Close to midnight. More precisely eleven o'clock, an hour away from midnight.

Aoi was inside Shirou's room, as usual, when she couldn't sleep she would come to his room for comfort. But today he wasn't in his room, in truth, she had noticed him going out until midnight for a few days now… usually she would go back to her room trying to understand that her brother might have something urgent to sort out at night. But tonight she was feeling incredibly lonely and scared to be alone, forcing herself to be brave knowing that she was alone can only go so far and she had reached her limit.

Her warm and welcoming home has turned into a cold and unfamiliar den when she is alone. Her parents, her brother, those whom she always thought she could rely on, none of them was here to give her the sense of safety she sought. She didn't cry because she was afraid that once she allowed herself to cry, her fear would further consume her and make her even more terrified than she already was. She felt weak and scared without her beloved family by her side.

The ticking of the analog clock her brother seemed to prefer, makes her anxious.

Tick-tock-tick-tock

The noise it made sounded like it always tried to remind her that she was alone in this house. None of the lights was on, the corridor was dark, and the staircase was even scarier. The only thing that calmed her was that she was inside the safest place in the house, her brother's room which was on the same floor as her room, she hoped he would come back soon.

Tick-tock-tick-tock

As it was the one that made her anxious, this constant sound of ticking was also the one that prevented her mind from wandering far away into the delusion, farther than a child her age should ever think of. Tick after tock, her sight at the clock. With her mind focused on trying to filter out the clock's ticking sound, she wanted to remind herself of the happy memories before her parents went overseas for work. Back when a mother's embrace was only a staircase away from her room. Now she could only rely on memories to comfort herself until her brother returned.

Tick-tock-

She and her brother were born eight years apart, and ever since she could remember, every birthday celebration was always a collaboration between her mother and her brother making the cake and the desserts. Her father always knows what to make her the happiest with the gifts he gives her every birthday. Every celebration has always been a memorable memory for her. When she grew up, she also aimed to be able to make cakes for their birthday and buy gifts for them.

The clock's ticking was no longer of concern as she curled up on top of her brother's bed, waiting for him to return from his business. Her eyes were no longer focused as her body was halfway to dipping itself into the dream space.

"…brother."

The little one was finally asleep, overwhelmed by her exhaustion despite her loneliness wanted her to be awake waiting for her brother.

0o0o0

Shirou returned home shortly after midnight, today's patrol was also fruitless. He and Artoria inspected any corner in the city they possibly could get into. Equipped for battle, he was wearing a thick black-coloured jacket and a small backpack containing one of his mana batteries. Artoria on the other hand, wore a blue jacket with gold linings and a golden X on her left chest, she also wore a blue scarf with matching gold lining and a blue cap to hide her golden hair. For legal reasons, they didn't bring any weapons during their patrol and relied on Shirou's projection to provide themselves with arms on demand, though Artoria had a sword baton strapped to her waist just in case.

Today too, Artoria didn't return to her abode and opted to stay the night in Shirou's home. Aside from her anxiety which has become uncontrollable nowadays, she enjoys being close to Shirou and she also grew to love little Aoi who most likely will become her little sister in the future.

After they entered the building, not forgetting to lock the gate and the door, they left their shoes on the rack and went upstairs to discuss things in his room. Upon entering his room, they found Aoi who was already asleep on his bed curled up in fetal position.

"…Aoi…"

"…Shirou."

"Yes?"

"This can't go on, because of me, your time with your family was cut short. Let's stop the patrol."

"But, how about your worry and unease?"

"I can deal with it, you don't have to worry, Shirou. Besides, my feeling… could be wrong. There are no magus or anything magical in this world, we've known that already, You have checked many places and I have gone all over the world looking for any trace of magical activity… and none are found. Maybe, finding out about you and feeling a magical power other than mine after all these years put me on edge and triggered a false alarm inside of me."

Artoria sighed softly and sat by the edge of the bed near the sleeping Aoi. She carefully and gently rubbed Aoi's head with a soft smile filled with guilt.

"All these feelings of anxiety and distant fear might have just been me unconsciously relived our days during the Holy Grail War in my mind. As you know, different from before, my body now is of a normal human being not a servant, even compared to my human self before becoming a servant, my current body is still weak in comparison. So, I might have just overreacted to things I'm still not used to and hastily made a mountain out of a molehill in my confusion."

Her reasoning makes sense and seems logical to Shirou, but in his mind, at least from the memory of the distant past which has long become a haze of colours which hard to differentiate from one another. In his memory, Saber's instinct has never been wrong, so he didn't want to discard the notion just yet. But what she said after was also right, he had been so preoccupied with his patrol that he unconsciously neglected the peaceful life with his family that he cherished the most.

"…just like before, I leave everyone behind…"

Another speck of memories made its way onto the forefront of his mind, hazy memories of those he should have held dear but instead, he cast them away in his pursuit of his dream. Probably the closest thing he had to regret among many of his poor decisions in his previous life. If asked, he would argue that for their own good, it was better that way, despite many others disagreeing with him, he would be stubborn in his opinion. But things have changed, he cared about himself more than before and started to think about how his existence could affect his close ones and how his absence would negatively impact his loved ones. Unlike before when he thought otherwise and focused on how his absence could alleviate some burden from his acquaintances.

