From Fake Dreams

by Third Fang

Emiya Kiritsugu was happy living the rest of his short days. He had put his past behind him... until he began to dream of futures that had yet to be. Let it be known that the Magus Killer was not dangerous simply because he was dying and had no plans to fight. Slowly being put on Royal Road over time.

19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Recognition

I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs:

o. o. o.

Shirou groaned as he pulled his stiff and aching body up from the bed that he had woken up in just moments beforehand. His arms and chest were heavy from his fight against that dead apostle and his legs more so considering how much he had been forced to run. His chest of course throbbed the most painfully given how much he had abused the tiny crest that he had inherited from his father and as such he expected to have some minor time interpretation episodes for the next few days.

He would have added the fact that his mouth was a bit dry to the list, but since his transformation it had always been like that and he was used to it. So he didn't pay it much mind and focused on other issues.

Looking down at himself, he saw that he was in western sleepwear, something that was growing in popularity back home in Japan, instead of the suit and coat that he had remembered wearing before passing out while being half carried by Lorelei's guards. The clothes that he wore in the Clocktower he could live without, granted he find something else to wear in public, however the fact that his shroud was not among the items on his person was of slightly more concern.

While he did not necessarily need it to control his impulses, it certainly made his new state more manageable to deal with when he was performing activities that might agitate his condition, such as cooking with plenty of juicy meat… or when he was having sex with Sakura. He would have to look for it as soon as he figured out his location and current situation.

He looked around to see that he was in a room that he had never been in before, and that was putting it lightly. The bed he was in was ordained with carvings as was the trinkets that littered the walls around him.

He could tell that each object was old upon sight by analyzing their histories. A small tuner that kept perfect pitch, a doll made of magical material that molded it into the shape of its owner several centuries ago, a clock that kept time to the millisecond for the past fifty years… and every single one unnerved him.

An attempt to structurally grasp the building he was in left him with a massive headache as he found himself in a large underground complex with massive amounts of mana running through it, which he shouldn't be surprised about since a majority of the Clocktower was underground and not in the tower that it was named after. He didn't get the full scale of the complex he was in, but he did have a fairly good mental map of his current section. At least now if he tried to leave he wouldn't accidentally open the wrong door and find himself facing a closet.

His chest throbbed in pain again, distracting him from his musings. Among all his time based augmented spells, Trace Accel was the most taxing to his crest as it blasted out multiple weapons as soon as they were made at inhumane speeds per blade. Overclock altered his internal world, as opposed to objects in Gaia's realm, to increase his processing and output of swords, so the strain for that spell on his crest was nearly non-existent due to the lack of temporal resistance. In the middle was his standard accelerating spells that were focused on single objects. They were simple, to the point, and only required some focus to use.

He technically knew how to make a time altered bounded field on his body to change his body's speed, but with only three circuits he knew better than to attempt to do something like that and expect to live.

Gritting his teeth in mild irritation as his heart pulsed in protest, the boy did a brief self checkup to make sure that all his organs were still there. He was in the Magus Association after all. It wasn't unheard of for a person to pass out with all his circuits and wake up with…

Five more?

"What the hell?" The Faker muttered in confusion as he inspected his magic crest once more to find that it had nearly tripled in size to a more respectable eight lines that interacted with the rest of his body and soul. The throbbing in his chest he found was not just from the spiritual pain of overusing his original three circuits, but from the physical pain of the grafting process that was standard when adding more of the tools to the human body.

However what seemed to be even more absurd about the situation was the fact that the additional circuits meshed perfectly with the ones he had from before.

Size. Purpose. Quality.

All the parameters matched up to a T. To Shirou's knowledge there was no possible explanation for two crests to match one another this perfectly…

Unless… unless both parts were originally from the same whole…

His rapidly flying thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the door to his right, the one that led to the rest of the compound as opposed to the one on his left that lead to a sizeable bathroom, opened to reveal a woman in European maid's clothes and carrying a tray that held a rather expensive looking empty china cup and several containers of liquid that each looked more expensive than his entire outfit.

