Author's note: It will likely take me longer to publish from this point forward. A month per chapter at most. I want to write this story as best I can. Thank you for your views and comments.

As soon as the body transfer was successful, Kiritsugu enrolled Illya in Homurahara Elementary school. He knew he wasn't the father of the year material, and there wasn't much he taught her as a magus. For now, giving her to have at least some semblance of a peaceful life was the best he could do for her.

The kids do the same thing almost every morning. Damian and Shirou would wake up early. Do some warm-up exercises. Practice their respective magecraft. Then Illya would wake up just in time to enjoy breakfast and lunch boxes Shirou bade for everyone. Then walk to school. Sakura would often meet Illya on the way and walk to school with her.

"I'll be escorting Sakura to class. See you guys later." Illya waved goodbye while Sakura bowed when they arrived on the school grounds.

"Those two have gotten pretty close, haven't they?" Damian says as soon as they are out of earshot. He was now one-hundred percent sure that he created an 'Illya x Sakura' route.

"Yeah, I'm really glad Illya made a friend" Shirou smiled in relief. Kiritsugu decided to put Illya in the same year as Shirou, despite being eligible to be a year ahead to prevent his daughter from being alone if she didn't fit in with the other students. He was glad that his father's worries were unfounded.

A couple of months ago, on Illya's first day of school.

Illyasviel Von Emiya was very excited to start elementary school. Based on what her father told her, school is the best place in the world. She would learn new things make new friends, and it would make her grow into a refined woman like her mama.

Or so she thought until she went there, and the cold and harsh reality ruined her dreams. On her first day, she had to sit through long and tedious speeches before any actual teachings started. The other students kept giving her weird looks and whispered behind her back. The school's education seemed to be a level below her Einzbern homeschooling. The other students struggled with problems and equations that were trivial for her.

And the worst part is, no one seemed to appreciate her help. Every time she offered to teach a fellow student, they either accused her of being an obnoxious know-it-all or tried to pawn off their work on her. When she dared to correct a teacher when they made a mistake, she was put in detention for 'disrupting the class.' It certainly didn't help that everyone giggled and pointed fingers behind her back when it happened.

'The school is a lie! Everyone is a stupid jerk. Even the Einzberns weren't so… wait, no. The Einzberns was still a hundred times worst. But the school still sucked, though.' Illya inwardly grumbled as she walked across the hallway after class.

She could only look forward to playing with her brothers during recess. The weirdest thing about this whole experience was the pair of eyes that she felt on her back throughout the day. At first, she assumed it was just another student giving her weird looks. But then, she felt those same eyes on her back and even footsteps following her during recess, between classes, and even now, after school.

'Wow, it's only my first day, and I already got a stalker. Maybe Papa wasn't being paranoid after all.' Rather than getting scared, a wide, mischievous grin formed on Illya's face.

Her father had constantly been fussing over her after her body transfer. As if he thought that her new body would fail at any moment. Despite her constant assurance that she felt fine, better than fine, that she's as strong as an adult, Kiritsugu wouldn't leave her alone for more than an hour. She even tried to princess carry him to prove her point which only made him freak out. His attention and worry made her equally happy and annoyed.

She'll show him. Now that she's got a new, stronger body, she'll show him that she is not the same helpless princess that he rescued from the Castle. This time, Illyasviel Von Emiya can take care of herself.

She quickly hid behind a corner of the hallway, barely holding back a snicker, when she heard her would-be stalker gasp in surprise as the familiar footstep hurriedly rushed in her direction. Unbeknownst to her, the one following/stalking her was the same purple-haired girl she rescued from bullies two years ago.

This morning, Sakura caught sight of her. Upon seeing Illya, Sakura had a feeling she couldn't begin to describe washed over her chest. She wanted to greet her, to say good morning, to say anything. But her voice was stuck in her throat by her nervousness. So, she kept shyly following/stalking her between classes while telling herself that any second now, she'd greet her like a normal person as soon as she could think of what to say, which would have gone on for weeks if Illya hadn't noticed her.

"Gotcha!"

"Kya!"

As soon as Sakura reached the corner Illya was hiding behind, Illya tackled her assumed stalker to the ground.

