He walked through a war torn village, shoes crunching against gravel.
He saw hell.
Family and friends died all around him, fire licked the environnements. Filling the air with a toxic mix of smoke and cooked flesh that burned at his nose. His once auburn red hair had turned a deeper and darker shade from the blood that had been spilt, and it wasn't his own.
People cursed him and begged for his help.
His father had pushed him away from a strike from a man intent on killing him.
That single action of fatherly love had cost him his left arm.
The man paid back the price in full.
A sword slit the attackers throat as the blood of the slain man fell upon his father's light green hair.
"Shirou," his father said looking at his shell shocked expression, "Get out of here, your mother and I along with the rest of the tribe will fight back," He paused as he looked at his son, who's auburn eyes were wide and full of shock, "It'll be fine we'll see you later."
He lied, his father, the man who ran away from his responsibilities, lied.
He knew that all too well, but still, he started to run, sure it would have been looked down upon by his mother and her family as cowardice and a show of weakness to run away like this, he knew, he knew.
He walked past those stuck under the collapsed walls, the fire burning him all the while, he ignored them, his gaze cast nowhere, but everywhere.
He could almost imagine it, his mother screaming at him for running away, it was misplaced hope, no misplaced idealism, deep inside even then he knew nothing would be the same anymore.
He heard the screaming getting closer and closer, the thuds of feet falling alerting him to the aggressors getting closer and closer.
He ran faster, until suddenly.
"Ah," He tripped it was a simple mistake, yet as he fell to the ground he saw the figures coming towards him, his face twisted into a scared impression, "No, no, g-get away," he wanted to scream yet no words escaped his mouth.
The grinning soldier, whose face was marred with dirt and shining with sweat, raised his blade intent on killing him.
And that was when he saw it and he realized who he was, a hill of swords showed itself to him and in that moment of stress, he remembered everything.
"Trace," winds started to form as the soldiers looked down in disbelief upon a child no older than five years of age as his entire countenance changed into something different, "On."
A blade unsheathed, a sword pierced the soldier's throat, blood spilled from the gaping wound.
The others tried to kill him before it was too late, alas they couldn't do more than a step.
The boy who by no means was what he seemed stopped, he looked upon the fires and the killings, and he settled on a course of action.
He was going to kill them.
If he could kill them all then surely, surely his rather peaceful life will recommence?
No such things were granted.
Once he arrived within the area he gazed upon the worst of humanity, he saw their depravity. Everyone he knew was dead, the soldiers were having their way with the bodies, he wouldn't stand for it.
He reinforced its body to its limit, he exploded towards a man who was raping a dead corpse, he was the first to fall, his blade one of average make all things considered, killed the man in an instant.
He looked at the corpseー
Auburn red hair greeted him, the person was, he looked at the woman a single acknowledgement resounded through his mind, this corpse that was being raped was... was... it was his mother...
He already knew that they had killed her and that they had also killed his father most probably, but... a part of him... for whatever reason, had wanted to see his old man one last time.
The more rational parts of the being/machine simply known as 'Shirou' refuted the action saying that it didn't matter and they should just kill all these men and rid humanity of a stain.
His more emotional, his more human side insisted they should at least check in a vain hope that he still clung to life.
And so he went through the village and killed everybody in sight who appeared to be an enemy. Until he saw a man with green hair, a missing arm and a stab wound in his gut, he went to kneel next to the body, inadvertently trampling over the bodies of countless dead men.
His hands went to shake him, he didn't know why, he just knew it felt right.
His father blinked open his eyes, somehow still clinging to life, "Shirou... What are you doing here? I thought I told you to run?"
He looked away in shame.
His father, however still on death's door, put his hand on his head.
Until eventually he fell.
The man started to ruffle his head. His hair became covered in blood.
He looked at the sky, his face lacking any kind of emotion, he was empty.
"My beautiful son, my beautiful baby boy..."
Until eventually he saw a man, the man saved him, the man smiled at him.
"Promise... me one thing Shirou..."
He wondered if he could smile like that man.
