Realization/One
Waking up in another world was much easier than Shirou thought.
He had woken up confused, and instinctively he was ready to lash out at whoever startled him. But luckily; he had focused on his little sister which prevented him from freaking out. He knew that his wish was supposed to have sent Miyu to a happier world, but he hadn't expected to literally get dragged together with her. Halfway through his fight with Angelica, he felt a tug on his body and suddenly he was being launched at bullet speed to catch up to Miyu.
From there he needed to quickly get himself and Miyu situated in the world. Traced money didn't have a big presence on Gaia, so they were able to last a few weeks before disappearing, while he did feel bad, he simply decided that it would be for the best in order to make sure Miyu and by proxy himself had somewhere safe until he could gain a steady income.
He enrolled Miyu into one of the schools while he ran worked in a Ramen shop. It was actually rather successful since many had sympathy for a brother/sister duo. It helped that Shirou was actually a good cook and Miyu was adorable. He briefly considered using his skill set to be a mercenary, and atone for his sin, but decided against it lest he attract unwanted attention and leave Miyu alone.
The two of them went by the name of Sakatsuki as Shirou wasn't entirely certain if a version of Emiya Kiritsugu or anyone else from his world was around, he only knew Miyu's former family weren't from investigation.
This Fuyuki was much nicer, he thought. The city was much fuller, more full of life than the other one. But lately it seemed that there was a serial killer on the loose preying on children mostly, which brought him to his current location in front of Miyu's school to pick her up.
He watched Miyu walk with her friend Rin as he thought to himself. He wished that the killer wasn't so quiet, he hunted the criminal as Miyu slept but the man was never around it seemed. But moving away his dark thoughts of stabbing a murderer, he looked at the jewels hanging around Rin. He knew for a fact that she was a magus, but he wasn't certain if he should separate her from Miyu. The girl seemed nice enough, but children couldn't stay children forever, even if they could keep certain aspects of their childhood personality. He simply warned Miyu to be careful of the girl when she was older as she was a magus.
"Hm? Miyu, is that your brother?" Rin asked since she noticed a red and white haired teen.
"A-ah!" Miyu ran over to Shirou, forcing Rin to run too in order to catch up. "Onii-chan, what are you doing here?"
Rin chipped in with a heated breath before Shirou could answer. "Don't you know how suspicious it is to just wait here?"
Shirou just laughed them both off. "Haha. It's not suspicious if I'm just here to pick up my sister. But it's rude to just jump to conclusions Rin."
The young girl puffed her red cheeks and prepared to say something to Shirou but was already interrupted by a pat on the head.
"You're quick to point fingers but you really are a good kid aren't you. It'd be nice if you could stay like that forever."
"A-A-" Rin clearly didn't know what to say but that just made Shirou chuckle.
The red cheeked girl slapped off his hand and turned around.
"A-anyways, my mom and I will be out of town for the next few days. Miyu make sure to be careful while I'm gone okay?" It seemed to Shirou that Rin knew something he didn't, the worry in her voice was prevalent. He doubted she was talking about the serial killer when she already dismissed him as a threat to her and her friends.
Miyu tipped her head but nodded anyways. "It's okay! Onii-chan will keep me safe."
Rin seemed a bit doubtful, but decided to accept Miyu's words nonetheless.
"Rin. I hope you've said goodbye to your friends."
A well dressed man in red and a woman in a charming dress walked up to them. Shirou knew these two were Rin's parents. Shirou could tell her father was a magus just from looking at his cane, her mother on the other seemed as normal as can be.
"Shirou-kun, thank you for looking after Rin." Aoi gave a graceful smile and bowed her head a bit.
"Haha, it's nothing much Mrs. Tohsaka. She's a good friend of my sister."
"To take care of your sister and yourself must not be easy but make sure to take care of yourself." Shirou noted to himself that Aoi was truly the ideal Nadeshiko Wife, Rin was likely to become quite a looker if her mother was any indication-although besides her attitude, Rin seemed to take after her father more.
