Chapter-39

Shirou

So this is it. Shirou thought as he walked through Beacon's corridors, heading towards Beacon's terrace.

He looked at the Atlesian warships floating in the skies from the windows and smiled.

It was always quite fascinating to see technological marvels humanity was capable of, even if it technically wasn't the humanity of his world.

Back when he was a child, Shirou heard stories about the white-skinned foreigners who lived on the island of Tsukishima off the coast of Nagasaki, who had weapons that spewed smoke and fire and fired metal balls that were more devastating than the sturdiest of arrowheads.

But seeing those Nanban demonstrate their weapons while selling them to local Daīmyo cultivated Shirou's little intrigue over advanced technology.

And centuries later, that curiosity lingers on. Shirou thought before frowning. Despite not showing it, he was quite…distraught over recent events.

He had hidden a lot from the others, and spending time with them, lying to their faces everyday made it quite difficult to keep up his act.

Not to mention the added factor of the huntresses. Shirou could remember so many rebels in his army who were either their age or even younger. Child soldiers who should not have had a place in the battlefield.

Yet they entered it to fight for their beliefs, not so unlike the students of Beacon academy.

Shirou quite envied the huntsmen. They lived in a world where their enemies were soulless monsters who were purely driven by instinct. There was no remorse in killing them. Such things did not have life, so destroying them didn't bring a moral burden upon a huntsman's soul like taking another human being's life would.

Unlike him. No matter how he looked at it, Shirou could never deny their rebellion wasn't pure. He firmly believed in doing the work of the Lord and saving the faith of his followers, but he did not need knowledge from the Grail to know of the atrocities his old comrades committed.

He had seen them storm buddhist shrines and desecrate the sacred symbols of the Buddha like the goons of the Katsuie had done to Christ.

At that time, Shirou couldn't pay much heed to it. He could not afford to distract himself from what his comrades did, for their faith was in danger.

Yet after death, Shirou had all the time to sink into his own conflicted hypocrisy. The way he followed the lord, yet turned a blind eye to the sins committed by his soldiers. He'd believed he would succeed in the lord's work, and he did. Christianity would live on in Japan, but under the shadow of the Shinto.

Shirou reached the terrace and looked out at Beacon, clutching his cross.

"Why can't I find my focus?" He whispered. He felt distracted. He felt unable to truly see what lay ahead of him.

Is it because I am living a lie? Shirou thought before hearing footsteps and smelt cookies.

"...Ruby." Shirou spoke as the young Rose walked up beside him.

"Aw…How did you know? I thought I was being good at sneaking up on you?"

"Your footsteps were loud and your breath smells like you snacked on some cookies."

"It could have been someone else."

"Ruby, we have had many, many conversations like this since Cysgod. I know its you most of the time. So, anything to talk about?" Shirou asked. Ruby had become a sort of companion in holding conversations that helped both of them get a little burden off their shoulders. Shirou simply found it peaceful to listen to Ruby's childlike innocence speak through her words, despite all the things she has experienced so far. Ruby's presence was a breath of fresh air within all the discord that had clouded his mind.

Ruby looked at her feet. "Uh…I was sort of stressed, so I ate some cookies to calm myself."

"Hm…so that's your way of meditation." Shirou spoke before grinning. "Odd…but I suppose it makes sense for you."

"Yeah, so I decided to use you." Ruby spoke. "It feels so great talking to you regularly. It's almost like we are buddies!" She spoke before slumping. "If you weren't my teacher."

Shirou smiled. "Don't be so stuck on the concept of a teacher being a father figure. It is not uncommon that teachers develop a bond of friendship with their students."

Ruby grinned. "Cool! At least one of you is a friend. Sigurd and Cú are more like dads than they are friends. So thanks Shirou!"

Shirou grinned shaking his head.

Ruby crossed her arms. "So, what happened at the SSSS meeting?" She asked, leaning in.

"SSSS?"

