Flames.

That was all the boy could see.

A field of destroyed buildings surrounded him endlessly.

The smell and burning sensation of ash invade his nostrils.

Cries of children and adults enter his ears.

This is the embodiment of destruction.

There is no other way to describe it.

Wandering with no direction, the boy had fallen down.

All the stamina he had was exhausted.

He has accepted his fate.

The dark sky filled with embers pervaded his eyes.

No emotion showed on his face.

He'll die in this fire just like everyone else, —without knowing why or how this came to happen.

His hand is being held.

A man he's never seen before is holding him.

Despite the hellfire they're currently in, the man was happy.

He showed a smile so bright that the boy wanted to be like him one day.

That night, the boy named Shirou died and at the same time born.


"-Ugh!" Chtholly sounded as she abruptly woke up and sat up on her bed.

Her eyes were dilated and her breathing was rugged. Sweat covered her forehead and tears dripped down from her blue eyes.

'Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.' She thought to herself as her breathing slowed down to normal intervals.

"What was that about?" Chtholly whispered as she wiped her eyes.

She's never had a dream about anything like that. Not even her worst nightmares could come up with something similar to the dream.

That's because these dreams aren't from her, but of the one she held dearly.

She looked around the room. It was still dark, probably somewhere around 2 or 3 a.m.

"Haah…" Sighed Chtholly.

A couple of days passed since Shirou told everyone about himself but she wasn't exactly satisfied with the amount of events and holes that was left out for the children's sake.

Since then, the blue-haired fairy relentlessly pestered the human to tell her more about his past. Eventually, he relented knowing that she would continue to ask him.

Shirou's past wasn't for the mentally weak because there was barely anything good in his life.

His whole entire life, it seemed as if he was always a husk of a person. Like he was a robot built with a single purpose.

To save all even at the risk of himself.

Once in his life, Shirou said there were people around him who made him more human than he ever could be by himself but they too had left him, or rather he left them.

Understanding how important they must've been to him, she looked at him in pity and sorrow.

Chtholly was no stranger to know how it felt to lose those around you but he sheepishly laughed to make it appear as if it was no big deal.

How could he laugh off something that mentally scarred him for life?

Chtholly knew that it was a facade to appear fine and dandy but underneath that laugh was a sad, broken man.

She hated it, that false smile and laugh he always gave them. That distant look as if he was reliving a moment less than positive. It always looked like something was bothering him.

It's disgusting.

Shirou was our caretaker but no one was there to take care of him.

Chtholly can never replace Rin, Sakura, Rider, and Saber but she never intended to in the first place. However, she can't do anything aside from being by his side. Maybe that's all she needed to do.

She would have to fill in the gaps to make him become complete again.

Throwing herself backward on her bed, Chtholly put her arms over her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

Hearing shuffling next to her, she uncovered her eyes and looked over at Ithea's side of the room. Chtholly spotted the orange-haired girl looking at her. She must've accidentally woke her up.

"You're up early." Said Ithea.

"Sorry for waking you up…"

"No worries, but what's wrong?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Really? I don't believe it." Ithea said with suspicion.

Chtholly gulped as Ithea's words caught her red-handed.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine…"

"Eeeh~, I don't know if you realized but you and him are so similar. Always trying to hide from those around you. Never showing or telling us what's wrong. Keeping us at arm's length. Ever since he told you his past, you've been off."

Ithea's words struck her. The orange-haired fairy has always been sharp enough to tell if something was wrong. She must've recognized that Chtholly was acting weird ever since Shirou told her about his past.

She never told them what he told her for various reasons, albeit mostly for a very selfish reason. However, she never thought that she worried them to this extent.

She couldn't refute back because she knew what Ithea said was true. There was nothing worthy she could've said anyway if she had. Instead, she looked away from Ithea in shame.

"…"

"Listen, I don't care that you're the oldest because you're my friend. You can rely on us for your troubles. You don't have to do everything yourself. We're here for you." Ithea said softly as she laid back down on her bed.