"Sakatsuki-kun, you won't need to worry about my daughter for the next few weeks, you and your sister should keep yourselves under strict curfew as well to keep yourselves safe." Shirou wondered to himself if he should be surprised at Tokiomi's words, they weren't genuine, but likely he was saying it for Rin's sake more than anything else.
"By the way, how come you'll be leaving the city? Going on family vacation?" He tried to dig for information. Something special had to be going on if they were leaving. Or maybe they really did want to go on vacation-but he doubted it as Tokiomi seemed too focused on his 'work' and Aoi was too content to do nothing.
"I'm simply sending my family on a little trip while I have some important business to attend to."
Shirou just nodded. In the end it's not as if he could gain much information without threatening his and Miyu's secrets.
The siblings waved goodbye and left for their restaurant.
"Onii-chan, when do you think Rin will come back?" Miyu asked him. She was still trying to get used to having friends but her and Rin seemed to really hit it off.
"I'm not sure Miyu, but I'm sure it won't be long till she comes back. In fact maybe we should go on a little trip ourselves."
Miyu brightened up at that. "Maybe we can go see the ocean!"
He chuckled. "Well we're finally situated ourselves to the city, so maybe we can."
The two walked together in high spirits. They were an odd sight yet those who knew them couldn't deny they were siblings despite looking so different. They even reasoned that Shirous damaged hair was from the stress of raising Miyu alone.
"Onii-chan, can we stop by the park for a bit?"
Shirou couldn't really deny her since there wasn't a reason to. Miyu enjoyed sitting on the swings and talking to him. "Just for a bit okay?"
They weren't far from the nearest park, after about fifteen minutes they arrived though the park was mostly empty, likely due to the serial killer.
"Mostly empty" because there was a familiar looking girl to him, only far younger than the one he knew.
Shirou froze. Seeing the young girl was a reminder of yet another thing he lost-failed to protect.
A tug on his arm reminded him he wasn't alone, that he hadn't completely failed. He wasn't alone. He still had something true.
Even so, he had to act, because he saw eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time.
Eyes he had once seen in Miyu.
Eyes he had once seen in a girl that died for him.
Perhaps this would redeem him in some way.
But he needed to find out why she had eyes so dead. Neither he nor Sakura ever revealed anything about their home life. As far as he thought she was a normal girl.
But no normal girl would have-should have- eyes like that.
He wasn't sure what he could do.
But he had already resolved to do all he could.
XxXxXxXxX
Kariya wasn't too sure what he stumbled upon.
He brought Sakura to the park to keep her out of that retched house, but he needed to hide himself for a bit since he could feel one of his violent coughing fits coming up. He wanted to spare that ugly sight from Sakura.
Of course it had taken him some extra time to rest in order to make sure he looked okay, people might give them looks if they saw such a sickly man with a blank eyes young girl, so he needed to make sure he was healthy at least.
He didn't expect to see Sakura playing with a young girl her age.
"Ah, you must be Sakura's uncle." A young male voice startled him. He was too caught up in seeing Sakura act untroubled. It was a precious sight given how he hadn't fully succeeded in keeping her away from his-
"I'm Shirou, my sister Miyu is getting along pretty well with Sakura thankfully. To be honest she's a bit introverted." He turned to the one speaking to him. The male was somewhat golden eyed and wearing normal jeans with a blue and white shirt. His hair was a mix of White and Red. But his hair wasn't the only contrast about him, a part of his fair looking face looked as if it were harsh burnt.
A part of him thought they looked rather similar, damaged hair and looking after a young girl. He could only feel pity and respect to the younger man.
"I'm also glad that they are getting along. Sakura can have a... hard time having fun. Let me formally introduce myself, I'm Kariya Matou, I'm looking after Sakura since her father can't." A bit of poison leaked out at the mention of that heartless Tokiomi, but he was sure the young man didn't notice. He stuck out his hand for a handshake on instinct and internally winced since the young man no doubt had a firm grip.
