It hurt to breathe. His lungs felt like they were on fire. For all he knew, they were. He could feel the dryness of his skin, the staleness of the air, the heat of fire.
And yet, the ground felt more comfortable than any bed he had ever lied in before.
"I bes…"
He had fought a dragon. A red dragon that was perhaps as powerful as a Servant, maybe even more so. And it wasn't a situation like Gilgamesh, who underestimated him.
No, the dragon - Rubrasax - treated him as an equal, and fought him as one.
"...eal…"
It was perhaps the most intense battle he'd fought yet, even considering his track record with the Enforcers. More dangerous than a rogue magus, more destructive than a Dead Apostle. That was what his opponent was.
And he'd survived.
"...irits, oh…"
Not only that, but considering that the last thing he saw was Gram piercing through the dragon's chest, he could, without a doubt, say that he won. There was no conceivable way that a dragon, no matter how powerful, could survive an anti-dragon weapon to the heart like that.
Shirou would've smiled had he been able to feel his lips.
To defeat a dragon was no easy feat. To defeat Rubrasax, a named dragon capable of some form of red lightning manipulation, was on another level.
'Ah. I suppose that I really did become a hero, in the end.'
Yes, a hero, like the ones he had fought with and against in the past. A storybook hero that was a hero for the sake of being one. A dream that he had long since thought was an impossible goal, but was still worth striving for.
Shirou's eyes, already closed, relaxed. He was tired, and the cool earth was a contrast to the steaming air he could feel.
"...ior!"
And in an instant, all of those feelings vanished. The air was hot, his nose picked up the smell of burning wood and foliage, while the once-comforting dirt now felt like a cloying grip.
Straining to open one eye, he could see the figure of a blonde, their hands held over him. Soft, glowing Spirits flitted towards them, and into Shirou.
All at once, he gave a massive gasp as air suddenly found its way into his lungs. The cool earth felt rough and uneven, as debris dug itself into his bones. His eyes flew open as stamina flowed through him.
Sore.
Everything hurt, but it was the pain of a good workout, not something that he would have expected when he'd fought a dragon. His notice immediately darted to the five figures that hovered around him
Two of them were familiar enough that he recognized them immediately - Adrianne and Tuka. The other three, he had to strain to remember, but eventually, he recognized them as the village healer and apprentices.
Their hands were glowing with magical energy. Around them, the Spirits of the forest danced, nearing Shirou almost shyly, before flitting all over the place.
"Lord Emiya!" The relief that dawned on all of the elves attending to him was palpable. Adrianne let out a breath, as Tuka and one of the apprentices collapsed in apparent exhaustion.
Shirou tried to speak, but his throat felt like ash. He mimed taking a drink, and for a moment none of them got it. The moment Adrianne did, however, she snapped an order to the other healer apprentice to get them some water.
He sat himself up with some difficulty, to the protest of quite literally everyone there. And by that, he meant even the elves that he hadn't even spotted initially. It was as if almost the entire village had crowded around them. In their hands were weapons of all sorts, and they looked around as if ready to attack anything that they came across.
Finally, after taking a gulp of water from a panting apprentice, he spoke, "How long was I out?"
"Not long, Lord Emiya." Spoke Adrianne, an air of formality around her, "If I had to guess, I would say that five minutes had passed when thou fell."
"Has anyone checked the dragon?" His response came with a grimace. He could feel that his Circuits had been strained when he took the lightning glaive head on. Lightning itself was inherently dangerous, as that much electricity flowing through a body could give serious nerve damage.
His Circuits had been strained exactly because of that. His attempts at moving involved a lot of strenuous Reinforcement to not feel every single nerve in his body scream out in pain. That resulted in his Circuits being way too hot right now.
He would recover in time. He just needed to not strain himself too much.
Of course, when Adrianne responded to his question with a negative, he resolved that he would have to not strain himself after dealing with the dragon once and for all.
"Lord Emiya, I must insist that thou rest!" Adrianne, and the rest of the contingent of elves, followed him as they protested.
They walked through the charred remains of the forest. Trees once larger than some buildings in Tokyo were burnt down to their roots. The once idyllic peace that this place echoed was now nothing but ash in the wind.
Coan Forest was scarred, and it would take a long time for it to recover.
"Thine body is still injured, thou is not the time to satisfy thine pride!" The Grand Elder continued to try and convince him to go back. But Shirou shook his head. This wasn't about pride.
It was about finishing the job.
One, major rule when dealing with anything remotely close to magecraft is to always double, triple, and maybe even quadruple check. One wrong move and it could cause a catastrophic failure that kills everyone around you.
The same goes when you were hunting down something. You needed to make sure they were dead. If you didn't do your due diligence, then the idea of that target somehow surviving and tracking you down to take revenge wasn't so far-fetched.
After all, it had already happened to him once, and it had put in danger the lives of countless innocents.
Never again.
He had to make sure that Rubrasax was actually dead. If he wasn't, then he needed to be ready to fight once more. Even if his entire body broke, it would be a better solution than turning tail and running away.
Turns out, he needn't have worried.
The unmoving body of the dragon was a marvel to behold, and only now was Shirou able to appreciate just how massive it was. Its claws were longer than Shirou's forearm. Its glassy eyes were almost as wide as he was tall.
The hole in its chest was smaller than all of those.
Gram had fully pierced the dragon's hide. It had made a clean burst through the chest, into its heart, then out again.
"You told me it was a red dragon." Shirou spoke up in the ensuing silence as their party saw the remains of the dragon.
"Indeed." Adrianne was staring as well, her previous protests fading into the crisp air.
"You never told me it could use lightning." His tone was almost accusatory. People had died, and some of that could have likely been avoided had he been more prepared. The Grand Elder shook her head, an emotion stirring in her eyes that Shirou couldn't place.