"Hah! I got you now, you… wait… You're,"

"I-I-I… Illyasviel!" Sakura studders in shock as the girl she longed to talk to all day was suddenly straddling on her waist, pinning her hands to the floor, and their hairs intertwine as her face comes barely a few centimeters apart from hers.

Despite their age, their position would look quite scandalous to anyone looking at them.

"Sakura? Is that you? Have you been following me?" Illya asked.

"I…Uh. Well… It's just. Um…"

Sakura fumbled with her words, incapable of spelling a complete sentence. Illya's face was her whole world right now. Ever since she met her, she couldn't stop thinking about her. The things she said and did that day brought her a sense of peace and comfort that she had forgotten after being adopted by the Matou. She was thrilled when she found out that Illya would be going to the same school as her because it meant that she'd get to see her again, to feel that feeling of peace and comfort again. Of course, Sakura was nowhere near brave enough to say that to her face, so she kept stuttering and looking in every direction like a cornered animal.

"Sakura?"

"I… senpai. C-could you please get off me? It-it's hard to talk to you when were this c-close." Sakura barely manages to finish this sentence only after closing her eyes and facing away.

"Oh ooh." Illya quickly realized the compromising position and quickly got off her and looked around, making sure there were no witnesses to silence.

"Are you okay?" Illya offers her a hand.

"y-yes. I'm fine." Sakura hesitantly takes her hand and gets back up.

"Good. Sorry for tackling you, Sakura. You caught me in a bad mood, and I tend to get a little jumpy when I'm being followed… also, why were you following me?"

"Well… you see…." Sakura slowly starts. This is not how she imagined greeting her.

"I'm sorry. It's just… that day when we first met. When you invited me to eat with your family, that was… new to me."

'I didn't invite you so much as kidnapped you, but okay.' Illya thought.

"And the things you said. It left a deep impact on me. I… I never felt this way before." Sakura continued. "I haven't been seen you much since then, so when I found out you're a student here, I was happy because that means I'll get to see you every day. I wanted to greet you since this morning, but… umm," Sakura trailed off.

At those words, Illya felt guilty. She was right. They didn't spend as much time together as they should have these past two years. She'd like to blame it on her previous body needing to sleep at least half the day or Damian's insistence on practicing magecraft as much as they could, but that is just a self-satisfying excuse. It's her fault for never bothering to make time for her friend.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Illya bowed her head in apology. "I should have made more time for you. I've been a terrible friend."

"Senpai, it's okay. I don't want to be a bother, so there is no need to apologize to someone like me."

"You are definitely not a bother, and I do need to apologize." Illya raises her head and looks her directly in her eyes, "Sakura, instead of stalking me around from the shadows, could we please spend more time together? Just like before? It's my first day here, and I don't get along with the other students. I could really use a friend."

Sakura felt her heart swell at her request. From their first meeting, she could tell that Illya truly understood her, that she felt loneliness and despair just like her but has somehow moved past it. In her mind, she knew her torment would continue for years to come, but at least she could find a small ray of comfort in Illya's smile and optimism.

"O-Of course Senpai, if you'll have me, I-I would like that," Sakura smiles warmly.

"Great! Let's go home together. We're going to make up for a lost time, so feel free to talk about whatever you want."

"Thank you, Sen-," Sakura tried to say before Illya cut her short.

"And stop calling me senpai! I don't like it. Just call me Illyasviel or Illya."

Back to the present

"They're very good friends. What else is there to think about?"

"Shirou. Do you think they're in a relationship?" Damian asked.

"What? What gave you that idea?"

Damian looked around before answering. He tells him that they've been practically joined at the hip since they first met at school. He's seen them walk home together. Often while holding hands.

"No, I think you're exaggerating. It's only natural for good friends to spend a lot of time together. Besides, I think it's too early for… for something like that to happen." Shirou corrected him. He was happy for his older sister, but he'd have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to notice how close she and Sakura are. And they weren't going to be kids for much longer.

"Yeah… maybe you're right." Damian sigh. After being reborn in the Nasuverse, he decided to do everything he could to prepare for the war and reach the best outcome. So far, things are going well. Illya got her a new body, and Shirou is already a better magus than he would have been at the start of the war. But now, he was starting to have second thoughts.

By getting Illya a new body, they freed Illya from being the lesser grail, leaving Sakura as the sole lesser grail. Someone else will likely become the berserker's master. He had no way to predict who that would be. Also, he had a gut feeling that Destroying the Einzbern would bite him in the ass somehow.