If he wasn't so preoccupied with the fact that someone just gave him a massive gift, he would have been fairly flustered at the woman's appearance. Despite the fact that her attire was extraordinarily modest and unremarkable in any real way, the brunette herself was still more than a bit attractive.

"Lady Barthomelloi has been informed that you have woken up." The unknown maid stated, not at all surprised that he was conscious. "The container with flowers has tea with several unique herbs mixed in for nutrition. The one with gems contains the solution that is often drunk after a grafting procedure. The door to your left contains a bathroom and shower. Your clothes are in the process of being cleaned and will be delivered to you in fifteen minutes. The lady will be expecting you in half a hour in her office down the hallway. Please use this time to make yourself presentable. The lady does not like to be kept waiting. I suggest you hold any questions you have for her unless there is something you desire to inquire of me."

Shirou opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to get his still stunned mind working at full capacity again. "Um… at the moment I only have two questions for you." He answered honestly. "First of all… what's your name? I can't thank you properly for what you've done for me if I don't know it."

The woman bowed politely, not at all caught off guard by the statement. "You honor me with your concern. Please call me Miranda. I am one of the maids that cater and service to Lady Barthomelloi and her guests here at the Clocktower."

"That makes sense…" The teen nodded in agreement as he became more conscious. "I was supposed to meet with her when I got here before that dueling mess started." He sighed and dropped his head. A normal person would have been more surprised at all this happening to them so quickly, but after his encounter with Louvre and the six hours after he woke up from that encounter, he could confidently say that he could manage most curveballs that life would throw at him with a fairly level mind.

Of course there were some events that would still cause him to be nervous. Events such as…

"Your time is rather short. What was the second thing you wished to ask me Sir Emiya?" The maid asked curiously yet at the same time professionally, cutting off Shirou's thoughts in doing so.

"Um…" The boy fumbled on his words as he looked down upon himself again and blushed slightly. "How… or who… exactly changed me when I was unconscious?"

o. o. o.

"You're almost late." Lorelei stated in a factual tone as she went over some paperwork behind her desk as Shirou was walked into the room by the maid in his full attire.

"My apologies." Shirou bowed politely. "I had a small issue regarding my crest that unfortunately consumed a small amount of time."

He looked around the room and mentally noted that the office was pretty much what he had expected it to look like given who works in it: perfect. Every piece of furniture, every pen, paper file cabinet and device needed for the job the woman did was positioned, placed, and organized near flawlessly either on her desk or somewhere else in the room. The pictures and portraits of what appeared to be older members of the Barthomelloi family littered the walls and shelves of the fairly larger than average office, with a large portrait of some sort of crest behind where she sat that the teen assumed had some sort of significance to the woman's family.

Granted he figured that there would have been a fair amount more room here if the woman had relied on modern technology to store away the vast majority of her files, however he knew better than to make such suggestions to a woman whose entire family represented the definition of how a "proper" Lord of the Association should act.

Then there was the sheer number of spells running in and around the room. One glance was all it took for Shirou to tell that there was no way in hell he, or anyone else for that matter would be able to get away with anything inside this place, let alone understand what half of the bounded fields here did for that matter.

"Noted." The woman sitting in the elaborate leather chair nodded before turning to the maid wordlessly.

"Sir Emiya has partaken of the crest draught, however he refused to partake of the tea." The servant reported professionally.

"It would be more than easy for the combination of the two drinks to produce one or a form of drought to put me off guard." Shirou explained himself calmly. "My father had employed such a method in the past to take out several of his targets, as did several other Magi of notable worth when dealing with potential rivals."

"And you assume that I would do something similar?" The Barthomelloi asked skeptically.

"I would prefer not to take chances when dealing with a person who just recently set me up against a mentally unstable Dead Apostle without informing me beforehand so I could prepare." Shirou replied honestly.