"Super Secret Superhero Society? You know…"

"I understand. But I don't think Headmaster Ozpin would want to call his Inner Circle by that."

Ruby pouted. "Well, it's exactly like that in my action films, so I'm calling it that! But why aren't we there?"

"Ozpin said he would talk to you and your team separately." Shirou replied. Ozpin did say that Team RWBY would be useful for a different purpose.

"But anyways, We have deduced the location of the carrier. In a couple of days, us servants and Winter will be leaving towards the mountains to the north." Shirou replied as Ruby's eyes widened.

"Wha…And you're not letting us go?!"

"Your uncle and Winter were adamant in not letting you, Yang or Weiss in coming. Blake is right now a big target simply because of her connection to Adam, and you know how badly Mordred thrashed you and your friends some time back. There are more servants among their ranks and none of us want you to get caught in the crossfire."

Ruby narrowed her eyes.

"I know what you're thinking, and I can already tell you that the Headmaster has put tracking runes on your team. Try to pull something like Mount Glenn, and Sigurd will immediately notice your presence."

Ruby slumped.

"So, I guess that means you're leaving?" Ruby spoke as Shirou nodded. "I'm a Ruler class. I can tell the names of the enemy servants we encounter." He spoke.

"When will you be back?"

"At most by the end of the Vytal festival." Shirou spoke, although should things play out as he expected them to play out, he might not come back.

"Good! Because we're planning a party for you and the other servants!" Ruby spoke, pointing a finger.

"Huh? A party?" Shirou spoke as Ruby nodded.

"There's a fireworks show at the end of each Vytal festival to showcase the unity and solidarity of all the kingdoms. I saw it once on a broadcast, and it's amazing! You and the other servants cannot just miss it!" She exclaimed as Shirou blinked.

A fireworks show? Shirou thought as he put up a smile.

"I see. I don't know if I might be able to…"

"Nope!" Ruby spoke covering her ears with her hands. "You have to come! I'll find and drag you here if I have to!"

Shirou raised his hands. "Ruby…"

"Just promise me you'll be there." Ruby spoke.

Promise? Shirou thought as Ruby smiled softly.

"From what I know, you all lived a long, long time ago. Shirou, have you or the others ever seen fireworks?" She asked in a more calm voice.

"Fireworks?" Shirou muttered.

Both Tristan and Cú had died long before fireworks were even invented, and Sigurd was too far away from China to have even heard of fireworks, and while Shirou had heard of the bright fireworks that were used by China, they never came to Japan until the 18th century.

"...You're right." He muttered as Ruby brightened.

"Then you've got to see the fireworks!" She exclaimed.

"I won't take no for an answer now! Come on, promise!"

"Ruby…"

"Nope, nope, nope! I'm not listening! Promise!"

Shirou sighed. He had to give credit to Ruby's father for being able to put up with his daughter's energy and stubbornness for so many years.

But a promise? As much as Shirou would have loved to see the fireworks, he can't.

He stared at Ruby's expectant smile and his gut twisted. He had to lie. He had to satisfy her for now.

Besides, I've already piled up a lot of lies. Shirou thought. What's another one going to do?

"...I-I promise." He spoke with a brittle smile as Ruby grinned.

"You're the best!" She spoke before hugging Shirou as his eyes widened.

Ruby let go and walked off, as Shirou stared at her in silence before he remembered what he just did.

"Oh god…" He spoke, putting his face in his hands. Why had he done that? Why did he promise?

She doesn't know. His mind whispered.

Of course she doesn't. Shirou's endless perjury had made sure of that.

Of all the people, he hated doing it to Ruby the most. He did not have the courage to see her face when she learned the truth.

Bear it, Shirou. Just…Just a few more days, and you can leave this act behind. Shirou thought, turning back to the terrace.


It was soon time to leave. Shirou stood with Odysseus, Cú and Sigurd in Beacon's docking bay.

To avoid the risk of noble phantasms, Odysseus had suggested that first a group of servants be sent to scout out the area and determine how many possible servants posed a threat to the Atlesian airships. So, there they were.