"Never," his father coughed, "Ever let yourself believe," He coughed again blood escaping his lips, "That you are alone..." his father looked at him in the eyes and he smiled lovingly at him blood spilling from his lips, "Me and your mom, no matter what... we will watch over you... oh... also... take... this..." he said as he handed him an emblem.
His eyes even after all that he went through started started to water, the memories from his various deployments and his past life all meshing together with the mind of the counter guardian that was replacing the boy, and yet he still felt emotional, hah what a joke, for him not even 10 minutes into his actual existence and already having taken all the feelings and thoughts of a young boy who just wanted a peaceful life.
"I... I love... you... son," those were his fathers last words.
Wordlessly he got up and started to walk out of the village.
Emiya woke with a startle, before grabbing his chest and quickly calming himself, he hadn't seen that memory in a long time. That old disjointed memory of this body's previous inhabitant, its previous consciousness, before he found himself within it, or would the better term be awoke?
He didn't know nor did he care, the past was the past for a reason and yet that boys memories somehow still managed to pierce through it all, those waking moments where the boys emotions overwrote the logic of his mind and he went back there once more to try and live a semblance of a peaceful life, only for it to be shattered in the wake of the cruelty of this world and for him to realise the foolishness of his actions.
But... was he also not moved by that very same boy's convictions?
Was that not the reason why he decided to live a peaceful life for as long as possible before it all came crashing down on that fateful day.
That day were friends became enemies and foes became friends.
That day for the very first time he felt the overwhelming urge to kill, where he simply just didn't care anymore.
That day where he set himself once more upon the path of no return, the path to the hill of swords.
What was he thinking? He had to pack up camp soon and move out, he would rather get to his destination soon and be in the cesspool that was the capital for as short as possible.
Though another part of his mind simply reasoned with him that he didn't even need to go there, he could just go to the area where his prey was supposed to be around and skip the capital entirely. The same part of his brain which even dared for them to go to the capital even if she were there was because it would be better for him to restore his supplies before going on another hunt.
Alas sadly for the more cautious side of his brain he decided to go with the latter simply because it would be a pain without the extra supplies, sure he could simply live off the land for a portion of time, though that would be impossible after he killed the danger beast.
And so he simply decided to bite the bullet and go to the capital.
He just hoped that that freak of a woman wasn't there.
And so he started the trek.
Once he arrived within the capital he instantly noticed the suffering that surrounded it, he saw people ignore homeless men and pregnant women without a home, hell, they didn't give them anything.
He fought with himself, contemplating whether he should give what little he has to them.
If he should give them the clothes of his back or something, in the end he stopped himself, if he did such a thing he would stick out, there would be rumors about him, well more than there already is, the rumors would change from an odd looking man to an odd looking man with a kindness that was out of place within the empire, who would give to the poor.
And while he didn't care about what others thought of him he knew how fast rumours would spread about him, and while he had lost his auburn red hair, some people would still recognize him, and he couldn't risk that.
And so he pulled his cloak higher over his face and walked into an inn to get the supplies he would need for his journey.
He almost convinced himself that what he was doing was what he should be doing, that he shouldn't try to run from his past, and that what he was doing was the right thing.
Almost
He spoke to the innkeeper, paid and was put into crippling debt once more.
If he remembered correctly his path should be through a rather dense forest accompanied by a cliff, well that was the fastest way to get to where his query was.
And so he started on his path, though he couldn't scratch the odd feeling that he was being watched... if he was he wouldn't blame them he wasn't exactly the most common of sights, a man with white silver hair, slightly tanned skin and golden brown eyes? Somebody who fit that description was bound to get a lot of attention, though the looks being sent to him weren't ones of curiosity, no they were something different, it was as if somebody was measuring him.
The only person who he remembered doing that to him before being that woman before and during their last fight.
Ah, he was getting carried away again, the person looking at him was basically studying him, though as soon as that presence fell upon him it left once more.
Odd, he thought to himself, why would they be staring at him so intently if they were just planning to leave right after? Did it matter though? No, he reassured himself, it did not matter, there were only two people who could hope to even try to match him.
And even then only one of the two had actually ever fought him.