While most magi wouldn't dream of talking like this to the Queen of all people, Shirou on the other hand had some more leeway. He was not a member of the Association. He was not trying to gain prestige or power. He was at the moment a freelancer raised by one of the best Assassins ever known. He was a fighter and dare he say it, a killer. As such he was speaking from that standpoint. So long as he did not speak with blatant rudeness, he could get away with speaking his mind for a decent period.

The room was silent for several seconds at the maid looked at him in surprise for speaking to her boss in such a way… before the Queen let out a very brief snort of amusement. "It seems that you have more than knowledge of some interesting spells inside your head after all Emiya. While your logic is false in this case, you are quite correct in your choice to avoid partaking of both drinks none the less." She looked at the maid. "You may leave now. I have many private things to discuss with Sir Emiya."

The woman paused as she glanced at Shirou skeptically for a fraction of a second before bowing. "By your leave my Lady."

And with that the room was left empty save for the two Magus sitting on the opposite sides of an oak desk looking at one another warily and expectantly, as if trying to figure out what was going through the other's mind.

"Where is your shroud?" The woman demanded after several moments of silence.

"It is still on my person. You stated earlier that you were somewhat displeased with my public wearing of it." The teen answered truthfully. Telling her that it had been turned into an undershirt was probably not the best thing to do considering that the shroud was a fairly valuable holy relic from the Church… or maybe it was a good thing. He wasn't sure since he didn't know exactly how the woman in front of him viewed the Church, but he thought it was best to not take any chances.

Lorelei nodded acceptingly before looking down at the papers in front of her. "Shirou Emiya, adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, also known as the Magus Killer, and defacto sixth head of the Emiya lineage. Country of Origin. Japan. Age. Sixteen. Hair color. Red going grey prematurely. Eyes. Brown. Od levels. One hundred and sixty seven units. Number of circuits. Twenty seven A, borderline A+ ranked natural with three, now eight, B ranked from the Emiya clan crest. Total estimated maximum output at a given time. Eight hundred and seventy two units. Element. Sword. Origin." She looked up at him as Shirou's face paled considerably. "Sword."

"This won't end well will it?" The identified incarnation asked as calmly as he could manage. He was not honestly that surprised that she had found out about his strong ties to swords. If the woman had sent people to undress him while he was unconscious and give him a healthy part of his adopted grandfather's crest, then there shouldn't have been much surprise that she had people looking into his body to see how he worked in the mean time.

Had he not been concerned about his future, he would have paid more attention to his abnormally high Od, or inner energy, levels. The normal magus' was around twenty and Rin's he knew for a fact was getting close to around five hundred, but that massive difference was due to Rin's very well founded genetic background in addition to all the physical exercise she did when she wasn't experimenting. The standard Magi normally relied on magic for most things in life whenever they could help it, which included keeping in shape to look appealing for the other nobles in their society. This in turn stagnated or impaired their natural reserves over time, though it did keep them well practiced and varied in their art as well.

The last time he checked, his limits were only around the mid eighties. It was probably that high in the first place due to him constantly pushing himself to his limits with his projection and physical training much like how he strengthened his circuits from projecting Avalon… but it shouldn't have doubled in such a short amount of time…

Unless he put into account that the last time he checked his Od levels was before the Louvre incident and he was turned into a partial Dead Apostle. The undead beings were known to have absurd levels of energy in addition to their heightened physical abilities which was why they were so dangerous in the first place. While the teen so far had yet to experience any physical enhancements, at least not while the moon wasn't full, he apparently had gained the internal reserves more fitting of one in his situation. It was still well within human capabilities to possess, but it was still certainly worth something to take note of.

"It depends." The Queen stated as she put away Shirou's bio and looked at him professionally. "While you would no doubt be an interesting specimen for research, you have also proven yourself to be a rather useful and potential tool as well, not to mention the fact that any possible children you might sire would be likely to possess exceptional magical potential. Your future will depend on how you answer the next few questions I will ask." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Rest assured, if you attempt to lie or withhold information from me, I will react in an appropriate manner."