Admittedly, Chtholly knew she was hypocritical, she wanted Shirou to open up to them but she herself hadn't done so either. She didn't want to look weak in front of them or the fairy children. Watching Ithea soundly sleeping again, she went to go back to sleep again.

Before Chtholly lost consciousness, she heard light footsteps and someone leaving the room…


"Nnnnm…" Shirou sounded as he sluggishly woke up still half asleep.

He felt his surroundings with his eyes closed. It was definitely still his bed, the covers and the bed felt the same as it has for several weeks. He would normally be awake by this time going on a run but he felt unusually warm. He hasn't felt something like this since his time with Illya. The Snow White princess always wanted to be together with him whenever possible.

Not wanting to move, he pretended to sleep for a little longer, reveling in this mysterious warmth.

'Nostalgic.' He thought to himself.

It wasn't till after Shirou defeated the mad berserker, that Illya opened up to him. Despite her being older than him, she still chose to act like her appearance.

He knew that he didn't have the right to do something like this. Living in the moment with someone he failed. Replacing whomever this was in the bed with him with her. It felt revolting but there was something about this warmth that he wanted to be in.

After a few minutes had passed, he faked waking up. Opening his eyes slowly, the first thing he saw was a blank pair of black eyes boring into his own and scattered gray hair that lined up around her small face with a faint smile on it.

It took Shirou a moment to collect himself fully and realize who was in front of him in his bed.

"Good morning," Nephren said, taking advantage of Shirou's slowness.

"G-Good morning Ren. What are you doing here?" The redhead said sheepishly.

He didn't expect to see her here, especially in his own bed. The man never was as close to Nephren as he was with Chtholly or Ithea.

"Yesterday, you looked off so I came by to check up on you."

"Oh… is that so? How was I?"

"You looked like you were having a bad dream."

Shirou knew that he had frequent nightmares even if he dreamed about good times. They would always end up the same, either in the fire or the cave, but he didn't know that he showed it a lot. The only time someone saw that was Chtholly and Naigrat but the former saw the result of it, not during it.

"Well, I'm fine now but… Why are you in my bed?"

"I thought I could help you so I slept in here with you."

"Thank you for taking care of me, although could you-"

*Bang*

The Manager's Room door slammed open with gust and what appeared from it was a certain frantic blue-haired fairy.

She looked worse than usual. Her face was a mixture of worry and fury. Her hair was untied from its usual pigtails and was a mess while she still wore her wrinkled pajamas.

"R-REN! W-what are you doing in his room!? I've been looking everywhere for you!" She yelled as she pointed at the grayhead.

Nephren slowly twisted around to face her, still in Shirou's grasp.

"Sleeping, obviously."

"I see that! But why are you here instead of our room!?"

"Because I wanted to be."

Shirou couldn't see what expression Nephren had since she was facing away from him but it sounded like she was being a little cheeky.

"W-What kind of reason is that!?"

Before Nephren responded, Shirou spoke up.

"It's okay Chtholly, it's my fault she's here right now. Don't blame her for it."

"B-but…" She stuttered and fumbled her words, trying to figure out what to say. "D-Does that mean that you like Ren more than me!?" She said to the redhead.

Shirou was confused as to how the blue-haired fairy came up with that result.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Nephren said.

"Well, if you snuck into his bed and did you know what before I did, then there's only one possible result!"

"No that's not what happened. You're overreacting Chtholly."

The blue-haired girl paused for a moment to think about it.

"It's not? Then why are you in Shirou's bed?" She said, confused.

"She came in to check on me while I was asleep, I must've pulled her in by accident. Like the time when you were sick." Shirou answered for Nephren.

She seemed to finally comprehend her blunder and what the redhead had said. It would make sense for that to happen if it already happened once before.

"Is that so… Sorry… I thought it was something worse, I'm glad." Chtholly said with a hand over her chest as she let out a huff in relief. "W-Well, let's hurry up and get ready Ren."

"Nn." Nephren nodded as she escaped from Shirou's grasp and walked towards the exit where Chtholly stood.

"Don't hesitate to come to me if you ever need help again." She said while she turned around to look at Shirou. "See you later." She said with a wave.

"M-Me too, Shirou!" Chtholly said, trying to one-up Nephren.