He continued on his path unperturbed by what was happening around him.
So when a carriage stopped near him, he ignored it and kept walking forward towards the entrance.
And so it was only a matter of time before said carriage stopped near him again, for some reason intent on picking him up, he merely ignored them and kept walking, and right when he was about to reach the entrance and be out of this god forsaken city once more, the carriage stopped right in front of him.
And so he let a scowl work its way up to his face, he was going to go around the carriage until he noticed that a group of guards had actually surrounded him.
He looked upon them without so much as turning his head, "Out of my way."
The carriage driver looked infumed at his words, looking at him as if he was less than zero, trash that had to be culled, "The lady wished to speak to you, you will speak to the lady," he said, barely containing his anger.
Alas sadly for the carriage driver the man who hunted danger beasts with an almost religious zeal wasn't one to be stopped, "Well I do not wish to speak to the lady."
The man who had already been enraged somehow seemed to lose himself to more and more anger and rage he opened his mouth to speak, however a calm and soft voice spoke before the man could, "My apologies fine sir, may I at least know your name?"
He stared at her with a questioning gaze wondering why she was sounding so polite. 'Is she trying to lure me into a trap of some kind?' He questioned in his mind not that it would even matter, but... what would be the harm in at least telling her something to call him by, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her his mouth opening as he went to say what she could call him.
"You can call me, Archer," It was a title more than anything, a mark of his insane skill with a bow that could only ever be rivaled by the greatest heroes of legend, his skill was such that such an epithet made sense for him to have.
However his epithet seemed to draw a reaction out of the young lady, "Eh, Archer? As in the man that every merchant speaks of!?"
He blinked, surprised that he was so well known especially in the capital, the nobility here didn't even try to interact with the 'common folk' so her knowing about him was extremely surprising.
"You know of me?" He asked, with his head tilted to the side.
"Who doesn't! You're like a folk hero!"
Exactly a folk hero, either something was off, or he was lacking crucial information, or both, either way best to play along, "I'm surprised you've heard of me then, folk stories are normally only spoken by and to peasants and farmers, not nobility."
However another voice spoke before the young lady could continue, "Lady Aria is a kind soul."
Bullshit he wanted to say as he resisted the urge, Archer could see it in her eyes, the lies and deceit were clear to him, she wouldn't have been able to hide it not from him, "It's a shame then I really must be getting on my way. My current target you see is a bit of a tough cookie to kill, so I need to be there on time to kill it while it's at its easiest to kill."
"Oh, ok then, be safe!" The young lady said as her guard finally let him through.
He had started to walk through the forest when he noticed something rather odd in front of him, something that glinted from the side, years of hardship made him notice the small detail. "A wire?" He said as he looked at the thing, it was green in color and somewhat thick. Now that he looked closer at it, it looked rather sharp as if it could cut, he didn't want to get tangled up in that. He looked further into the forest. There were many, many more all throughout it, how odd.
If he didn't know any better he would say there was a secret base around here or something, though that couldn't be the case. Who the hell sets up a base in a forest this close to the empire's capital?
Was it his problem? Nope, no, not at all and so he merely started to walk through the field doing his best not to get tangled up in the wires.
A step, here and there and he was almost through the forest, yet his bag got snagged on something. He frowned thinking it was a stick or something and so he pulled a bit harder until he heard a snap, though it was different as if instead of wood it was whatever that wire was.
A sense of trepidation grew within him, he didn't have a good feeling about this…
Authors note
Hello and welcome to my new story! And I know what you're saying (if you read my other stories) GreekAntrielos aren't you supposed to be working on a new chapter well yes, yes I am, I'm just being lazy, I also got caught up in a rather big obsession with Akame Ga Kill related fanfiction, oh also I haven't seen the anime nor have I read the manga, I just read the wiki and some fanfictions, so my knowledge on how to start this thing properly is a bit messed up, so I have also decided to mix some different plot points from different stories I read, no it isn't plagiarism because I'm making my story go in different directions, probably.
So... I hoped you enjoyed this first chapter, oh btw this should also be edited by a beta (Darth Akumus) so that's a first!