Damian quickly shook those thought out of his head. What's done is done. He's come this far. He might as well see it through.

"Never mind, see you after school, Shirou."

Emiya Household

That night. Kiritsugu was deeply pondering about the holy grail war. The fourth holy grail war he fought in the hopes to create a world without violence, the holy grail's corruption, the war he failed to stop, the war that his children will be dragged into. Since he got his daughter back, he did everything he could to make she could have a peaceful quiet life.

From the destruction of the Einzberns to getting Illya a new body and enrolling her in elementary school. It was all to preserve her safety and happiness. But now, that damn war will start again, threatening everything he worked so hard for. What frustrated him the most was that he could do nothing about it. He had no way to stop the war before it started, nor will he live to see it.

'I can't delay this any longer. I hoped to keep them out of this life, but they need to know everything if I want them to survive this war. More than that. They deserve to know everything.' Kiritsugu thought as he headed to the toolshed where the kids trained almost every night.

Although they never talk about it, Kiritsugu knew Damian was teaching Shirou and Illya magecraft. He would have liked to have stopped them. To tell them to forget about magecraft and live a peaceful life. But would have only endangered them.

He stood in the front door of the toolshed and placed his hand on the handle.

Kiritsugu was still hesitant. Every fiber of his being wanted to turn around and forget about war and everything else. The past two years he spent with his family was the happiest time of his life, and he knew that those peaceful, carefree days would end once he opened that door.

'This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.' he tightened his grip on the handle. 'But I have to do this. I have to do everything I can to prepare them for the war I couldn't stop.' He opens the door and walks inside

"Kids, sorry to interrupt, but we need-," Kiritsugu chokes on his words upon seeing the state of his toolshed. He thought he was prepared for anything when he walked in. But nothing, not even all his experience as a magus killer or the holy grail war, could prepare him for the utter horror he just walked into.

The interior walls of the toolshed were coated with steel blades of every kind imaginable. Swords, scythes, daggers, arrows, spears, battle-axes, and other sharp and pointy objects he couldn't or even wanted to identify. Gone were the random junk that cluttered the toolshed floor, replaced by a vast assortment of deadly medieval weaponry, all embedded on the floor into what resembles a sea of metal murder. Blades pointed downwards hung loosely from the ceiling like silver chandeliers of gleaming death, as if ready and eager to split the heads of the poor fools who would dare stand directly below them.

And the black icing on this cake of violence is the exhibit of a human anatomy atlas standing between the three kids, complete with sticky notes on how to immobilize or bleed out a human with a few wounds as possible. Notes include 'cut the tendons right here,' 'use the pommel on the lower jaw,' 'always go for the wrist and the throat,' and 'a dagger a day will keep the bad guys away.'

For a moment, Kiritsugu thought that he somehow stumbled into a basement of a medieval mass-murdering sociopath.

"Oh. Hi dad. Did you need help with something?" Shirou asks while panting and sweating. He's leaning on one of the swords embedded on the floor, looking as pale as a kid with cancer.

"Good evening, old man. Have you finally decided to join us in our endeavor?" Damian sports his demonic grin while embedding another sword to the floor.

"Papa. Play with us. You like weapons, right? We have blades. So. Many. Blades." Illya giggles maniacally while gently caressing a scythe as if it was her firstborn child.

At this point, he wanted nothing more than to get his kids out of the shed, torch the house to the ground, and move to a remote and isolated village somewhere very far away.

The holy grail war be damned.

The few times Kiritsugu saw them practice magecraft, Damian was mostly teaching them magical theory, so it took the kids some time to explain Shirou's unique magecraft and that they were NOT becoming medieval mass murderers. Kiritsugu listens to it all with a migraine building in his skull.

"So, to recap, Shirou's element and origins are both swords," Kiritsugu asks.

"Yes," Shirou answers.

"And not only can he make near-perfect copies of any bladed weapons on sight through projection magecraft, but they can also last for hours if not days," Kiritsugu's migraine intensifies.

"Yeah, and they are not fragile or hollow shells. They're real swords." Illya replies while using healing magecraft on Shirou to help him recover.

