EMIYA Shirou's Self-Centered Holy Grail War
Chapter 3 - Suicide (Self-Terminating)
...
Archer, for his part, had warned and advised Shirou to stay home for the day, with excuse that as a Master, Emiya Shirou should try to save energy up for War and make preparations to stay safe and to make sure he could save as many lives as possible when the time came.
(Of course, normally the duty-bound Emiya Shirou would still insist going to school anyway, disregarding his own safety. But, unfortunately for him, EMIYA knew exactly how to play into his weak points. If the purpose was not to ensure his own safety, but if it was to make the necessary preparations to save other people from the war, than Emiya Shirou would be completely willing to listen.)
Naturally, EMIYA helped with making Shirou's breakfast and lunch today (despite Shirou's insistence), and the results of his efforts were already showing its effects.
Even though he had only put in relatively small amounts of poison, not large enough to be detected easily or kill instantly, but not small enough to develop a resistance over time to.
(EMIYA had gained such depth of poison knowledge during his time serving in different areas serving as a Guardian, especially in places like Africa and ancient China. Briefly, he chuckled to himself in amusement. He never did imagined that he'd ever actually be putting such knowledge to practical use, though. Nor did he ever did he ever imagine it would ever come in handy like this.)
...
Shirou was already starting to feel fatigued and slightly feverish, and it really showed on his face and in the sluggishness of his movements.
Indeed, like this, it certainly was the right decision from Shirou's point of view, to have decided to stay home for the day.
And he started to feel even worse after eating the lunch that Archer had prepared for him, even though lunch looked very good - a lunch even better than the type of lunches that Shirou could normally prepare.
"...Archer," Shirou asked, in a strangely suspicious voice, after he had finished eating, "...You aren't...poisoning me, or something are you...?"
And for once in his life, Emiya Shirou had actually been especially sharp and spot-on in his intuition.
But even so, his voice sounded unsure and hesitant, like he felt guilty for even asking the question, based on only just his own baseless speculations.
"Master," Archer chided gently, "Is that any way to treat the Servant that literally just saved your life yesterday? And the one you have to trust your life to in order to win this war?"
Shirou flinched, at Archer's gentle but slightly offended tone of voice.
(Of course, EMIYA wasn't actually offended - especially since he was genuinely was the one responsible.
But he knew perfectly how to play into Emiya Shirou's sense of guilt and debt better than anyone else.
Well, besides maybe Rin (though Rin was far too kind and soft to have ever take advantage and truly make use that knowledge against him, unlike EMIYA himself).)
"...Sorry." Shirou apologized, "I guess I'm just on edge, from everything that's happened lately."
"Of course." Archer said, understandingly, "I don't blame you at all, Master."
Shirou sighed a breathe of relief, having assuaged his own suspicions and sense of guilt.
"But, if we are to make it through this war, I'll need you to trust me, Master."
Shirou nodded.
Though somehow, on a personal level, Emiya Shirou just couldn't feel at ease around Archer for some always felt a bit uneasy around him, like he looking into an unpleasant mirror of himself.
...But maybe, that was just because of sickness.
Yeah, that was probably it. Just all the crazy events happening, and his sickness. He had no reason to suspect Archer from his words or actions yet, after all.
"Yeah, I guess I'm just feeling grumpy and on edge because of this sickness, probably."
Archer grunted his acknowledgement.
After all, he didn't have any reason to be so on-guard against someone who saved his life, right?
Yeah, it was probably just the sickness.
"So, Master?" Archer asked, "Are we to go out on patrol today, as you suggested? Or are you feeling too unwell to do so?"
Shirou hesitated a bit.
He was a feeling a bit sick, but...
What was his life, compared to the lives of other people?
Quickly and decisively, Shirou nodded his head.
"Yeah." He said, "We can't let other people get caught up in this unreasonable violence."
Archer nodded, and pretended to agree. "As you wish, Master."
And so, like clockwork, Shirou played right into Archer's hands, thoughts of complaining about his own condition not even crossing his head.
(If Archer was actually worried about younger self or actually wanted to win the war - he'd of course suggest for Shirou to rest up instead, but naturally he didn't. The more Emiya Shirou put himself in danger, the better it was for him.)
And so, they left the Emiya Estate and set out to patrol the town.
...
They met Ilya right at front gate.
Literally, right outside the makeshift detection-magecraft boundary, right at the front door.
Ilya, with her skill, could've very easily disabled such a makeshift boundary field, but she looked she was having fun, just waiting and anticipating for Shirou's exit from his home.
Internally, EMIYA's heart ached for her a bit, knowing her fate and her sweetness as his little sister, and knowing of Emiya Shirou's inability to save her, despite all his best efforts.
But he shook his head clear of all such thoughts, and hardened his heart.
He was going to end his own existence anyway, and Ilya's problems would no longer be any concern of his, anyway.
