Well, here I am, back with another attempt to adapt sakurademonalchemist's abortive story Shatterglass. I realised I just wasn't feeling it for the previous versions, that it felt like it was too hard to get the story going, and that it might end up too much like my prior Fate/Apocrypha stories. However, this version, I feel, might just work out, with a bit of effort. There's a few reasons for that.

The first is that Harry and Shirou Kotomine will have something of a friendship. True, this is still a Harry/Altera fic, and in any case, I don't really write slashfics, but given how...friendly and decent Shirou is in Fate/Apocrypha, his ruthlessness towards Jeanne aside, he makes an interesting contrast with other villains in the Nasuverse, save, perhaps, for Karl Magnus Rex from Fate/Extella Link. Both have the very best of intentions in what they do, and I think that, under specific circumstances, Shirou can be turned away from his obsession with salvation for humanity.

The second is related to that last bit. Admittedly, this was something I did intend for previous versions of this story, but with Harry and Shirou becoming friends and allies (at least until Harry learns what Shirou intends and what he has done behind his back), I think it's considerably more important. Shirou WILL become a good guy, and there's a very good reason for that. While it is one that I will have to keep fairly close to my chest, I should point out that Altera will play a key role in this heel-face turn for Shirou, in pointing out, albeit without meaning to, the flaws in his little plan. Let's just say that it is only really this possible pairing that makes this heel-face turn possible...unless I managed to do something I considered idly and make Tiamat Harry's Servant, but I was unable to work that one out.

The third is that Harry will get to know Altera a little between his summoning of her and before the Great Holy Grail War begins. Their relationship will have ups and downs, but it's better than the whole 'Harry is another Sephyr-like being' shortcut which, while a good idea, I misused, and I don't think it'll work here.

Of course, there's no guarantee that this will continue, and I've got Quetzlcoatl as a backup Servant to try for this story, but Altera is the one I'm trying for this first. So, I hope you enjoy...

YEARNING FOR CHANGE

CHAPTER 1:

ARRIVAL

There is a legend known to those who study the arcane lore of prehistory. The legend of the Umbral Star, Velber, and its herald. The White Titan. It's a legend surprisingly supported by science, if only because there was evidence for the mass extinctions that occurred about 14 millennia ago, albeit one of many such mass extinctions happening during the end of the Pleistocene Era. This extinction was chalked down by the scientific community (albeit not without reason: they were right about the reasons for other extinctions in the geological ballpark) to climate change caused by the end of the Ice Age, as well as other factors.

In truth, like more than a few harbingers of extinction, the cause came from space. But not in the form of a meteorite that struck with apocalyptic force. Rather, something landed, and then began spreading death and destruction in its wake.

When people speak of the fall of Atlantis, they usually think it was due to the hubris of its natives. However, Atlantis was but one of the ancient civilisations that was decimated by the White Titan. Mu, Hyperborea, Lemuria, all fell to the White Titan's rampage…though in truth, the White Titan was an entity bound to do its job. In truth, even as its body destroyed, its mind was asking of itself, Why? Why? Why?

Of course, this meant little to its victims. All they saw was a monster whose very presence corrupted man and beast alike into monsters. With a grand weapon, they struck down the White Titan. Parts of its body, struck by the blast of the weapon fired at it, flew into the distance. One landed in a part of the Middle East that, one day, would be explored by the Huns. About twelve and a half thousand years later, said Huns would stumble across it…and find a baby girl, whom their elders would name Attila. A name she would come to detest, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

The gathered people who had managed to fell the Titan knew that killing it might not be possible in the limited time they had, so, using arcane magic that was soon forgotten to the world, they imprisoned it, deep within the mountains that would one day become the Alps. There, it was hoped it would never threaten the world again.

But hopes like that often were in vain...