Shirou somehow doubted that the Barthomelloi's definition of appropriate matched his own, however he wisely kept that thought to himself. "Yes ma'am." He replied while trying his hardest not to show how scared he was at the moment.

"Why did your father adopt you and what did he focus on when he taught you your magic?" The woman started off her interrogation sternly.

The teen felt somewhat relieved that she was at least starting off with easy questions. "Dad adopted me because he rescued me from the aftereffects of the fourth grail war in Fuyuki City. He felt a connection to me because I was the only one he saved in that event. Since my parents died in the events and I lost my memories of myself from before the fire, he adopted me as his own. As for magic, he simply trained me in most of the basics after I bugged him to teach me for a about a year. To be honest he wasn't that good of a teacher, which is why he brought in Si… I mean McGinty and Lord El-Melloi the second. They helped me with most of my education before and after dad died, though dad did teach me how to use my crest…"

"Speaking of your crest, can you tell me how is it that you only came to possess three of the circuits?" Lorelei asked neutrally. "According to reports, your father obtained twenty percent of his sire's crest due to the fact that the latter was a sealing designate. Even though it was small, its size should have amounted to what you have now instead of that pathetic number."

Shirou did not look away and ignored the flaring pain in his chest as he was reminded that he had just received an addition to his crest. Under most circumstances, most Magus would do everything in their power to try to protect and preserve their family crests, even give up their lives. As such it was understandable for the woman to be curious to know what happened to the original circuits that his father possessed.

"During the end of the fourth grail war, dad was cursed heavily. The magic invaded not only his body, but his circuits as well. It was what eventually led to my father's premature death. The three I received from him were all that remained from the crest he had, and it was too dangerous for him to add any of his remaining circuits to it at the time. Since there were so few circuits to transfer, my body did not need to undergo that much strain or risk to adapt to them despite the fact that I was adopted." He paused. "While we are on the topic of my crest Lady Barthomelloi…"

"Should I allow you to continue your life, you will consider it a sort of reward for killing Louvre and identifying a weakness to that rather troubling artifact that is in Solomon's possession." Lorelei answered without hesitation, knowing exactly what Shirou was about to ask. "While examining your body, my doctors noticed that on occasion your internal time flow would sporadically slow down or speed up, originating from the overuse and instability of your crest. Given your potential usefulness, I determined that it was unseemly to have such a weakness and addressed it."

Shirou nodded in understanding. Even though he had received the original crest from his father nearly a decade ago, he was still in the middle of puberty and as such could still handle the transplantation process with some degree of success, even if he wasn't a blood born Emiya. Had he been two or three years older, the procedure would not nearly have gone so smoothly. Even so, he had a feeling that the woman in front of him had called in a few favors to make sure that the crest transplantation went as smoothly as possible given his circumstances. "You honor me. I had not expected in my wildest dreams to be given a section of the original Emiya crest upon my stay here…"

"Do not flatter yourself boy." The Queen interrupted the boy's thanking of her. "You are still under my scrutiny for the time being." Her eyes narrowed. "For example, I am somewhat curious as to why you have a noble phantasm inside your body… and an exceptionally powerful and significant one at that."

Shirou mentally sighed. He was not surprised at all that the woman's doctors had found Avalon. For whatever reason they had left it alone, but the fact that they knew about it did not leave him with a particularly warm and fuzzy feeling. "It was a gift from the Einzbern's to my father to use as a tool and catalyst to summon his servant for the fourth Holy Grail War. It grants minor healing properties when it is not around King Arthur and implanted in another as a conceptual item, which Father used to heal me when he originally found me in the destruction of the war. He did not see a need to remove it from me after that."

"I see." Lorelei mused. "That is interesting to know. Are there any other effects on your body that you are aware of?"