"Ironwood was quite reluctant about this idea." Sigurd commented.

"It's understandable. General James Ironwood has always been deeply committed to using the full might of the Atlesian army in keeping the kingdoms safe from massive threats. He doesn't want to waste time and have Prometheus' group still out at large before the Vytal festival ends. But considering Prometheus has some degree of clairvoyance, he is expecting an assault from the Atlesian army. In such a case, servants like Siegfried and Mordred are his greatest asset in surviving the encounter."

"Or he could take the use of his mole." Cú spoke.

"Yes, but the mole doesn't help things along. Prometheus' forethought makes it easy for him to gain huge amounts of information on us. A mole can only do some minor sabotage. Besides, we cannot afford to spend time and effort looking for this mole. The Vytal festival will end with the tournament, so the time for such things is up."

Shirou frowned as they got onto the bullhead and lifted off.

"Where will we be dropping?" Shirou asked.

"A forest off a village called Oakshire. It's located on the edge of the cloaking spell cast to hide Prometheus' base, so we shouldn't be too worried about attracting attention." Odysseus spoke.

"We have found out that there is a servant working against Prometheus over there." Sigurd spoke. "They are an Archer servant, but use stealth tactics like an assassin."

"Really? So, what should we expect?"

"Well, caution. The servant may be working against Prometheus, but we have no confirmation of whether their allegiances lie with us. We can think of cooperation after we can trust that they are on our side." Odysseus spoke.

"Before that, we have to first find them." Cú spoke with a grunt.

"That will be easy. The archer servant enjoys quite a good reputation amongst the villages in the mountains. We could ask someone at Oakshire."

Shirou leaned back as the others continued to talk, looking at the landscape passing below them through his window.

"Is there something wrong, Shirou?" Sigurd spoke as Shirou looked at him.

"No? Why do you ask?"

"I've noticed since morning you've been very tense and worried. Almost as if something is troubling you."

"Oh…no, no. It's just this mission. It is, after all, a prelude to our final offensive against Prometheus. I'm just worried something might go wrong."

"We already have a retreat planned in case the assault fails. But as long as the city of Vale stands, Prometheus will be unable to gain any decisive advantage."

"But those living outside of Vale will be at his mercy." Sigurd spoke as Odysseus did not reply.

"We are discussing the possibility of failure, which we cannot afford. There will be hurdles but I'm sure we'll be able to pull this off.

"Don't jinx it, please." Cú grumbled as Odysseus conceded in agreement. However, Shirou was actually worried for a different reason.

We're getting close. He thought.

"We're getting close to the spot!" The pilot called out as Shirou looked at the mountains again.

At any point, it could…

A number of flaming arrows shot from one of the mountains towards the bullhead at blistering speeds.

"What the heck?!" The pilot screamed as the arrows hit the hard-light shield of the bullhead.

The servants almost fell off their seats from the force of the arrows as the bullhead rocked. More arrows came in and hit the hard-light shield.

"We're under attack!" Odysseus exclaimed. "It's definitely a servant!"

"Is it that damn archer?!" Cú growled. "Are they hostile?!"

"It could be a different archer-class servant!" Sigurd spoke up. "But we need to get out right now!"

"Agreed!" Odysseus spoke.

"Pilot! Turn around!"

"We're aborting?!"

"No! We're all jumping off! You quickly head back to Beacon before those arrows break through the shield!" Odysseus spoke.

"I could get below!"

"The archer is on a mountain! They may still be able to shoot down from that position!"

"But…!"

"No more questions, open the bay doors!" Odysseus yelled.

The pilot did so and the doors opened. At that moment, another barrage of arrows shattered the shield.

"JUMP!" Odysseus yelled as the four servants jumped out of the bullhead, falling towards the mountains as the bullhead turned back to head towards the south.