"And that not all. He can also mystic codes as well," Damian explains that by inscribing his runes into swords for Shirou to copy and project, he can cast spells that he usually couldn't on his own.

"That's… That's just absurd." Kiritsugu rebukes. It's not that he didn't believe them but that he found Shirou's magecraft to be as ridiculous as it is incredible.

"It's true! Show him Onii-Chan!" Illya ordered

"Okay. Trace on!" A brief blue light flashed in Shirou's extended hand before replacing it with a short sword with an inscription written on the side of the blade.

Once Shirou ran prana through the sword, the inscription glowed red, and flames emerged from the edge of the blade.

There's a reason why Damian taught Shirou everything he knew about runecraft, knowing full well that Shirou can't do anything other than reinforcement and projection. Runes were basically simplified magic crests that any magus could activate by simply passing mana through them. Shirou may never be able to cast runecraft, but that didn't mean he couldn't use them either.

Kiritsugu could scarcely believe his eyes. A magus that could make near-perfect copies of any mystic codes through projection was utterly unheard of. He might even be able to project noble phantasms.

"Then, can I assume all of these weapons are your projections?" Kiritsugu pointed at all the weapons surrounding them.

"Not all. Most are just alterations of the junk lying around the toolshed. I'm rather good at turning things into weapons too." Shirou replies

Shirou proves this by dismissing the weapons he projected. Roughly a third of the swords in the room disappear. The toolshed looks a lot less like a slaughterhouse now. Kiritsugu stayed silent for a moment to ponder the implication of Shirou's magecraft.

"Is that why you three wanted me to take you to that museum?" Kiritsugu asks.

"Of course, it is. Why else would we want to go there? To learn history?" Damian scoffed at the magus killer's naivety.

"Well, I did, and I hated it. I analyzed the history of every blade in that museum, and all of them were just art pieces that no one ever used! Some of them were even fakes!" Shirou felt oddly angry on the swords' behalf. The thought that such masterfully crafted tools of war had been reduced to mere decorations filled him with a sense of pity and righteous indignation.

"Yeah. I know. It was stupid to hope they might have a noble phantasm or legendary blades of a master swordsman that you could try to project, but hope dies last." Damian laments. If even one of them were used by a skilled wielder, Shirou could learn their techniques. But as Shirou said, those weapons were nothing more than paintings on a wall.

"I didn't care about the museum, but I liked the gift shop," Illya interjected, trying to lighten the mood.

Kiritsugu chuckled, feeling as if he's been manipulated, by his own children, no less. He took them to that museum for their enjoyment, not further their research. But what right did he have to complain?

He thought back to when Damian broke through the Einzbern bounded field in minutes when it would have taken him hours in his prime. When fought alongside him. In insight, he knew that if he hadn't taken Damian with him, he would have never gotten past that bounded field, and even if he could, Atch would have likely killed him along with Illya.

"Dad? Is there something wrong?" Shirou worriedly asked when Kiritsugu frowned in silence.

He looked at Shirou, Damian, and Illya. He looks at them with hope. They're so young yet already have so much potential. He felt a great burden lift from his shoulders because he now knew that there was no need to worry about them after all. They'll become better magus and people than he could ever be.

"Nothing wrong, Shirou. It's just… There is something you all need to know."

And thus, Kiritsugu told them almost everything about his past. About his childhood, how he became known as the magus killer. About Irisviel and what he knew about the holy grail war. He told them about the curse that the grail inflicted upon him after rejecting it when he realized that it was corrupt and that he forced his servant, King Arthur, to destroy the holy grail, causing the fire that destroyed a large part of Shinto.

He left out last names and many facts about his past and the fourth holy war, and he didn't mention Maiya for obvious reasons but gave kids a clear picture of who he was, what he's done, and why he's done so.

"You're going to die!?" Illya shrieked in horror. Her mind refused to focus on anything he said aside from her father's imminent demise.

"Yeah." Kiritsugu nodded, "I'd say I have about two, maybe three years at best."

"There must be something we can do!" Shirou cried.

"There isn't," Kiritsugu replied with a calm expression.

Damian said nothing, He already knew what would happen, and he knew there was nothing he could say that would help.