Naturally, EMIYA had already sensed them ahead of time a while ago, but naturally chose not say anything so that Emiya Shirou would hopefully end up making stupid decisions that would end up getting himself killed by their encounter.
She and Shirou shared a brief chat, before Ilya started smirking maliciously.
Well, it looked like his own turn was coming up soon.
"Get them, Berserker!"
"▂▂▃▅!"
Archer just smirked.
"Come, big guy."
As it turned out,
Defending against Berserker was a surprisingly easy task for him, when playing defensively.
As incredibly strong and power and swift and agile as Heracles was, he really had been miscast into the wrong class.
Summoned as a mere Berserker, Heracles was not much better than a massive walking slab of stone and steel. True, he may still have had his finely honed instincts and sword skills, but those served him well only against close-ranged opponents. Against an Archer who was armed with infinitely reproducible Broken Phantasms and could snipe him from a distance, Berserker really was very badly outclassed, in a very literal sense.
Retreating by continually jumping back and gaining distance, and sniping him from faraway locations, EMIYA, as an Archer, really worked wonders for slowly chipping away at Berserker's life.
However, though he was fending off Berserker, he had placed a much higher priority on preserving his own existence as a Servant than he did with defending Emiya Shirou's life.
And Ilya, shrewd as she was, gladly took advantage of that, calling Berserker back to her.
And ironically,
Emiya Shirou died not because of her, but in spite of her.
As he was quickly squashed like a bug by Berserker's hands, having accidentally gotten in Berserker's way, leaving behind only a pasty red substance of blood, organs, and bones against the pavement and walls.
Even EMIYA had to laugh at that, at such a foolish and anti-climatic death.
Truly, a fitting death for his naive and stupid younger self.
...
Then, once again, The World then began distorting in upon itself, not allowing this fate.
But this time, the distortion seemed larger than before, and the warping sensation, more disorientating.
All the colors around him had also started glitching in and out, as The World warped around him.
Huh, all this was new. Maybe a larger effect meant a larger time-span undone, which in turn meant more distortion?
Finding himself back to right before they left the estate, EMIYA felt more confident and assured in his plans than he had ever been before.
Yes, he could work with this.
Once again going through the motions; This time, he had prevented Berserker from squashing Shirou.
"Move!"
Rushing to his Master's side, he very roughly pushed Shirou aside, much to Ilya's relief.
Scolding Berserker for his negligence, Ilya also quickly took a hold of Shirou, though she was surprised that Archer made no further moves to protect his Master or to harm her.
Quickly paralyzing Shirou with her eyes, she also then quickly turned to face Archer, as Berserker stood protectively over her.
"Hmmm...? What's this?" Ilya asked, "Aren't you going to try to save your Master, Archer?"
EMIYA smirked. "I wouldn't possibly dream of it, princess. I can clearly see when I'm outmatched."
Ilya giggled. "Well, you're an interesting Servant, aren't you?"
"You flatter me."
She wasn't completely convinced that this wasn't some sort of trap, but Archer had dropped his bow and was holding his arms up, as if in surrender.
"Go ahead and take the boy," He said, "Like this, even for me, it would take a few seconds to prepare a proper attack. During which time, your Berserker could easily maul me down."
Ilya hesitated, not completely trusting him. But, not detecting any trace of lies or deceit in his words, she decided to take him up on his offer.
And so, she took up Emiya Shirou as captive enemy Master, entrusting Berserker to hold him for the task of taking him back to Einzbern.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Shirou protested, eyes shooting over desperately to Archer, "Save me!"
With the desperation in his intent and voice, Shirou unknowingly and accidently used up command seal...!
...But to no effect.
"What are you doing, Archer?! Save me!"
And once again, a command seal was used up.
...But again, to almost no effect.
EMIYA smirked.
He had thought something like this might happen, and he was glad that it had happened in this specific manner. He didn't even have to cut off Emiya's Shirou's arm this way, like he would've in other situations.
Emiya Shirou really did just make this too easy.
In the first place, being a weak magus, the command spell didn't nearly have the potency it would from a much stronger Master like Tohsaka Rin, despite being somewhat of a more specific command.
And of course, since Emiya Shirou didn't specify a particular action, like "kill Berserker" or "shoot Berserker with all your force", but simply just issued a command with the intent to "save" him, that also worked in EMIYA's favor.
After all, this, too, could also be interpreted as a form of saving him; Letting Emiya Shirou die before he had the chance to even consider becoming a Counter-Guardian certainly would qualify as a form of saving him(self).
No, in fact, in a very real sense, beyond the scope of this petty war, perhaps this really was the best and truest form of saving Emiya Shirou, by causing his existence to be ceased before it could reach the point of becoming like him.
Ilya made to leave with Berserker behind her as her shield, in case of any surprise attacks, but she turned around at the last moment.