They had already left his sight before he could say anything.

During the two older fairies' absence, a couple of mismatched mops of hair could be seen peeking through the door. Shirou guessed that Chtholly's loud misunderstanding woke them up earlier than they usually wake up in the morning.

"Hey, isn't this like what happened in The Torn Triangle?" Lakhesh said.

"Oh, it is! So this is what it's like to see a love triangle." Tiat said.

"Do your best Chtholly!"

"You got this Nephren!"

They yelled down the hall, hoping the two older fairies heard them.

"Mr. Shirou, what are your thoughts on this situation?" Panival said as if she was interviewing him.

"That's right, what do you think?" Collon said.

Shirou didn't really know what to say. If he said that he favored one over the other then it would spread like a disease and be overexaggerated. Children liked to gossip after all, and the two subjects would eventually know with a few extra details that he didn't even say.

"Umm… I'm not sure?" The redhead said while he looked away, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

Their faces instantly turned into a deadpan expression.

He knew that they wouldn't be satisfied with his answer but this was probably the best answer he could give them without consequences.

"Are you serious?" Said Tiat.

"Maybe he's the dense type?" Said Lakhesh.

"Umu," Panival nodded with her eyes closed. "That would make the most sense."

"Well, we have a duty to do then! Operation Aware is a go!" Said Collon.

"Alright! Let's go!" The other three exclaimed.

They all scattered away in different directions. Not long after, blurs of orange and green ran past the door again to meet with the other two that went the opposite way.

"Wait up!" "Wait for us!" Shirou heard them yell while running down the hall.

The red-haired man chuckled at their actions. Ever since he came here, most of the time was filled with antics like this. There was always something happening, whether it was fun, mundane, or dangerous.


"Haah…" Shirou sighed as he went to wash off the sweat and grime that accumulated on his person after exercising.

As he unwrapped the bandages around his arms, he got a good look at how they were doing.

His injuries weren't bad but it wasn't ideal to have especially whenever he relied on his hands more than anything else. The burns he'd gotten were slowly returning to their former state, it would at most take a couple of days to completely heal again.

The pain brought back less than fond memories of the tan servant's arm. Although Shirou didn't have the Heroic Spirit's arm attached to him physically anymore, he could still remember the agony of having such a thing connected to him.

Shaking his head, Shirou finished cleaning himself and quickly rebandaged his arms then put on his military uniform and exited the bathroom.

Looking around, there was no hint of any of the children anywhere. However, he did see a large cardboard box that was out of place though. It was flipped over upside down with its flaps open and looked like something that would've been filled with produce if it was at a store.

The scene reminded him of those stealth games that Taiga had once played but then shortly gave up because it was too hard for her.

Walking up to the box, Shirou flipped it over and a pack of children was revealed from underneath.

"Wah!" Said a surprised Tiat.

"How did he know!? It should've worked flawlessly!" Collon exclaimed.

"Eh-!" Lakhesh sounded in astonishment.

"Yo, strange to meet you here," Panival said coolly with a wave.

"What are you guys doing inside a box?"

The kids looked at each other before setting their eyes on him again.

"Uhh… We were playing hide and seek. Yeah, that's what we were doing!" Tiat said suspiciously while nodding in affirmation.

Shirou crossed his arms and looked at them deadpanned.

"Out in the middle of the hall right outside the bathroom in a very conspicuous box?"

"Mhm! That's right!" Collon tried to say convincingly.

"Hmm? Is that so? Who're you hiding from?"

"A-ah… You! We were hiding from you!"

"Me? Why? I didn't agree to play with you yet."

Shirou smirked for a moment then wiped it off. He realized that he started to pick up some of "his" habits.

The fairies looked at him puzzled but then remembered that they hadn't answered his question.

"Umm, we thought that we could watch you from afar without you noticing," Lakhesh said nervously while touching her index fingers together.

"Lakhesh! You weren't supposed to tell him that." Said Collon.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine Collon, I'll let you keep watching me and I'll act like I don't notice you. How's that?"

"No, even though we were found sooner than expected, we'll move on to step two! Move out!"

