Her work remains undocumented.

She died at 36 to blood poisoning, a side effect from her adventure that night.

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That's all folks!

This has been a treat to write, and I have a few thinks to say on my end.

Thank you Fate series, for getting me hooked on such an unfathomable story.

Thank you Type-moon for being so hard to put into words.

Thank you Ufotable for breathing life into these crazy stories.

Thank you, to all of our ancestors, who where the ones that gave rise to these heroes. Without you, none of us would look to the skies and dream of our own adventures.

And thank you Deflk for introducing me to this story. You may consider yourself a Saber-class servant, but you'll always be the best Lancer on the West Coast in my book. ~Love, Rider.

And finally, thank you everyone who bothered to read this. I honestly did this for you, and your support was great motivation to keep the wheels spinning. This was originally a one-shot, and I am so, so glad it evolved past that. This is to you all. Thank you!

Easter eggs, anyone?

Human transmutation is referenced in chapter 6, a nod to Fullmetal Alchemist

Hiro, our heroine's surviving brother, is named after the protagonist of Big Hero 6

The TARDIS from Doctor Who is named by Berserker while trying to translate Takao's journal

The protagonist's last name is a spin-off from the original Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village in Naruto: Hashirama Senju

The civilians met in the convenience store are (in order) Kei Tsukishima and Tadashi Yamaguchi, Yugo Hachken, Arslan, Elam, and Daryun, and finally Coach Ukai from Haikyuu! Silver Spoon, and The Heroic Legend of Arslan Senki, respectfully. [as a side note, I personally consider Yugo to be the fictional character I identify best with. Yeah, I'm that much of a loser XP]

Originally, the eighth ball of light was honestly going to be Joann. Decided to turn the tables and bring out our character's inner-hero (finally)

"Castle Walls," the chapter title, refers to three things: the expression that Galahad (Shielder) is known for, the fact that Kazumi was inside of the Grail itself, which had the Beast of 666 wearing crowns (thus implying a kinghood; also a reference to the original creature's place in the Bible), and a Macklemore song.

The heroes that are summoned towards the end are non-other than Atila (Saber), Musashibou Benkei (Lancer), Achilles (Rider), Chiron (Archer), Nursery Rhyme (Caster), Jack the Ripper (Assassin), and Heracles (Berserker), the characters I believe to be the strongest of each class. I excluded god-like characters, such as Gilgamesh and Launcher, since I thought they are hardly fair on ANY playing board, and an outsider classes.

That is, except for Rider. I needed help with selecting that one, and I thought I'd make some fun out of it!

The chapter titled "Eight pieces of Seven" is a direct allusion to the 8th ball of light, Shielder. It is, however, inspired by the Seven pieces of Eight in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Assassin was No-Named Assassin from Fate/Strange Fake, but I took the liberty of tweaking her abilities. Sorry if that disappoints you.

Heroic Spirit Emiya, our "resident sourpuss," is Archer after the events of Unlimited Blade Works, but before any other Fate event.

Originally, neither Lancer nor Berserker was going to make it back to the final showdown. I decided to torture our character a little more and wanted it to be Berserker, but I forgot I impaled him in the heart with Assassin, so I figured I was stuck with Lancer to carry out the last message. My bad.

I ended the dream chapter talking about Emiya's promise to Rin. I consider that the reason why he remained a Heroic Spirit – he had a goal, to honor her. And I honestly think he's the most heroic of them all for that.

(Other than Caster, who was the dick who caused all of this) I chose these Heroic Spirits because if the Holy Grail was corrupt and falling apart at the seems, the first to fall out would be trans-dimensional beings, or spirits the grail has a generally difficult keeping grasp of: No-Name Assassin was chosen for that very fact of her illusive persona: Heroic Spirit Emiya because he was the guardian of another reality: Lancer because he swore to never be summoned again: Dr. Jekyll because he claimed to wander time and space itself within the grail: Ramses II because he is from an event in a parallel world: and Mordred because she was impaled by Rhongomyniad.

I reference a boar in the chapter "The Pursuit": this is a direct reference to the legend of Diarmuid, as he was wounded (and ultimately killed) by a boar.