In a space that didn't truly exist in any physical sense, a pair of women sat at a table. They were a study in contrasts, even though both had silvery white hair and crimson eyes, as well as a vague sense of emptiness to them. One was a pale-skinned woman, her hair long, dressed in an elaborate, ceremonial dress and mitre-like hat. The other was a dark-skinned woman, her outfit vaguely tribal and amounting to seemingly little more than a G-string and a breast band across her modest bust. Unlike the more conventionally beautiful pale-skinned woman, the darker-skinned woman's slender form had the air of an athletic beauty, with her skin marked with strange markings. A veil, almost like a wedding veil, was draped from her head.

The pale-skinned woman could be called many things. Once, she was Justeaze von Einzbern, the head of the von Einzbern family of Magi. Now, she was the guiding consciousness deep within the Greater Grail she sacrificed herself to create, though to be fair, it wasn't the original Justeaze. In truth, she was probably little more than the magical equivalent of an artificial intelligence, clinging onto sentience only barely.

The darker-skinned woman could also be called many things. In her first existence on Earth, she had been dubbed Sephyr, the White Titan of Velber. In her second existence, a life as a human being, she became known and feared as the Scourge of God, Attila the Hun, though Attila was actually a name she despised. She preferred to be known as Altera.

The two had an odd friendship, or at least a relationship, being artificial beings now imprisoned. Confined as they were to their respective prisons, they got bored. That they contacted each other was happenstance more than anything else, as the Greater Grail recharged. A few years ago, they met in abstract memetic space, the outer regions of Akasha, the Root of All Things, and began an odd friendship.

"So, I have a chance?" Altera asked.

"Yes. I am only dimly aware of what is going on outside my shell. But I have a Master who should be good for you, and you would be good for him. However, due to circumstances, I cannot guarantee that you will prevail. But…"

"If I do, I promise, my wish will be to remove Velber's influence on me. If Velber desires otherwise, I will fight it with every fibre of my being."

"Good. I have faith in your conviction, Altera, though there is still the possibility that Velber may overcome you. And I sense something wrong. But I have faith in your Master-to-be. He is a hero. And heroes save people, even from themselves…"

Salvation was never far from the mind of the deceptively young-looking man standing near a church, looking up at the starry sky. To the world at large, he was known as Shirou Kotomine. To himself, and a select few others, he was actually Shirou Amakusa Tokisada. Many outside of Japan would merely shrug at such a name, not knowing its true import, but someone with knowledge of the history of that island nation and specifically the history of Christianity there would do a mental double take. After all, it was the name of one of Japan's most famous folk saints and martyrs. And this was not merely someone named for Shirou, but rather, the real deal, resurrected through a miracle, not of divine origin, but something that, while it approached the divine, had been created by the mundane. Well, as mundane as you can get when it was a wish-granting magical engine created by Magi.

He didn't like thinking about his past, about how his first life led to him leading a rebellion against the Shogunate, only for it to be mercilessly crushed, and he died at the age of seventeen. To wallow in the past was to potentially lose sight of the present and the future both. Even thinking about the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki was dangerous, as it tempted him with whispers of revenge as much as the memories of the Shimabara Rebellion did. And he had tried to divest himself of such feelings like anger, hatred, and the desire for retribution, if he truly wished to succeed in his task. Of course, the temptation was always there, to go and kill the man responsible for killing his Master.

He sighed quietly to himself. Tonight, Clock Tower, the colloquial name given to the Magus Association, was sending a group of fifty Enforcers, a 'Disciplinary Squad'. Their purpose: to try and kill that very man who killed his Master, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, hoping to assassinate him before the Grail War Darnic intended to start in order to cement his secession from Clock Tower. Shirou had arrived in Romania shortly before they did, along with his Servant, and he knew that it would be too late. Darnic would not have made his declaration if he didn't have some means to back it up already, which meant summoning a Servant. After all, a human could not fight a Servant.

He would have warned them, but he doubted they would listen. Magi tended to be stubborn and opinionated at the best of times, when they weren't being amoral or immoral in their pursuit of Akasha. Instead, a week ago in the Middle East, he had summoned his own Servant, Assassin. True name: Semiramis, the Empress of Assyria and considered to be the world's first known poisoner.