"It can't be. There must be something… The sheath! Yeah. You use king Arthur's sheath to save me, right? So-." Shirou said

"It won't help," Kiritsugu dismissed the idea before it could take form. "The Sheath only works with when King Arthur is nearby. It barely had enough energy to save your life soon after my servant vanished."

"Even if the Sheath were at full power, it would only delay the inevitable. The only thing that could get rid of the curse would be the grail itself or something just as powerful."

"We can get another body just like me." Illya countered, desperately trying to find a solution to save her father, no matter how farfetched.

"Even if we could afford it, which we can't, that won't work either. The curse is affecting my soul as well as my body. That is how my magic circuits were destroyed."

"But we could at least try!" Shirou tried to argue.

"Like I said, getting a functional puppet body is extremely expensive. How did you think I paid for Illya's?"

Their father's question froze them in place. Indeed, creating a puppet body, especially a high-functioning one like Illya's, was incredibly difficult. So naturally, it would be just as expensive, and they knew it. Despite being amateurs, both Shirou and Illya knew it from the beginning. But they never asked what it cost him. On the contrary, they did their best not to think about it. They wanted to enjoy the illusion that nothing could go wrong and that what they had would last forever.

Illya tried to argue, but she had no arguments left. There was nothing left to say. There was nothing they could do. Her father would die, and they could do nothing about it.

Pain, sadness, and anger ravaged their heart, fighting for dominance until she couldn't keep herself together and started to cry, and so did Shirou. they barely noticed their father wrapping his arms around them.

Damian stood silent. He knew there was nothing he could say that could help them.

"Illya. Shirou. It's okay. There's no need to cry for someone like me."

"How can you say that?!" Illya yelled through angry tears. "I just got you back! I don't want to lose you again!"

"I'm sorry, Illya, I really am, but this is probably the best ending possible for someone like me. Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to you. I killed countless people believing that. For every one person I killed, I saved ten. For every ten, I saved hundreds and so on. I killed and killed and killed. I killed so many, all while deluding myself that it would somehow make the world a better place."

"Dad."

"I've always believed that there all life is equal, that the path that leads to the smallest sacrifice was best. That killing a few was fine if it meant saving many. In a way, I still do. But there's something important that I failed to realize until it was too late. It was only after losing your mother and almost losing you, Illya." Kiritsugu looks fondly at his daughter, then looks at his sons.

"And all the time we spent together, living as a family, that I realized that even if you save the world, it's the people in it that make the world worth living in."

"Heh. It was so obvious, something that even toddlers would know, but I was too much of a cold-blooded machine to realize that for every life I took, someone was suffering from pain and loss. That for every life I saved, I condemned them to a life of grieving. I sought to be a hero of justice, but in the end, all I have on my hands is blood. My actions haven't brought a single smile." Kiritsugu chuckled in self-derision.

"That's not true!" Illya tearfully rebukes her father while hugging him with all of her might, "You've made momma smile! You made us smile. You saved me from the Einzbern and gave me a new body. You only fought to make the world a happy place. You didn't do anything wrong!"

"That right!" Shirou hugged him too. "You wanted to save everyone. To be of service for the sake of others. There's no way that can be wrong! Even if it's not always possible, the idea of living for the sake of others is beautiful in its own way."

"I'm not going to comment on how you lived your life." Damian walked closer to them but didn't join the group hug. "But if you hadn't destroyed that grail, someone else would have made a stupid wish on that accursed thing and would likely have destroyed the world anyway. As far as I'm concerned, you did save people. Me and Shirou included."

It took every ounce of his willpower not to bawl his eye out at those words. He didn't believe a monster like him deserved their forgiveness. He ruined countless lives, endangered the lives of his children, and only received love and affection in return.

"Thank you. All of you. Your words mean more to me than I can ever express. You three gave me hope when I had nothing but despair, and I regret more than anything that I can't give much in return. You all have a difficult life ahead of you, not only as mages or as future participants of the holy grail war but also as my children. There's bound to be some who have a grudge against me and will want to take it out on you. I can't help you with any of that. You'll have to deal with my burdens yourselves."

"Don't worry, dad." Shirou lets go of his father and stares at him with eyes filled with determination, "if you can't do it, then I'll do it for you."

'Ah shit, here we go again.' Damian thought.

"I will be a hero in your place." Shirou declared.