With this small realization and his recalling how not long ago he made an oath to cherish his family more, he felt guilty for neglecting Aoi who depended on him when his parents were away overseas. He was conflicted about who he should prioritize more between Artoria and his family, but that is where he was wrong, he shouldn't prioritize one more than the other or else he would only revert to how he lived his life before. Both are equally important to him, his family who has been with him from the moment he was reborn in this world and Artoria who he had pursued in two lifetimes. Weighing the importance of his family with a scale was a mistake that shouldn't have done.

"Then, Shirou. I'll excuse myself to my room. Let's postpone our discussion tomorrow and let's put a stop to our meaningless patrol. We can use our patrol time for more worthwhile activities, like spending time with Aoi or just the two of us after she falls asleep."

She said the last bit with a mirthful grin that Shirou had never seen from the usually stoic-faced Saber. Her cheek was slightly tinged with blush as she got up from the bed to hug him as tight as she could. There was a slight height difference between the adult Artoria and Shirou who hit his growth spurt early, but a tiptoe could solve that problem easily. She pressed her body onto him tightly, like she was trying to make him feel her heart beating directly from her chest.

In her embrace, Shirou's cheek was also coloured in a rather visible tinge of red from various feelings he felt from Artoria's hug. He returned her hug by wrapping his hand around her waist and holding her body tightly, seemingly trying to compete with her hugging strength. The warmth he felt from her body calmed the chaos in his heart, also sapping away any tenseness and energy left after a long day of worrying about many things and patrol. He could feel the fatigue that he had ignored for a long time was catching up to him as his eyes grew heavier.

The hug lasted for a while, a few minutes of them only feeling each other heartbeat and body warmth. They can feel the reluctance of the other party when they let go of the hug, but they both need a rest so they can function normally later. They changed from their patrol outfit to their homewear in the bathroom before they retreated to their respective bedroom to sleep. Shirou carefully entered the bed and covered Aoi with a blanket so as not to wake her up.

"Tomorrow… tomorrow, I will make some special food for Aoi and Saber."

0o0o0

In a certain military base somewhere…

"Do you have news from the guys in this sector?"

An elderly man wearing a military uniform was pointing at a place on the map.

"No, Sir, after their last situation report about the sudden mass sickness, we have not received any more follow-up reports from the base. The same situation also happened to numerous other bases, they went dark after reporting a sudden increase in sick soldiers. The Head Quarter already sent some specialists to investigate the situation and they are on their way to the bases that went radio silence. The first team of specialists arrived at the nearest base and was uncontactable shortly after they landed. We fear that the aforementioned bases were hit with a kind of bioweapon based on their report of sudden sickness of soldiers in mass before going dark, the other teams have been notified of the possibility of hostiles already occupying the base, so we might be able to expect some news soon, Sir."

"You make them sound small, Alfred. You know that with this sector going dark that means we've lost contact with more than 50% of our bases worldwide right? And that is not counting the bases who had just reported a similar case of a large number of their soldiers suddenly contracting an unknown disease a few minutes ago."

"I know, Sir."

"Sigh… What the hell happened? So many sectors going dark one after another, something… something I- WE don't know is happening and we are completely in the dark of what it is. Want a smoke, Alfred?"

"I'll have to decline, for now, Sir. I have to man the post and wait for some news from the HQ… or anyone else."

The elderly man sat on a nearby chair and stared at the map, it had numerous pins dotting a lot of places on the map. They represent the bases that they had lost contact with. There are pins from the left side of the map to the right side of the map… so whatever happened was either very specific with their targets or it was happening worldwide. Call it foreboding or a hunch, but the instinct of the elderly man who had forged through war told him that, anything happening over there where the pins pointed, wasn't anything normal. It was something new… and he hated new things in his line of work because anything new that was related to his work would only lead to death and suffering. He doesn't like that, even a bit, even if that something was beneficial to him, he hated anything that had to do with his work and destruction.

"Sir, we have a report of a mass spread of an unknown disease in California, New York, and Texas."

"Sigh, everything is bad as expected. What's the detail?"

"Nothing more yet except that some hospital suddenly flooded with patients and thousands of calls requesting for an ambulance. We still don't have information on what the disease is yet or if that disease was the same as the one that attacked our bases."

"This will be the third time I sigh… God help me. Alfred, get the soldiers on alert, we might get some calls to move soon."

"Sir?"

"Just get them on stand-by, if nothing happens, just call it a drill. Better be ready than not. Also, make sure none of the soldiers are sick, if there are any, put them in a closed quarantine and have some medics attend to them, but advise them to limit any contact more than necessary with the diseased."

"Yes, Sir!"

The elderly man lighted his second cigarette as he massaged his wrinkly forehead. Behind him was Alfred busy announcing the elderly man's command to the whole base. What they didn't know was the elderly man's decision to set up a quarantine would save them from ending up like the other out-of-contact military base. But… would they end up envying the dead when they realized what happened or will they be able to keep their sanity despite the hell presented to them in the future?

0o0o0

A/n: I cooked up something short this midnight, whether I burnt the thing or not, let the tomorrow me who has a fresher mind decide.

Update: I deleted the salt part of the Author note, it will be a curse that will bite me up in the future if I keep them up. I hope you guys who have seen it forget them. I hope you guys have a blessed pulls in the future! :)