Shirou nodded. "I have a very minor healing factor that at best doubles the natural speed at which I recover from injuries if I channel some prana into it, and I rarely get sick. I cannot however use its main intended function and enter the holy land of Avalon. That power is only available when its original owner is present… however I believe that since it has been in my body for so long, I may be the only other person capable of using it if he is around."

The elder nodded. "Understandable. I would have been somewhat disappointed in the original makers if anyone could use it at any time." She paused and looked at him skeptically. "You are holding something back. What else can you do with the holy scabbard?"

Shirou winced and relented, ashamed that he could not hold back this last piece of information from the woman. "As I said before, I have had the artifact in my body for nearly a decade. Because of this my body instinctively knows the artifact to the smallest detail. As such…" He paused.

"Go on." The woman stated commandingly.

"As such." He sighed. "I am capable of projecting perfect copies of it... or rather it is the only object I am capable of projecting perfect copies of. The Mace of Odo was not the first noble phantasm I had managed to trace, Avalon was."

The room was silent for several moments. "A perfect copy?" Lorelei asked, for once caught off guard.

"Yes. As I have said, it's the only object I can make perfectly." Shirou admitted.

"Through projection." She stated, as if listing off the facts more to herself than anyone else.

"Through tracing to be specific, and only because every cell in my body has constantly been exposed to it for an extremely long period of time. If you taught another person tracing and he had a conceptual object embedded into his body for nearly a decade, I have little doubt that he would be able to do the same thing." The boy sighed, knowing that this could end up very badly for him. "The magic in the copy is the same as well, however due to how its magic works I am unable to truly utilize its high level mysteries. The best I can do is understand it's mechanics to the best of my abilities… though I have been doing some research into artifacts and miracles made by the Fae as of late to try and learn more of their craft. It unfortunately has been slow going so far…"

"And exactly how long would these perfect copies last?" The woman asked, her mind now going into overdrive at having multiple replicas of extremely high level fairy magic available for research.

"Given how significant of a presence Avalon is in Gaia's realm, I can make them last about a week, give or take a day or two." Shirou answered truthfully. "The more there are though, the less they'll last as Gaia realizes that something is off with the existence known as Avalon. If I was copying something mundane, like a chair or a desk, even without being perfect I could make them last for years on end so long as they were non significant existences, but Avalon can only go for a week."

The vice director breathed out heavily through her nose and leaned back into her chair. "I am beginning to assume that your father placed the artifact inside you as some sort of experiment."

The teen shook his head in denial, knowing that this was not what his father had intended for him. "I am afraid you are incorrect. My father did not care much for the standard practices for magi and only learned of them in order to take advantage of them for his work. He…"

"Do not lecture me on what I already know." Lorelei interrupted coldly. "I have done my research. Your father was a heretic Emiya. He practiced magic for the results, not for the study. While there are those who do lean towards that path here, none shattered the rules of engagement, dignity, or of the magic world in general like your father did. The only ones he did manage to keep were the ones that regarded the secrecy of our craft, which happened to coincide with his methods in general. Otherwise, we would have hunted him down long before he would have succumbed to his curse, if not the Church."

The woman leaned forward on her desk and stared at Shirou with the sharpest eyes the boy had ever seen. "We know much about your father, however despite the fact that I have questioned McGinty, Lord El-Melloi, and the Fraga woman, we still do not know much about you. Tell me, what plans do you have for yourself regarding our craft and our world in the future? Do you plan to truly take up your father's mantle and be nothing more than a freelancing embarrassment?"

Shirou swallowed heavily as he attempted to not buckle under the woman's gaze. He didn't feel any prana coming from her, indicating that she wasn't using any form of mystic eyes on him at the moment be it the eyes of whisper, binding, compulsion, or any other type like that, but somehow he doubted that she needed to use them even if she did have them. Regardless, he didn't want to anger her to the point that she actually felt the need to use them if she did indeed have such a thing.