At Collon's words they moved again once more but this time they ran together in the same direction, unlike the first time.

Shirou watched them run down the hall but they disappeared from his sight by the time he tried to remind them to slow down.

He was confused about what they were doing but paid it no mind as long as it posed no danger to them.

Picking up the box they left behind, Shirou went towards the recycling bin to dispose of it.

'Where did they find this box anyway?' He thought.

He was sure that he threw away and recycled items that weren't needed in the warehouse.

It was far too big for him to not notice it at all, so he should've seen it somewhere.

When Shirou reached out for the doorknob, it twisted and opened before he could touch it.

In front of him now were a pair of fairy soldiers judging by their unnatural hair color and the humongous Carillons on their backs.

One of them had indigo hair with straight bangs, blue eyes, and wore a blue dress with black knee-high boots, and also had a brown bag around her torso. While the other had short tomboyish red hair and eyes, but wore a brown shirt and pants with red overalls on top with the bottom half of it cut off.

Shirou recognized the duo but never met them in person. Naigrat had given him their profiles a while back when he first started.

The blue-haired one is Rhantolk Ytri Historia and the redhead is Nopht Keh Desperatio.

They were both 14 and were assigned to the Surface Artifacts Recovery Team instead of the main Sky Island Defense Force that the other fairy soldiers were in.

It seemed that they returned sooner than he thought. Way sooner, if he had to be honest.

From what Naigrat had said, they were supposed to come back in about 3-4 weeks. But Shirou wasn't complaining, the sooner they were home, the better. Although he didn't get the chance to know them like the rest of the fairies, he still wouldn't want them to get hurt.

The both of them looked at him in surprise then in wariness and caution. They caught on that he was an outsider, someone who wasn't here when they were. A stranger that could've done something bad to the fairies.

The two reached for the 'dug weapons' on their backs and pointed them at him.

"Who are you!? Why are you here!?" Said Nopht.

Shirou kept his demeanor at the threat and dropped the box to raise his hands passively.

"I'm the new Second Enchanted Weapons Technician." He said calmly.

"Lies! The Second Enchanted Weapons Technicians never stayed at the warehouse! I'll say it again, who are you!?"

They had the right to be suspicious of him because they never knew about him.

"I'm telling you that I'm the Second Enchanted Weapons Technician."

"What do you gain for ly-"

"N-Noft! Rhantolk! W-What are you guys doing!?" Shirou heard Chtholly say behind him.

"Chtholly? We're apprehending this markless man obviously."

"W-what!? No, you can't!"

"Why not?" Rhantolk said.

"B-Because he's important to us now," Chtholly said in the spur of the moment.

"Has he brainwashed you? Don't worry Chtholly! We'll free you from this pervert!" Said Nopht as she swung Desperatio at Shirou with the flat of the blade.

It only had enough force to knock him out but it was best if he didn't get injured at all.

Reflexively, Shirou reinforced his right arm and reached it to catch the blade but a certain blue-haired fairy jumped in front of him.

"NO!" Chtholly yelled.

Just in time before the Carillon smacked Chtholly, Nopht changed the direction of its trajectory.

"Move! It's for the better! Chtholly!"

"No! You can't hurt him!"

"What's going on here?"

Everyone stopped at the tone of the familiar voice and looked behind him.

The red-haired troll stood there menacingly with a friendly smile. Shirou had only seen her look this way once before and that's because he was being very adamant during his recovery phase. It wasn't a very nice experience that he would want to be in again. Thankfully though, it didn't seem that he was her focus this time.

""Naigrat…"" Nopht and Chtholly said nervously at the same time.

"What do you guys think you're doing?"

"Umm… We were handling this pervert that brainwashed Chtholly!"

"Pervert? Oh you mean the man that saved her life?"

The newcomers looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?" Asked Rhantolk.

"Do you remember the Timerre attack that was supposed to happen a couple of days prior?"

"Of course, Chtho-" The indigo-haired fairy stopped when she realized that someone was still here who wasn't supposed to be.

"Have you finally caught on?"

Rhantolk nodded while Nopht was still figuring it out on her own.