He was immediately mistaken as the handshake was rather soft. But the soft grip didn't distract him from noticing the young mans hands felt rough.
As the handshake ended the other male leaned against one of the things in the playground. "This may seem rather nosy, but is everything okay with you? I thought I'd come find you since Sakura mentioned you were in a rush to hide somewhere, I saw you coughing blood pretty harshly."
Kariya immediately grimaced. He never did come up with a backstory since most people weren't about to pry into others matters. "I'm just a bit sickly taking care of Sakura and doing things for my own uncle."
"Well, you make sure to take care of yourself too, Sakura would feel sad if something happened to you. "
Kariya could only feel the weight on his shoulders increase. He never really entertained the thought of staying around to keep an eye on Sakura given how untrustworthy her parents proved to be. He always expected to die after the Holy Grail War given Zouken's worms put a strain on his body. And even if he did succeed there was nothing really ensuring Zouken or even Sakura's parents would keep the young girl safe.
Maybe he should use the Holy Grail for himself. Erasing his grandfather and healing him are two different things but they're still connected to the single wish of keeping Sakura safe. His grandfather may have been connected to his worms but he could resist them for a few seconds.
But for now he would leave the troublesome things for later. At the moment he just wants to enjoy Sakura being happy. She was getting along really well with that Miyu girl.
But he would remember to warn the young man as they leave. "It may be best to leave the city in the next few weeks. The thugs in the city are about to go to war."
It wasn't the truth, but the lie would keep the two safe and away.
Most people wouldn't take heed of those words. But the look in Shirou's eyes told him that he at least took his words into consideration.
XxXxXxXxX
Shirou walked slowly with Miyu's small hand in his own.
He was mostly trying to comprehend the new informations that he's gained over the day.
He found a younger, suffering version of his friend. And apparently her uncle shared Rin's fathers warnings on leaving the city. He naturally took their clear half lies somewhat seriously. Neither men seemed the sort to lie to a stranger on something so big.
Tokiomi was sending his family away from the city. Fact.
Kariya was caring after Sakura and truly understood Shirou's own protectiveness over another. Fact.
Both men walked the path of a Magus. Fact.
Granted, they clearly were in two different levels. Kariya had some sort of strange mystic code or familiars in his body to force himself to cast magecraft. These strange objects put a harsh strain on his body enough that he may die within the month at least. Tokiomi seemed to be much more gifted and specialized due to his wealth and the prana gems he carried.
Now what would cause both men to go to the extremes of self harm and sending one's family away?
Rin seemed to worry about a possible danger, one greater than a serial killer. She was not as talented in controlling her emotions as her father. But this worked in his favor.
Now, to analyze Tokiomi's words, he was sending out his family to deal with business, that much he knew was true, but what business required sending the two females away?
For Kariya, his half lie included doing something for his uncle, one that likely resulted in his piss poor condition.
If he took those three's words into consideration, it's entirely possible that Kariya was right in that criminal gangs were going to war, then there would put weight behind Tokiomi's words to stick to curfew. But then that wouldn't make sense as the two males were magi and therefore could simply hypnotize others.
Unless said 'war' involved other magi, in which case things escalated exponentially.
Shirou grimaced at the moon.
A sort of 'war' involving magi...that put a bad taste in his mouth.
But it may be best not to jump to conclusions. Magi or not, the Holy Grail War was not something easily set up and was quite possibly the worst conclusion he could come to.
Well, maybe not the worst, certainly one of the worst-he had enough confidence that he could win another Grail War if the chips came down to it.
Provided he didn't come against someone wielding a cheat card like Gilgamesh. He may have finally recovered from the side effects of his battles but he still doubted he could beat Angelica if they came to blows again.
"Onii-chan?" Miyu's voice broke him out of his thoughts.
"What is it Miyu?"
"You have a scary look on your face...do you need rest?" She looked visibly worried for him.
Shirou sighed and took his hand out of hers and wrapped it around her. "I'm just having some worrying thoughts about what I'll do when boys start looking at you."