"I…" He started off slowly. "I'm not really sure. Outside of the task my father has asked me to do, if I manage to survive doing it… my plans for the future are fairly open." He thought harder about the question and tried harder to not let the woman's irritated glare get to him. "If things go well for me here, I guess I'm hoping that I can use my abilities to help out the Association on occasion, both inside and outside the compounds while focusing my time on trying to have a family." He paused as he thought out what he was going to say next. "Since my structural grasping can delve into the mysteries of enchanted objects and artifacts fairly quickly, I thought I could start off using that to aid some of the other researchers here. In addition to that I do have some experiments and theories that I am testing out on the side when I'm not training, ones that I was hoping that I could manage to figure out here with the right instruction and aid…"

"And what kind of experiments would those be?" Lorelei demanded in a dead even tone. Clearly she was prodding him to see that if he wasn't all just hired muscle and could prove to be an adequate scientist as well.

Shirou paused for a moment before responding clearly. "Adjusting and molding temporal definitions and spectrums in physical objects and the applications of said objects after aforementioned alterations."

Rin had ran him ragged getting him to describe his research in such a manner if asked instead of his standard description of "altering the time space of projected objects in mid construction". Once more he had to remind himself that he owed her big time for forcing him through all those etiquette lessons…

The Queen was quiet for several seconds before nodding slowly. "Hybridizing your personal craft of advanced projection with your clan's crest in order for you to become a craftsman of an object's time-space… no, it would be more accurate to say that you are attempting to use the fabric of time and space as an actual material for constructing new objects. Considering your limited range of spells, it is an adequate new field of study you have created. Have much progress have you made?"

The Emiya shifted in his seat uncomfortably as a certain memory came to mind. "Some. I was hoping I could gain some tutelage and advice in some related fields before I tried experimenting again, otherwise I might not be so lucky as to have only my arm cut off by accident."

A brief flicker of the woman's mouth was all that anyone would have seen that indicated that Lorelei was somewhat amused by the boy's comment. "Altering an object's time space such that it would remain intact but notably separate from Gaia's domain. An appraisable feat."

Shirou bit his tongue, barely holding back a comment that made a connection between his "notable feats" and events that have either nearly killed him, maimed him, or caused people vastly more dangerous than he is to try and influence him. Instead he merely nodded his head in gratitude. "I believe the finished product of the spell would be something that would interest you and other members of the Clocktower. I would greatly appreciate it if you would hold your praises until I have completed it so that you can see what the true results of my work would yield."

"I intend to." The woman nodded. "It appears that even though the standard Magus society doesn't appeal to you, you do at least see the logic in our pursuit of knowledge instead of focusing your time running around the world childishly for foolish reasons like your father did. That in itself is a positive sign for you."

Shirou grit his teeth in minor irritation as the woman mocked his father's lifestyle. He normally could handle people insulting Kiritsugu because of what he did, but calling the man's dreams of peace childish and degrading his reasons for doing so on the other hand was very close to crossing the line. How could any sane person believe that the desire for a world without needless conflict was childish? That trying to end all the pain and suffering that an all too large number of people experience day in and day out wasn't worth fighting for?

Lorelei didn't seem to notice Shirou's irritation as she continued, taking out a manila envelope in the process. "Regardless, your work furthering the study of projection alone has been noted by myself and should be rewarded appropriately regardless of your lineage."

The Emiya hesitantly grabbed the parcel, not knowing if he was about to receive a sealing designation, a free pass into the Association, or a monetary check for all his hard work. A brief structural grasping that lasted no longer than a fraction of a second indicated that there were no spells inside the container and the only thing inside was a piece of paper.

Glancing at the woman and seeing that she didn't seem like she was about to talk any time soon, he slowly opened the letter and took out its contents and read the paper inside. Slowly but distinctively, his eyes widened in shock as he comprehended what he was being told before looking at the woman again. "Th-this is…"

"Congratulations are in order Emiya." Lorelei Barthomelloi stated calmly. "It has been a long time since someone has achieved a magic worthy of a noble color that is not related to mystic eyes."