Seconds passed by before a loud sound erupted from the mouth of the red-haired fairy.

"Ehhh! Chtholly! Why are you still here!?" Nopht yelled as her eyes widened when she noticed.

"We'll get to that later, for now just put your weapons down and come inside. The children are probably scared right now."

The girls' faces soured when they remembered that they weren't the only ones there. Reluctantly, the two did what they were told to do and followed Naigrat.

"But… What about him?" The indigo-haired girl said pointing at Shirou.

"He's harmless, at least to you girls." Said Naigrat.

"Is that so?" She said skeptically.

"Yes, now let's continue on shall we?"

Naigrat left them behind without getting a response back. The four of them followed her but Rhantolk and Nopht were still quite suspicious about him, so they were behind Shirou watching his every move.

It was quite awkward if he had to say so himself. He couldn't do anything around them or it may set them off unintentionally.

Shirou turned his head and briefly looked at the two teenagers behind him. Their eyes bore into his own with contempt.

"..."

"..."

"Hello." He said with an awkward smile in an attempt to be more friendly with them.

"..."

They didn't say anything but rather just kept staring at him.

Even though their destination wasn't that far from the entrance, it sure felt like an eternity.

Shirou sighed as he turned his head back forward and noticed that Chtholly was slowing down to match his pace.

"Don't mind them Shirou, it just takes a little bit of time. They'll get used to you sooner or later." Chtholly said while taking his arm into her own.

Shirou nodded instead of saying anything and reluctantly looked behind him again to see them become seemingly more agitated.

Finally reaching the living room of the warehouse, they all sat opposite each other. Shirou, Chtholly, and Naigrat sat on one side, while the other two fairies sat across from them.

"So, why is this man here?" Said Rhantolk while eyeing him.

"While you were away, Shirou here got hired as the Second Enchanted Weapons Technician." Said Naigrat as she pointed at the male redhead.

"So it is true... But why is he living here instead of being like all the others before?"

"He simply chose to. That's all there is to it."

"Then what did you mean earlier? That he saved Chtholly I mean."

"Shirou defeated the Timerre in place of her."

They were flabbergasted by what Naigrat had said.

'How did a guy like this manage to defeat a Timerre that required a fairy to open the gate to die? He doesn't even look that powerful and he probably can't even use the 'dug weapons'.' They probably thought.

It was fair, he was just a markless person who was more fit than most of the people in Regul Aire but that was about it. Nothing stood out other than his hair and eyes but good what would those do against a 'beast'?

"How!?" Exclaimed Nopht as she stood up and slammed her palms against the table.

Instead of Naigrat, Chtholly spoke up and answered it for her.

"He used a bow and arrow to kill it."

"Haah! Are you kidding!? There's no way something that old-fashioned could kill something like that!"

It was ironic because they also used something old-fashioned to kill the beasts.

"It's true. If you were there too, you wouldn't believe it either until the 'beast' had already died."

"Where's this bow and arrow at? I don't believe something like that can exist." Said Rhantolk.

"That's because it doesn't, not anymore," Shirou said.

"What do you mean? How could it not exist when it hasn't even been longer than a day?"

That's right, they still thought that the Timerre attack happened at the same time it was predicted to show up. The two didn't know that it came earlier than expected.

"The Timerre attack happened about two days ago but I can't tell you because it's complicated." He said.

"Are you just lying to us?"

"He isn't, Ren and Ithea were there also. They can tell you the same thing." Said Chtholly.

Their faces soured presumably because they knew that Nephren and Ithea would tell the truth, especially the former.

"Fine… Thank you…" Rhantolk reluctantly said as they both stood up and bowed.

"It's nothing. Don't think too much of it." Shirou said as he smiled.

"It's not nothing. You have my greatest gratitude." She said as they stood back straight up.

"Hey Shirou, do you want to tell them too?" Chtholly whispered into his ear.

"Yeah, they are also residents of this place." He whispered back to her. "Nopht, Rhantolk, even though I just met you, I will tell you the same thing I told everyone else the day prior. I'm a human, or the last Enmentwyte."