Another reference to Diarmuid's legend comes from the idea of indirectly killing Caster. That's why his ominous "final mission" warning was such a trigger for her.

I chose indigo to be Kazumi's mana color because it is the symbol of compassion in the DC universe. I'm a comics buff before I'm anything else.

"The Greatest Story Never Told" is the same title of a Justice League Unlimited episode where the audience follows Booster Gold, a seemingly unheard-of hero as he literally saves the world but no one cares to listen to him. I pulled this final update from that idea.

I have an aunt named Mordred. Not an Easter Egg forsay, but a stupid fact nonetheless XP

The chapter titled "Smoke and Mirrors" gets its name from an Imagine Dragons song.

Rider is introduced as being indifferent to this era and its problems, but in the series he's in, he's really critical and claims he should be the ruler of Earth no matter the era and sets out to do so; I'd like to think that these events subconsciously impacted him for the better, so he gained that opinion.

Some of the chapters have weird words for their titles: Ruckkenrunruhe, Enouement, Onism, Veritas, Nodus Tollens, and (false) Liberosis mean various fascinating things. I suggest you look them up. For example, Ruckkenrunruhe is German for the "feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness".

I'm not gonna lie, I had no intention of writing this all out, as it was originally just a one-shot. My original idea was actually that Archer was out and about doing his heroic duty, and this all was going to have nothing with the Holy Grail. Everything stemmed from the idea of Rhio Aias being lost after his fight with Lancer in Unlimited Blade Works, and the protagonist was going to happen across it. I wrote the first three and the last two chapters before I actually came up with her brothers and the actual plot.

Just if it wasn't clear, the implication is that Kazumi cut off her own hand as she was kinda stuck to Caster's face.

Having studied Oedipus Rex, I consider Takao to be the focus point of this write, and the drama is an aftermath of his events. I chose his name because it means "hero," as he's really the hero of the story.

I like to pretend that it was Takao that walks pass Emiya in the Epilogue episode of Unlimited Blade Works.

Believe it or not, this is designed to be an [insert yourself here] type of story – that's partly why it's written in the first person narrative. Kazumi is a unisex name that can mean anything from "one", "beautiful," or "peace", to which the story is meant to bring out the best in every individual. That comes from me being trained in counseling, and a major theme that we try to connect people to is the idea that every soul is beautiful and thus worthwhile. I chose to lean towards the female aspect simply because I myself am… well, female

That being said, I never clearly state what sex our character is into: read between the lines a little bit and you'll see she's "turned on" but not necessarily into everyone

Berserker's Expressions – I THINK these were all of them, but I'm sure I missed a few. I didn't include the Morse/Tap code, but you're welcome to look those ones up. If you still have questions, lemme know and I'll add them to the list:

"Deus et natua non faciunt frusta." (God and nature do not work together in vain)

"Clarere audere gaudere." ([be] bright, daring, joyful)

"Fui quod es, eris quod sum." (I once was what you are, you will be what I am)

"Verba ita sunt intelligenda ut res magis valeat quam pereat." (When explaining a given subject, it is important to clarify rather than confuse)

"Veritas Lux Mea." (The truth enlightens me / The truth is my light)

"Mea anima est cum te. Nostra animae sunt cum vobis." (My heart is with you. Our hearts are with you all.)

"Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum." (When you have them by the balls, the heart and mind will follow)

"O diem praeclarum!" (Oh, what a beautiful day!)

"Quid Fit?" (What's Happening?)

"Nos morituri te salutant!" (We, who are about to die, salute you)

"Tempus fugit" (Time disappears)

"Meliora Cogito" (I strive for the best)

"Verba ita sunt intelligenda ut res magis valeat quam pereat" (When explaining a given subject, it is important to clarify rather than confuse)

"Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore" (I hope that the memory of our friendship will be everlasting)

Now, I have one final request. Please let me know if you enjoyed this story! What you liked, what you didn't like! Honestly, any comment. I love getting comments and I spent a LOT of time here, and I can only hope that you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Lots of love,

Betweenthetights

PS – Someone planted the seed for a part two. So if you all enjoyed it enough, let me know and I may put it into practice!