Shirou looked back at the letter in his hands and scanned at it once more to make sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, or that there wasn't some sort of spell over the piece of paper that told him some sort of secret underlying message.

Noble Colors. The latter of two color systems applied in the magic world, it is a special classification system used to grade special abilities such as sorcery traits. In practice, however, it relates mostly with mystic eyes. Powerful eyes, normally demonic, shine gold, while those with powers that reaches the realm of gods have a multi-colored glow such as the case of jewel and rainbow. The aforementioned colors were unheard of to be accessed by humans and were said to be only possessed by those who descended from gods, demons, the Types, or were possessed by the Types themselves… however that did not mean that there were lower ranked classifications that could not be applied to human achieved powers.

"S-s-s-silver?" The teen stuttered in surprise, knowing that many magi in the Association would literally kill for such an honor. Kill, maim, pillage, loot, vivisect, and many other horrible things for such a distinction. Dozens of generations of magi could and have wasted their lives away trying to gain such recognition or even half of what he had just been awarded.

"You have not only effectively bypassed the fundamental laws of equivalent exchange with an incomplete and previously thought useless branch of spells, but you have proven that you are potentially capable of virtually any form of thaumaturgy through this method, including that of inhuman origin such as the Fairies if our discussion about your secret scabbard is accurate. Putting those facts into consideration, I believe that such a classification for your ability is appropriate." The vice chairman stated simply.

"Had your methods been proven to be unique only to you, then you would have received a sealing designation instead of a noble color. However since McGinty and Lord El-Melloi have long since explained to me the advanced methods of your craft and proven that virtually anyone can perform it, that is not the case. You just so happen to be able to perform it to a higher level than others due to the way your circuits are made towards material transmutation and your interesting status as an incarnation."

Shirou swallowed heavily and made a mental note to cook a massive feast for Waver and Sirius the next time he saw them as thanks for just barely managing to prevent him from being dissected. Beef, lobster, ham, turkey, and many other meals were going to be needed to express how grateful he was to the two men… though Sirius' meals would need that extra dozen layers of bacon on his plates just to get the point across.

"As it stands I have already been searching the Clocktower's populace for other magi who are focused towards that branch of magic and have physical object based elements or origins to see if we can produce similar miracles to those you have made, however I have yet to find anyone that possesses those qualifications." The woman concluded professionally.

Her message was clear. Shirou was bloody lucky. His power was impressive, great, and damn near revolutionary, however it was understandable and technically performable by anyone. The only reason why people couldn't replicate it as well as he could was simply because they didn't have the right qualifications, which were in themselves nothing special save for the matching element and origin, but that could easily be worked around in this case. As such even if a majority of the magus population knew how to use tracing, they would not be able to use it to the degree that Shirou could, and as such it would not impair his greatest skill…

If there was a spell that could create gold out of thin air and only one magus knew of it, he could create ten ounces every time he performed it. However if more people knew of the spell, that ten ounces created would be split up evenly between each mage that could perform it, reducing the miracle's efficiency. It was one of the main reasons why most magi tried their damned hardest to keep the majority of their research a secret from the rest of the world.

With Tracing, Shirou didn't have to worry about this problem as no one other than him had the right combined tools, or in this case circuits, experience, elements and origins, to perform the miracles he could make, to the degree he made them. The only person that even came close to meeting those qualifications in Shirou's mind was Sirius, but even the old blacksmith didn't believe he could ever do what the Faker did with projections.

While his reality marble was tied heavily to this branch of spells, in the end all the inner world actually did was store and record any and all melee based tools in his head permanently. Tracing merely helped pull said tools from his inner world to the outer one.

As such it could not be accurately said that a person needed to be distorted in order to perform Shirou's version of projection. All they really needed to do was perfectly scan the object that they wanted to copy with an enhanced version of structural grasping and use the eight steps to produce their own version. It was the ease of use on this part that separated the teen from everyone else. All Unlimited Blade Works did was allow Shirou to make, store, and pull up perfect blueprints of swords and go straight to the tracing step.