"I had forgotten that thou art a foreigner in this land." She walked towards one of the dragon's eyes. Said eye felt like it was staring into Shirou's soul. He didn't like it, "Tis common knowledge that the red dragon wields - wielded - red lightning."
Her tone was apologetic, and Shirou couldn't have it in him to get angry. If it really was common knowledge, then it was his fault that he hadn't asked of the dragon's capabilities.
He berated himself for that. He should've known from experience that he shouldn't go assuming the abilities of their opponents. Especially in another world, where the rules of his own World didn't necessarily apply.
"...What are you going to do?" Shirou asked the one question that was nagging him as he finally took in the sheer destruction that their battle had caused. With the threat of Rubrasax now confirmed gone, he could afford that luxury.
What he saw made him bite his tongue to stop from screaming in frustration. Or rather, what he didn't see. The village was completely gone, most of the forest with it. Charred, blackened spots littered the land. Trenches where the dragon's blade carved through the earth made daunting ravines, the likes of which Shirou couldn't see the bottom.
"We shall find a new home, I suppose." There was an air of regret that flitted through everyone there. Shirou couldn't help but feel guilty, despite knowing he shouldn't.
He'd saved them, yes. He'd beaten the dragon. But he didn't save all of them. Some elves had died in the initial attack, before anyone could react. Husbands, wives, children.
Dead.
What's more, his inability to limit the damage in the area had failed spectacularly. Now, the elves had no home. They only had what they had managed to bring, and from what Shirou could see, it was barely anything. Just the clothes on their back and their weapons.
Before he could offer his assistance, a scout ran up to them, his words making Shirou and everyone else tense.
"HUMANS!"
The sprint to the back of the group, where the scout informed them the humans were, was a blur of color. Shirou sprinted as fast as his un-Reinforced body could allow. Beside him, Adrianne, Tuka, and Hodor kept pace with him, along with a number of scouts that grew more and more as they passed.
Shirou's ears picked up the telltale sound of shouting, and almost as one, their pace increased to a near sprint.
If the Empire was here, then they needed to be dealt with immediately. Due to the destruction of Coan, the Spirits of the forest had retreated into wherever they resided. The only reason the elves healed him with the Spirits was entirely due to their unhealthy fascination with him.
None of that fascination would help the elves should the Empire decide to strike. WIthout access to Spirit Magic, the elves would be severely crippled in their combat abilities. What's more, without the cover that Coan Forest naturally gave, they could be hunted down at the Empire's leisure.
Not under his watch.
They finally arrived at the scene of nearly a dozen archers pointing their bows at a group of six, shouting all the while for them to surrender.
At any other point in time, this would've been a good thing. A two-to-one advantage wasn't as good as three-to-one, but any advantage was a good thing.
Except, he recognized the uniforms of those six individuals.
"Uhmmm, me? We! WE! Uhhh harm? NO! No harm!" A green clad man shuffled through a book. The five other figures were pointing their weapons at the elves while glancing around.
"Grand Elder, tell your people to stand down." Shirou sounded out , "They're friendlies."
"Truly?" Adrianne didn't look winded, despite nearly half of the contingent looking like they ran a marathon, "Very well." She clapped in a specific pattern, and in an instant, all the bows were pointed down. It didn't stop some of them from staring at the group of humans in suspicion though.
"What the hell?"
"Wait a minute - Emiya? Emiya Shirou?!" One of the females, a rather short woman with light brown hair, saw him first. He casually made his way through the crowd, the throng of people parting before him and their leader.
"Yes, that is my name." Shirou commented blandly. The six JSDF members, because who else would both recognize him, and wield Type 64 rifles in this world, "Who's the leader of this unit?"
"That would be me, Itami Youji. First Lieutenant, Third Recon Team." The green clad man who had been shuffling through a book nodded towards him. Shirou's brow furrowed as he tried to place why this one in particular looked so familiar.
"Itami-san, were you by any chance in Ginza when the attack happened?" Shirou hedged.
"That's right, Emiya-san." Itami was more laidback than he expected from a first lieutenant, but his eyes told a different story. There was a firmness there that Shirou only really saw in some veterans, mundane or otherwise, "We actually bumped into each other when you were off doing your thing."
"Ah, I think I remember now."
"Excuse me, Lord Emiya." Adrianne interrupted, "I'm afraid that we cannot understand whatever it is these ones are saying." There was a thinly veiled question there; whether they should really be trusted or not.
Moreover, even if she believed Shirou at face value, she probably needed to assure her own people that the JSDF personnel weren't an enemy of theirs. In the same way he had gotten their respect in the first place.
"Rest assured, you can trust my countrymen."
"Thine countrymen, Lord Emiya?" The Grand Elder played her part well, asking questions that would prompt him to elaborate. Similar to Clock Tower politics, really.
"Indeed. I would trust them to have my back should the Empire attack once more."
It was almost comical how the tense atmosphere of the area dissipated with his words. One of the archers originally pointing their bows at the soldiers stepped up. It took a moment for Shirou to recognize Francois, who now sported a nasty burn on one side of his face.
"I can see no friendlier humans than those that share a common enemy with us." He stepped towards Itami and the others, all of whom were extremely confused with the one-sided conversation they were hearing.
Francois extended a hand towards him, a grim smile playing on his lips, "An enemy of the Imperials is always a friend to us."
Hesitantly, and with a confused stare on what was going on, Itami took the offered apendage.
And thus, did the first, official meeting between Japan and the Remnants of Coan Forest start with a simple handshake.
A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.
Thank you to my newest patrons: Gabriel, Francis Daniel Cua De Leon, and Ricardo Jesus Rojas Rojas.
And a special thanks to: Oliver vazquez, brutalcrab and Tassimo. Lots of names this week lmao.