Miyu blushed at his words and elbowed him. The dark haired girl turned to the side.
"O-onii-chan!"
Shirou gave an unseen smirk. "Do me a favor and never date boys okay? We're pretty dangerous to be around."
"Onii-chan isn't dangerous to be around...".
He only laughs in response.
Just as they arrive home his ears hear some sort of screaming.
"Hey Miyu, go on in, I'm gonna go talk to Manaka." His sister frowned at his words, not at all liking the blondish haired girl that constantly flirted with her brother. That weird girl didn't deserve him in her mind.
Still, she heeded his words like the good little sister she was. Having never really been on the more scheming side of Shirou, the thought of him lying to her never occurred.
It was only when he saw her close the door did he run to the roofs. Reinforcing his eyes and ears, he scanned the city block for what he heard.
He didn't hear anything after thirty seconds, making him wonder if he was hearing things, or if he was simply too late to act.
He wasn't sure which he feared more.
But ultimately, it was a smell, a disgusting, putrid smell that gave the location away.
But it wasn't just a normal smell. It was one brought about from magecraft. And it was clear that it wasn't something small like reinforcement.
He jumped across the dark rooftops to the origin of the smell. It wasn't far from his house, so it would be best not try and minimize damage. Miyu was smart, she might realize something happened and involved him.
He narrowed his eyes at the broken doorknob. Swiftly moving in the dark smell from before was accompanied with blood.
The first floor of the house wasn't in bad shape, though the fact that certain objects like lamps and plants were on the floor gave away that something happened. However a fallen photo alarmed him.
A family. One of which was a small girl he recognized as Miyu's friend. He didn't learn her name yet, though he was certain it was something like Yuki.
Thumping from the ceiling made him scowl.
Moving upwards he wished he had brought something to use as a weapon.
Just as he finished walking up the stairs he projected a small, normal dagger because he heard the scream of a young child.
"Ah! Hello monster-san! My name's Uryu Ryunosuke. My hobby is murder in general. I like kids and young women. Won't you take these sacrifices?" These words came from an orange haired man, directed to a...google eyed pale man with a book in his hand.
The scene itself wasn't as bad as he feared, in a way. The only blood he saw was on some sort of rune circle. The family were tied up and had some mostly superficial wounds except for one big cut on their arms.
However because it wasn't as bad as he originally feared, it became much worse than anything he had thought up.
That strange man was no human.
His body, made of prana, imitating humans. His book, a normal phantasm.
It was perhaps now, that he finally realized why he had a pit formed in his stomach and couldn't help but heed the warnings of the magi.
The Holy Grail War has begun. But this time...
Things were going to be even worse.
Shirou acted quickly, he threw the dagger at the man who introduced himself while he brought out a familiar looking card, one he never used until now. He kept them on his person simply because it was safer with him more than anything, though the archer card was still too unusable for him unless he wanted to start self-destructing again.
"Install!" Instantly, Shirou was garbed in pure black armor decorated with skulls. His face held a white skull mask overshadowed by a hood. In his hands were a large spiked shield and a plain black sword.
In the time it took for him to install, the google eyed man blasted away the dagger. Clearly, the danger Shirou currently posed in his Assassin Install inspired caution to him due to the skull mask's glowing red eyes. This made him carry the serial killer and make way for the roofs.
This suited Shirou just fine, the Assassin Install took away his Tracing ability, but it didn't take away his sense of smell. The only reason Shirou didn't immediately give chase was because he wanted to make sure the family was alright. Luckily the sight of his currently blue eyes seemed to make the parents faint while Yuki was already unconscious. He would have to remind himself to come back later to hypnotize them.
The skulls on his armor leaked out blue hazy flames and consumed his body. When they disappeared there was no one standing in his place.
It would be the same roof the two men would be talking on where he would appear cloaked in blue flames.
"Hey Bluebeard-sama? Who's the skeleton knight? He's so COOOOOL!"