As if summoned by his thinking of her, Semiramis Deastralised near him. Her long dark hair framed cruelly beautiful features with pointed ears and golden eyes with slitted pupils. "Master, I have much to report, thanks to my familiars," she said, her musical voice lilting sardonically on the word Master. In truth, he had impressed her enough on their initial summoning that they viewed each other as equals and comrades.

"I believe I can guess some of the content of that report. Clock Tower's Disciplinary Squad have been decimated, and by a Servant?"

"Indeed," Semiramis said, her lips thinning in disgust. "Only one survived, and he has been spared by Darnic specifically to act as a messenger."

"How melodramatic of him," Shirou sighed quietly.

"There is good news, though. The contingency mechanism your former Master spoke to you of was activated by the Disciplinary Squad remotely, so it seems that this upcoming Grail War will consist of two sides. Yggdmillennia will be on one side, and on the other…"

"The Magus Association. And I am well-placed to act as the Church's representative in their team. The Vatican and the Burial Agency are already aware that I have summoned you, and I should notify Clock Tower soon. Still, this could be troublesome. The Grail could attempt to summon another Ruler, and while my presence may block their summoning, there are other ways for a Ruler to manifest. Anything else?"

"We know the identity of the Servant Darnic used. A Lancer, true name Vlad Tepes."

"Vlad III of Wallachia?" Shirou remarked. "I shouldn't be surprised. Vlad III is renowned as a national hero here in Romania, instead of being considered a ruthless tyrant or a vampire, and he would be powerful on his native soil. You can counter that with your own territory?"

"Once I complete the Hanging Gardens, yes," Semiramis said. "His Noble Phantasm, the one I witnessed, allows him to create stakes from nothing. Kazikli Bey, he calls it. Impaled those Enforcers on stakes. Rather unsightly and brutal. Still, my surveillance on Yggdmillennia's stronghold suggested a disturbance there at the same time. I haven't paid more attention to it, as I thought I'd report to you, but…"

What she was about to say was cut off by a rather loud crack, like a whipcrack or the backfiring of a car. Out of the very air in front of them sprawled an extraordinary figure, mostly naked, their modesty preserved only by rather utilitarian underwear. He (Shirou realised belatedly that it was male) peered blearily at them, before rasping out, in English, "…Help…" before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

Shirou, after a moment, was on the young man, checking him over. Semiramis, who had been about to attack the interloper, relaxed a little, and joined him. Despite being an Assassin, she had many strong elements of being a Caster as well, and her magecraft abilities were far superior to those she had as an Assassin. "…He's a Homunculus," Semiramis said. "Didn't you say that one of Yggdmillennia is known for making Homunculi?"

"Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia," Shirou said, gently turning the Homunculus over. He gently opened the eyes. The first was the distinctive pinkish red of the Musik family's Homunculi, but the other, oddly enough, was an emerald colour. The hair was a light brown. And the features were vaguely familiar to him.

"That's strange," Semiramis mused as she continued scanning the Homunculus. "His body has recently undergone rapid growth. And not just the growth Homunculi are given when they're gestated. He has gone from perhaps early adolescence to late adolescence within the space of a few weeks. What's more, his lifespan seems closer to that of a normal human's than most Homunculi. And his magic…it's…strange."

"Strange how?"

"…It's a hybrid of Magus and…something else, something I don't believe has been around since the Age of Heroes. There's both active magic circuits and a core," Semiramis said, looking as if she didn't want to believe it.

Shirou frowned. An interesting enigma. And while this Homunculus was formerly one of Yggdmillennia's, he was sure, the plea in his eyes before he collapsed was genuine, he was sure. "I'll bring him inside," he decided. "If there's any urgent treatment he needs, please prepare it."

"Are you certain?" Semiramis asked.

"Yes. For all we know, Assassin, an interesting little opportunity has dropped into our laps…"

"Well, I cannot find any magical compulsions or any sign of a geas," Semiramis said as the Homunculus lay in a bed in a room in the church. "If there's any indoctrination, it's purely psychological or biological."

"I don't think that there is. I think what we are looking at is an escapee of some kind."