From the mountain where the arrows came from, an Archer-class servant lowered their bow, staring emotionlessly at the four servants falling from the bullhead. They pulled out a projector on which Perseus' form appeared.

"The servants have been forced out of their aircraft." They spoke.

"Good. I'll send some of the Hassans as well." Perseus replied as the archer grunted.

"Are you sure this was necessary? I could have destroyed the bullhead and shot them out of the air."

"Prometheus has made it very clear that until he reveals himself, you are not to bombard the area, even though I doubt you will be able to penetrate Sigurd's and Odysseus' armour."

"Don't make light of my skills, Perseus. I have pierced so-called 'impenetrable armors' before. We should get rid of them while we have the chance. We'll deal with the rogue servant later."

Perseus sighed. "That pride of yours has gotten you into trouble many times in your life. But I won't comment further. Besides, I don't think you really have any sort of choice in this matter, no?"

The archer was silent before grunting.

"Wait for our signal. Then let loose." Perseus spoke before disappearing.

The archer looked up at the clouds.

"They dragged me all the way from Mistral for this…" They muttered before walking off.


"Mannaz…Raidho…" Sigurd chanted inscribing runes to slow their fall. The servants fell onto the forest floor.

"There's no way Prometheus hasn't sent a force to bring us down." Odysseus spoke. "Watch out for an ambush."

"We need to get to Oakshire and reach the rogue archer. If they've lasted this long against Prometheus' servants, then they must be operating as a group." Sigurd spoke before distorted howls sounded out.

"Grimm!" Shirou called out as a number of beowolves emerged from the forest's bushes, accompanied by tattooed werewolves carrying blades and staffs. The werewolves had black eyes with red dots in them as black veins spread out from their eyes as blood-red saliva dripped from their mouths.

"Faoladh?!" Cú exclaimed. "Since when were these bastards siding against humans?!"

"Mixed phantasmals, remember?" Sigurd spoke. "They might have the body of a Faoladh but may have been stripped of their humanity to serve as better soldiers."

"Oh, perfect. Watch out for their spells!" Cú as he dashed forward, inscribing an Algiz rune to block a number of fireballs launched by the faoladh and skewered one of them.

Odysseus fired off a blast of energy from Aegis and blew away some beowolves while Sigurd punched his daggers to impale some Faoladh in the forehead.

"...!" Cú grunted and spun his spear to deflect a dagger.

He cursed. "There's a servant! Shirou, what is it?!"

Shirou leveled a sideways glance at the hassans in the trees. "They're assassins. Most likely a Hassan."

Shirou parried a strike from a Faoladh with his katana before driving a black key through its throat. Shirou quickly moved behind it to use it as a shield against a lunging beowulf and bit its head off before Shirou sliced off the beowulf's head with his katana.

Shirou could see the black dirks zoom by from the trees, although they struggled to get past Sigurd's and Odysseus' armors while Cú managed to deflect any that came near him.

Shirou noticed some of the hassans emerge out of the woods. Cú had just impaled a beowulf when a Hassan came up behind him.

Cú kicked his leg back and knocked the Hassan towards Odysseus, who blew off their head with a blast of energy.

The Hassans continued trying to go for his comrades' vital points while they were busy with the grimm.

"We can't keep going on like this!" Odysseus spoke as some dirks bounced off his armor. "We need to clear out a path and run!"

Shirou looked up at the sky as a beowulf lunged at him. Before Shirou could cut it down, an arrow embedded itself in the beowolf's head.

This is the rogue archer. Shirou thought as more arrows appeared from numerous directions that killed the faoladh while vines suddenly trapped some of the Hassans and grimm.

"Psst! Over here!" Shirou heard someone speak as the other servants turned as well.

"Is it me or was that some Druidic magecraft that I just detected?" Cú spoke.

"Quickly, before he fires off."

At that moment the Hassans suddenly cleared off. Shirou could hear faint whistling as Sigurd's eyes widened.

"RUN!" The man yelled as Sigurd put up a shield with an Algiz rune over them as the servants ran in the direction the man pointed them to.