The title of Bluebeard rang a bell in Shirou's mind, but he couldn't place it.
"Hmph! It seems this one intends on interrupting my journey to revive my precious Jeanne! I, Gilles de Rais will not allow God's machinations to go any further!"
It was his words that told Shirou all he needed to know. A nobleman who once fought with the Holy Flag Bearer. However upon his death the man became twisted and his actions spat upon both the woman he admired as well as the god he served. Thus was the life of Gilles de Rais.
Shirou spoke instinctively in a deep gravelly voice. "Disgusting Heathen. What doth one who bath in sin wish to prove other than one's rebellion? Thy own despair? Such wretched feelings will not endear thee to whom thou idolize. Fool. Hand over thy head." He stood straight with his sword and shield at his sides. His hand twitched and he was unsure if it was just the urge to kill the two in front of him or something else.
Gilles began to speak some sort of gibberish as his words brought about magecraft from his book. "I have arrived in this world as Caster for the sake of my Jeanne! I will not listen to your words!"
Dark mist fell from the book and formed some strange creatures about the size of a child. their form eventually became tentacled with spikes on them. They were true lovecraft abominations.
Shirou did not bother wasting time. With one quick slice, a few of the monsters were already cut down accompanied with the sound of multiple slashes.
"COOOL!"
"Hearken. The Evening Bell hath tolled thy name. [Azrael]!" Disappearing in a blue flame, the sound of a clank rang through as the abominations immediately disappeared.
However Shirou wasn't aiming only for the abominations. Both Ryunosuke and Gilles lost an arm each.
"Y-you…..!" Shirou watched at Ryunosuke seemed enamored with his missing arm while Gilles cursed at his offender.
"Gah!" Suddenly he was ejected out of his installed state. 'What the?'
Gilles had taken this moment of surprise to attack. A rush of dark mist came to sweep him away.
Acting quickly he instinctively traced the shield of the Heroic Spirit he was just using. It was a normal shield with nothing special about it, but it would buy him time. He slammed the shield to the ground and crouched. He reinforced himself and felt a greater drain on his circuits than usual.
The wave crashed into the spiked shield and split past him, barely even nudging him.
When the wave stopped he peaked out of the shield and saw Caster punching at him in rage. Shirou knew that getting hit would be a bad idea. The Servant Cards only gave portions of the Heroic Spirit's strength including their parameters, while Caster of course was summoned in a nonphysical class that did not mean Shirou could simply let himself get hit.
Bucking the shield upwards forced Caster backwards less he get stabbed and the insane man growled.
"I did not expect to use this so soon after my summoning, but I've become irritated by you!" The man chanted once more and Shirou could actually feel the prana emitting from the man.
But before he could finish chanting he summoned a tentacle in front of Ryunosuke who had passed out of blood loss by this point. In a show of gore that would have made Ryunosuke happy to see the tentacle exploded forcefully by a red projectile.
"How troublesome, I intended on wiping out your master to keep you from causing any trouble."
Shirou turned to the perhaps ally while keeping his shield pointed to Caster.
It was a man who he recognized immediately.
Caster shouted. "Curse you God! Even now you torture me!"
"Believe me, this is no act of God." A barrage of brightly colored lights that he could recognize as arrows shot towards the two.
"Shit!" Shirou moved his shield around in order to protect himself from the arrows.
Unlike the attack from Caster, this one blew Shirou backwards, though luckily the same happened to Caster.
"Don't think I'll forget this!" Caster grabbed his master with his one arm and disappeared in mist.
"Yare yare. That one is going to be a problem in the future no doubt."
"HEY! What was the deal shooting at me!" Shirou glared at the newcomer.
"I knew you would be just fine, although, you may want to take a look at your hand Master."
Shirou looked and saw something that wasn't there before.
Red marks that created a sword with four angelic wings pointing outward.
Command Seals, proof of one's identity as a Master for the Holy Grail War.
However, Shirou was not the only one with winged Command Seals.