'Sigh, I guess some things will never change no matter how much I mess with the timeline. At least he'll be a competent magus this time. And it will be up to Illya and me to look out for,'

"I'll be a hero too!" Illya broke Damian's trail of thought.

'Wait. What?'

"We'll finish what you started, papa. Were going out put an end to the holy grail once and for all."

'Oh, come on! One suicidal hero of justice is already hard to manage. But two? And now, they're both looking at me as if it's my turn to say that I'll be a hero.' Damian inwardly griped.

"I'm not the hero of justice type, but I will keep our family safe. Don't worry, old man. I'll be sure to look after those two to make sure they don't get themselves killed, or worse, end up like you." Damian actually said.

Kiritsugu laughed heartily at Damian's snarky remark, laughed like he hadn't since his childhood. "Yeah, I'm relieved."

It's been two years since that night, and Shirou, Damian, and Illya's magecraft have significantly improved by Leaps and bounds. Kiritsugu has passed on his magic crest to Illya and taught her everything he knew about the Emiya family magecraft. After Kiritsugu's revelation, Illya took her training much more seriously. Nothing more than a pastime was now a personal obligation for her. Shirou's projections have improved significantly. Damian created dozens of bladed mystic codes, each imbued with different elements and mysteries to add to Shirou's Unlimited Blades' Work. Through his projections, Shirou became something akin to an average one. As for Damian, thanks to his mystic eye and constant practice, he finally learned how to displace light and sound.

The biggest thing that happened was Kiritsugu's death, which occurred a year ahead of the visual novel. Unfortunately, transplanting his magic crest to Illya caused his health to deteriorate rapidly.

They were sitting beside Kiritsugu's deathbed.

"Is there really nothing else we can do?" Shirou asks for the umpteenth time.

"Nothing. Were Magi, not gods. He was cursed by the holy grail itself, Shirou. It's a miracle he didn't die on the spot when it happened." Damian shook his head.

"Papa." Illya was tearfully holding her father's hand.

The kids tried everything they could think of to help their father. Damian tried to reinforce Kiritsugu in an attempt to slow the curse's progress. Illya practice healing magic as much as she could. Shirou even managed to project Avalon, albeit barely. But their efforts only served to ease his pain and make his passing more peaceful.

"It's okay, Illya." Kiritsugu smiled weakly at his daughter. "My whole life, all I ever did was destroy. But you, you were the only good thing I brought into this world. So please. Grow into a fine woman and lead a happy life. For your mother and me."

Illya couldn't respond. All she could do was tighten her lips and nod. It was all she could do to keep herself together.

"Damian, thank you for everything. For helping me save Illya and for taking care of their magical training. I don't think I could have done either alone."

"Yeah. You welcome old… your welcome, dad" Damian blushed a little after calling him dad for the first time.

"Shirou, if you really want to be a hero, then remember what I everything I said that night in the shed. Saving the world is pointless if it's devoid of the people that make the world worth living in. People like Illya and Damian. So please. Promise me that you'll protect them. Please don't make the same mistakes I made. Be a hero to your friends and family above all else."

Kiritsugu has done many terrible things that he's come to regret on his path to be a hero of justice. He killed countless people to save countless more sacrificed his friends and family to save complete strangers. And in the end, all that was left for him was blood and ruin. It's not a life he would wish on his worst enemies. He wanted to make sure that Shirou didn't end up like him.

"Okay, sniff. Don't worry, dad. I promise I'll protect them." Shirou replied

Once his children understood his final wish, he nodded and closed his eye for the last time. Only when his heart stopped beating did Shirou and Illya allow themselves to fall apart. Damian pulled them both into a group hug in an attempt to comfort them and, to his surprise, started crying too.

Reviews

Guest-Questioner: I've never heard of Einzbern having some kind of backup, and even if they did, Kiritsugu either destroyed it with his explosions or the Mage's Association recovered it. Also, Leysritt and sella were made only two years before the holy grail war.

Terrmilion: It will. I attend to publish once a month at the very least.

Zet4: As I said, I decided not to reveal the puppet master identity for now. Maybe it's Touko Aozaki. Maybe it's an original character like Damian.

Raidentensho: I don't think it's possible to merge to different crests and even if it were, I wouldn't do it. Damian is already overpowered enough as it is.

TheGrimDragon: Thank you very much. I'll do my best to meet your expectations.