Soon, a number of arrows landed where they were standing and trigger a massive explosion.

Vines erupted just as the flames crashed against Sigurd's shield, which held out for a few seconds before shattering as the shockwave staggered the servants.

"Laguz." Sigurd muttere inscribing a rune as water sprang out towards the flames to douse them. Vines also erupted in an attempt to smother the flame.

"Quickly, before they notice we escaped." The same voice spoke again.

"...Are you the rogue archer?" Odysseus asked as the servant was silent.

"...Yes." His voice came in. "It's alright, I am on your side." He spoke.

"Whatever it is, you must be based at Oakshire as of now, correct?" Odysseus spoke.

"Unfortunately, Oakshire has been vacated. A huge number of Hassans had approached the village and we had to evacuate." The man replied.

"What?! Oakshire has fallen?!"

"As I said, The Carrier is being much more aggressive now and has called in more servants. He probably has been alerted to your plans and hence is using more servants."

"...Are you invisible?" Sigurd asked.

"...I am. Just to avoid detection by the Carrier's forces. I didn't think the Faoladh would be hostile to human beings, but I guess the grimm have affected their mind."

"Grimm?"

"You noticed their eyes, didn't you? Those faoladh have had grimm attached to their brains and practically have had their humanity sucked out. Now, they are nothing more than much stronger versions of regular werewolves." The man replied with a hint of venom in his voice.

"Come on now, let me take you to His Majesty." He spoke as Sigurd and Cú looked at each other.

"His Majesty?"

"Uh…they were a king in their life. Now they are just a saber-class servant."

"And I assume you were one of their subjects?" Sigurd asked.

"Correct."

The man took them through the woods and into a small settlement of hastily built houses with a wooden wall. Shirou could see a bunch of scared people as well as huntsman who guarded them. The huntsmen gave a wary scowl as the servants approached slightly raised their weapons.

The air shimmered and the archer appeared, a man clad in a green cloak.

"They're allies!" He spoke as the huntsmen looked at each other and lowered their weapons.

Shirou immediately realized his true name.

"Robin Hood." He spoke.

"Ah! So that's why I felt Druidic magecraft!" Cú exclaimed.

"...! How did you…?"

"He's a Ruler." Odysseus spoke as Robin hood grunted.

"Damn it, should have checked your classes before I revealed myself. But oh well, His Majesty should be here any time now."

"I see. But…you are a druid?" Sigurd asked.

"My father was one. Me? I'm more of an incarnation of the Green Man. I've always had a sort of enhanced perception of the realm of the Fae. So, I use my old man's tricks for stuff like this."

"As a soldier of God, It was a bit concerning to learn our servant had a deep connection to the pagans of Britain's past, but after learning that our own idol was practically the same…" A rather cheerful voice spoke as they noticed someone come up.

The huntsmen gave a nod of respect to a blonde man with some red strands of hair clad in armor with a red cloak draped on his side embroidered with the golden design of three snarling lions.

"...We are a bit more considerate of how significant Britain's past is to us even after centuries of Christianity."

Despite his cheerful nature, the man had the aura of a king, and from seeing his true name, Shirou could see why.

"You are Richard the Lionheart." Shirou spoke as King Richard smiled.

"Our goodness, it is delightful to see our name crosses time and space to be known by an eastern foreigner. Why yes, we are Richard the Lionheart, ruler of the Angevin kingdom and the one who shattered the might of the Muslims." He spoke.

"But you didn't really retake the Holy City of Jerusalem." Odysseus spoke as Richard sighed.

"Even if we were determined to fulfill our duty and bring Jerusalem back into the hands of Christianity, we had to see the reality that the Muslim forces had a much more secure position. Jerusalem would have fallen back into their hands even if we retook it." He spoke shaking his head before grinning.