They looked at him in deprecation and like he was crazy but before they could say anything, Shirou projected a simple kitchen knife, the same one from before in fact.

At the prospect of something just appearing before them out of thin air, they were speechless. They were staring at the knife as if it were something out of this world.

"Ho-"

"It's something only I can do." Shirou interrupted, already knowing what they were going to ask.

"Do you understand why I said it doesn't exist anymore now?"

Nopht and Rhantolk nodded as they sat back down.

The two were displeased, especially Rhatolk, with the explanation but it would be enough.

"Enough about Shirou, I'm glad you're back but why are you here earlier than you were supposed to?" Questioned Naigrat.

"We don't know exactly why, all we heard was that the commander of the cargo ship was ordered to come back." Nopht said as she shrugged.

"Well whatever, as long as you guys are back. Now then, let's go get you guys settled down."

That's right, this morning has been so hectic that he hasn't been able to make breakfast yet for everyone.

"I'll make breakfast, why don't you and the other girls catch up as well?" Shirou said as he stood up from his seat and started walking to the kitchen.

"Haha, even though you make it every day, thank you anyway." Said Chtholly with a smile.

"What happened to meal duty?" Asked Rhantolk.

"About that.."

Shirou had already left the vicinity to be able to hear the rest of what Chtholly was saying but when he looked right around the corner, he saw everyone else in the household looking nervous and worried aside from Ithea and Nephren.

"Hello." Said Nephren with a small wave.

"Hey Ren, what are you guys doing here?"

"Tiat told us about what was happening and came over just in case something happened, Nopht and Rhantolk can be a bit aggressive. We told the kids to play elsewhere with Tiat in charge to watch over but they wished to stay nonetheless." Said Ithea.

"Umu, since that's over though, we can continue our plan as soon as you're done making breakfast!" Exclaimed Tiat.

She was sure happy about being able to continue on their plan that he still wasn't even sure what it was about.

"Yeah, I'll get to making it."

It was back to a normal routine with hopefully nothing else bothering him or making him get sidetracked.

He donned his personal apron and began making the most important meal of the day.

This time, he decided to make something that was more traditional to him. Miso soup, steamed rice, grilled fish, vegetables, and tamagoyaki, or rather egg omelets.

Hopefully, the kids would like this as well as the other foods he cooked before.

Everyone including the newcomers sat in the dining room and started to eat their fill.

The children did seem to enjoy it for the most part with a few exceptions being those that didn't really like fish. However, all the grownups sat together with Naigrat, Chtholly, and Shirou next to each other while Nopht, Rhantolk, Nephren, and Ithea sat opposite of them.

Unlike Nopht and Ithea, who were eating their food voraciously, Rhantolk was reluctant to try it.

"What's wrong? Do you not like what I made? If so, I'm sorry, I'll go make something else afterward." Shirou said when he noticed that Rhantolk hadn't touched her food yet.

"No, it's nothing like that but I just don't completely trust you yet, I'm sorry." Said Rhantolk looking down at her breakfast.

"Don't be, trust isn't given, it's earned. I know we just met, but could you trust me this one time and eat your food?"

"Fine, just this once." She said as she picked up the fork and stabbed it into an omelet.

She ate it like a child would when they tried something new. She hesitated to eat the new food, chewing slowly, trying to get a taste, and swallowing it with a quiet gulp.

"How is it?"

"It's… Alright, I guess."

"Don't lie to yourshelf Rhantolk! Thish ish the best thing we've ever eaten!" Nopht said as she swallowed down the food on her plate.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Nopht."

"Yesh Ma'am!" She said carelessly as she stuffed more food into her mouth.

Rhantolk sighed at her partner's manners and continued eating.


Yo! It's been a while! Well, that would be a big understatement but I digress.

Sorry about my absence, I've been off this site for a while and I lost the motivation to continue writing back then but I've been wanting to come back to this story to continue it. No promises though.

This chapter is just for me to slowly ease back into writing. Although I don't remember where I wanted to go with this story, I'll make it through. I may even take ideas from one of you.

I think I'll redo/edit the previous chapters as I am dissatisfied with them.

Thanks for reading!