"Are you really fine this?" She asked curiously, "I won't go easy on you afterwards, if this is a trap or a sneak attack, y'know?"
Archer smirked.
"Go right ahead, princess. I have no intentions of stopping you."
Shirou continued to protest, and used up his third command spell in desperation in the process, but again to no effect, and his voice continued on, ignored by everyone around him.
Ilya found herself amused by the Servant's attitude, in addition to his interesting powers, which by itself would've already been enough to catch her interest.
But to think that he could even ignore command spells, manifest miracles of magecraft that bordered on true magic?
"Say," Ilya asked, playfully, "How would you like to be my Servant, instead? Especially seeing as how your Master is about to become my personal plaything?"
"What?!" Shirou asked, in bewilderment. He hadn't even known it was possible for Servants to switch Masters.
Ilya grinned.
He was certainly an interesting Servant, one that was sure to keep her amused, if somewhat of a wild card. Besides, if she could keep even the legendary and incredibly powerful raging Hercules, as a Berserker, under her control, she could probably easily keep Archer under her control.
She had more than enough command spells to spare, after all.
...And he was the first to call her "princess" in such a long time, and with such a fond voice.
Normally, she would've been put off if just some random stranger had called her that.
But with this Archer, it was somehow different. It felt somehow felt familiar and surprisingly warm.
Archer smiled at that, genuinely, for once.
"Well, as much as I appreciate the offer, I'm afraid to tell you that I'm actually quite satisfied with my current arrangement."
(After all, it was only like this that he would be able to sense if and when Emiya Shirou perished.)
"Archer..." Emiya Shirou said, relieved, still holding out some hope that maybe this was just some type of trap by Archer, to save him later.
"Well," Archer continued, "I'd be glad to take you up on your offer after you're done with my current master, though."
"Archer!" Shirou protested.
Ilya giggled, maliciously.
"I'll hold you to that then."
And just like that, Ilya left. And Archer didn't stop them, even for as much as Shirou called for him.
...
EMIYA spent the next few days at his old home.
He dematerialized whenever his old kouhai and his old homeroom teacher had stopped by (what were their names, again?), but he looked upon their faces with a bit of fond, nostalgic aching.
He eavesdropped occasionally, on their worried conversations on where Shirou had gone, and their increasingly concerned voices. Archer himself of course didn't care much for the topic of the conversation, but took in the sound of their voices again with much fondness.
That's right, "Matou Sakura" and "Fujimura Taiga" had been their names, hadn't it? This was what they looked like, and what they had sounded like. It had been so long that he had forgotten, but even he found his cold heart warmed again a bit, by their presence.
Besides that, he had also occasionally stopped by the shopping district again, looking over the things he had used to buy during his own life, many, many ages ago, and started making some food for himself again. A luxury that he had long been deprived of.
Servants didn't need to eat, especially with Mater's magical energy supply fueling them, and he wasn't any exception to that rule, either, despite not getting any magical energy from his Master-Servant link with Emiya Shirou. But he made the food just to enjoy the taste, anyway.
It had been a very long while since he had enjoyed any food, and he might as well have taken the opportunity while he still had it.
And so, EMIYA spent the next few days nostalgically wandering around the town, and making food for himself.
...
And, all the while,
Shirou was being brutally tortured by Ilya.
...Finally, Shirou's life had gone from weak to non-existent,
And he died.
...
Sensing his Master's death, EMIYA smirked.
And then,
The Whole World started distorting in a vast kaleidoscope of colors, and spiraled in on itself, seemingly endlessly.
Finally,
At long last,
He was free, truly free...
... ... ...
Though, strangely, for some reason, he felt as though he could see the faint outline of a pale Artoria's face, as he started fading away...
Chapter 3 - Suicide (Self-Termination)
END
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Author's Notes:
Shirou is DEAD!
VERY DEAD!
(Even though he's not Lancer!
...Yet...
*coughcoughcough*)
And just like that, Emiya Shirou just DIED!
Dying a very DEADLY DEATH!
...Or did he?
Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z, I mean, EMIYA Shirou's Personal Grail War!
...
I'm actually quite surprised by how many views this got with just its second chapter, interestingly still managing to surpass the Monday and Tuesday stories (King Arthur's Legendary Grail War and The Regal Class Card War) which are both on three chapters, still surpassing them by some margin despite only having had two chapters, and being posted slightly later, on Thursday.
It's very interesting to me, as I would've though that the Class Card War would be the most popular story, especially with its second chapter.
Especially with Class Card's second chapter, which I was especially proud of.
Oh well, I really like this story, too, so, it all works out. I'm just surprised that this one was more popular though.
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Next chapter, a short interlude, and then, the chapter after that will be the main meat of the story (at least, for the early parts of the story).
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Look forward to it!