"But enough of that! I'm not really on a Crusade, am I? Things are much different as of now! Come, we'll talk more at our makeshift tent." He spoke as the servants began walking. Shirou went to walk too, but felt his right hand heat up a bit.

Shirou sighed. It seemed it was time for his report.

"Shirou?" Odysseus asked as Shirou was still standing.

"Hold on, I'll be there in a moment." Shirou spoke.

"Our tent's straight and to the right!" Robin spoke as the other servants walked off.

Shirou's smile fell as he pulled out his scroll.

'Rogue Archer is Robin Hood. He is serving a Saber, Name: Richard the Lionheart.' He typed his message on his scroll.

Shirou's thumb hovered over the send button.

"I-I promise."

Shirou let out a sad sigh as he looked at Cinder Fall's name in the contacts.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby. But I won't be able to keep that promise." He spoke before sending the message.

Because I'm working for those who are going to destroy your school.


A/N: Well, here's to the first chapter since school ended. I'll actually be pretty focused on this story, because I did not like the struggle to put out a chapter because of School's hectic schedule. So, since I've actually finished deciding how Volume-3 will play out, I'll actually put full throttle and end the Vale arc before I start updating my other stories.

In the midst of my break, I did follow with RWBY Volume-9. Although, I'm going to write my thoughts about it once the Volume is complete.

As for this chapter, this is the second version. The first one was complete shit because I was coming back to writing and hit a dead end with the first one. So, I scrapped it and wrote this one.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Onto the chapter, I'm sure you can see what's going on. Shirou is our little mole. But, I actually want to take Shirou's character down a different path from the 'Ooh, Humanity's salvation. I love that, and I'll be the villain for it!', which is actually a great character arc, but not satisfactory to me considering how much I know of the Amakusa Shirou of Shimabara as well as Shirou's backstory in Fate lore.

Plus, we get new servants! Robin Hood and Richard The Lionheart have come! I first of all want to point out that I have no clue about Robin's role in Salem, but I was honestly confused as to how exactly did FGO keep Robin's interesting backstory under the rug in the Fifth Singularity. Like, you could do so much with what I've seen Robin's backstory, which puts a sort of mysterious aura around the Legend of Robin Hood and they just kept him as 'robber who steals from the rich'.

As for Richard, I brought him in because of Robin. Because considering what Robin's done and what Richard thinks of his rule, I want the both of them to interact - Robin with the man who he believed deserved to be England's ruler and Richard with the man who held him up to expectations he believed he had failed to live up to.

Hope you guys enjoyed and Constructive Criticism is appreciated!


Foot notes:

Faoladh: The Faoladh are basically Irish Werewolves. Except unlike the popular perception of Werewolves as monsters, Faoladh were treated as Guardians and Protectors of Humans. So, I actually didn't know that until I dug deeper in Faoladh and realised my mistake of having them in their base form as enemies.

Green Man: The Green Man is a sculptural motif of a being who represents rebirth in different cultures. The Green Man is often depicted as a man with a face of leaves, and usually refers to Nature gods of most cultures. Of course, according to Nasuverse, the Green Man here refers to a conceptual desire of nature birthed by the European people. And Robin Hood is considered an incarnation of the Green Man due to his association eith the Green Man and the May King in British Folklore.


Response to Reviews:

longbowchris50: I do have plans for the Final battle, but not exactly what you're thinking.

THOTSLAYER9000: My paragraphs look pretty fine. But I'll take a look at them later.

longbowchris50: I said earlier that I'm going to follow a mixture of a servant's type-moon lore and their IRL lore. So, yeah. Even though Sigurd doesn't have Armor of Fafnir actually, in this story he does.

Zoukuyuujinchou: Sorry for the disappearance. I'm actually fine, there's nothing wrong. I'm back for real, this time.

An: I know why the Brother Gods left remnant. But Sigurd and Odysseus don't. They're just trying to come up with an explanation from what they know of the Gods of Earth. Until they learn the truth (Which I'm actually going to tweak), they'll just go with whatever their assumptions lead them to.