"An escapee? There was a disturbance within the castle at about the same time as Darnic's Servant decimated the Enforcers," Semiramis mused. "Maybe this one escaping did so. In addition, this one shows signs of having his magical energy being siphoned until some hours ago. Not used, but siphoned. There are traces of a form of medical grade breathable liquid that is highly conductive to mana in his body, particularly his lungs and digestive tract. I believe this Homunculus may have been used as a mana battery of some sort. My guess is to power a Servant or Servants."

"Very clever," Shirou admitted reluctantly. "If I recall correctly, Waver Velvet's predecessor in the position of Lord El-Melloi did something similar in the Auxiliary Grail War they participated in. Kayneth Archibald tinkered with the summoning so that he had the Command Seals, and his fiancée supplied the mana."

Semiramis raised an eyebrow. "An intriguing concept. I can see why. By having someone else foot the bill, so to speak, the Masters can use their magecraft and Mystic Codes with impunity, as can Servants with their Noble Phantasms. Darnic clearly is a man who puts considerable thought into these things. They must have many more Homunculi like this to make the best use of such a system. I doubt they'd even use just a single Homunculus per Servant. If he is as prudent as he appears to be, this Homunculus is doubtlessly just one of at least a couple of dozen. That's how I would set things up at the bare minimum."

Shirou nodded, taking in her words. Despite her goodwill to him, Semiramis also had a scarily practical and pragmatic mind. It came part and parcel with being a ruthless ruler. But before he could make any further remark, she said, "Master, he's waking up."

And so he was, his face contorted in pain, before he woke, his mismatched eyes flickering open. He looked at them warily, and tried to speak, only for a hoarse croak to emit from his lips, swiftly degenerating into a coughing fit. "Easy, it's all right," Shirou said soothingly. "You're amongst friends, I hope."

Eventually, the Homunculus asked, in a hoarse croak of a voice, "Where am I?"

"In the church I have been assigned to. If you came from the Yggdmillennia stronghold, rest assured, you are out of their reach, for now," Shirou said soothingly. "We are not allies to Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia."

"…How did you know I…"

"You are a Homunculus, with the distinctive signs of one created by the Musik family, and their decaying bloodline has been folded into Yggdmillennia."

And then, the Homunculus surprised him.

Lying back wearily, closing his eyes, he said, his increasingly less hoarse voice betraying a British accent, "I'm not a Homunculus. Or rather…I wasn't born one. That silver-haired bitch and that fat bastard experimented on me. I woke up one day in this body, while my old one…it's floating like a pickle in a jar, only, I don't think it's in any fit state for me to live in anymore."

Silver-haired bitch? That matched the descriptions of Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia, while the 'fat bastard' was probably an unflattering description of Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia. But there was something confusing about this, and it was Semiramis who voiced it. "You mean to say Yggdmillennia somehow transferred your soul from one body to another?"

"…Yeah, but I don't think they meant to do that. I think they just wanted to find a way to replicate my magical ability in their Homunculi. I'm not sure how they did it anymore." He sat up gingerly, and looked at them. "I managed to break out of that damned tank. I was hiding out until I overheard Darnic and Lancer saying they needed to go and deal with some Enforcers, so I thought I'd make my escape. As it turned out…I'm not as good at stealth without a Cloak of Invisibility as I thought. I did manage to get out of the castle, but Darnic and his pet Servant caught me. Darnic was about to attack me when…well, I Apparated…oh, wait, you don't know what that is."

"If by Apparate, you mean you teleported, then yes, you appeared right out of mid-air," Semiramis said.

"I see." The Homunculus grimaced, before he looked at them. "So, who are you two? Are you with this Clock Tower they were going on about?"

"Not exactly," Shirou said. "I am allied with the Magus Association, true, but I am not a member of Clock Tower. Rather, I am an Executor, a member of the Vatican's Burial Agency. That means I hunt rogue Magi and Dead Apostles, or vampires if you don't know what that means normally. I am Shirou Kotomine, and this is my Servant, Assassin. I won't reveal her true name for now. What's your name?"

"…You wouldn't know it. I do not come from this world. But my name is Harry Potter…"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear. That just happened.

No numbered annotations this time.