As such the Emiya had metaphorically struck gold. Tracing was revolutionary to the point that it was borderline true magic. The kicker was that it was simultaneously performable and technically unavailable to the vast majority of the magus community. This being the case, if everyone at the Clocktower know about the branch of spells, he would instantly receive recognition for his work without worrying about people trying to copy it…

Countering it on the other hand was still a subject of concern, however that was only if knowledge of his use of the spell spread out too far. If it was only known to a select few high ranking members of the Association, then he should be fine… at least he hoped that would be the case.

"I'll take your silence as acceptance of your current situation and position." Lorelei stated, snapping Shirou back to reality. "I will be blunt Emiya. As it stands, you are indebted to me. Had I been another member of the tower, you would have been either executed for your father's past actions, dissected for study, or you would have simply disappeared. One of the families that is connected to mine, the Archibald family, in particular is rather adamant on erasing your father's lineage from the history books."

Shirou held back a wince as he remembered what his father had done to the master of Lancer, his fiancé, and Lancer himself in the fourth war. Throw in the fact that Kiritsugu had pretty much totaled the family's magic crest in the process and the teen would admit that he couldn't really blame the them for being as pissed as they probably were at his father… and him in relation. He didn't even want to think about what the family would have resorted to in their quest for revenge if Waver hadn't conveniently come to the family's rescue several years ago, which in turn lead to the man being a Lord in the first place.

"I however can tell that you are a useful tool." The Queen continued. "You are a powerful weapon against not only the filth known as Dead Apostles, but against other magi as well. Your research will provide useful samples for various departments here. Your name in itself has significant potential use in our world, and I intend to use all of that to their fullest."

Shirou was getting the sinking feeling in his stomach he always got whenever Rin had some kind of scheme planned for him, only magnified by about a dozen times at the very least. "What do you have in mind?" He asked, though not trusting his own voice at the moment.

Lorelei looked at him dead in the eyes. "You will be my servant."

Shirou blinked several times as he tried to comprehend what the woman just told him. "… Can you elaborate please? I'm afraid I don't completely understand what you mean by that." Somehow he doubted the Queen of the Clocktower wanted a study buddy like Rin did.

"I want you to be my voice, my enforcer, my executioner, my dog if you will." She explained. "When people see you walk around the Clocktower, they will know that my rules are being held up and that there will be dire consequences for breaking them."

The teen swallowed dryly as he tried to understand what the woman was saying. "But… aren't there magi here that are trained to do that already? I have heard that you yourself have half a hundred trained fighters that answer only to you. Why do you need me as well?"

"The Chelon Canticle Brigade is only used for significant threats such as dealing with the Ancestors, and are seen as a separate branch of Enforcers." Lorelei elaborated. "I do not use them often as it would be unseemly of me to use vital assets for such mundane tasks, and they themselves have to keep their identities secret as to make their work more manageable. You on the other hand I have no qualms about using in such a manner, and will be my public enforcement. People fear you for good reason, and should you act in my name they will without doubt perform on their best behavior when in your presence. I admit that several individuals here have been pushing their boundaries and liberties as of late and I require someone of significant social stature and notoriety to push them back into their place in my absence, or else." She ended her plans on a note that left no arguments for Shirou to question, and the boy wouldn't be surprised if the magi nearby that she was referring to suddenly got unexplained chills just now.

"And you believe that I can do that." Shirou stated. It wasn't a question in the woman's mind, but a fact. Far be it for her to assume that he only somewhat knew how to carry himself around other nobles or that he knew a fraction of the rules in the Clocktower at best, let alone the entire Association.

"You killed a Dead Apostle Ancestor, a feat that so far only belonged to myself and… Kaleidoscope within the Association." Lorelei stated factually, though the boy heard the distinctive sneer when she brought up the user of the second magic… probably because the man was a vampire himself. "People know that, and so they will be wary of you. Granted they would have been more concerned had you used that black sword of yours against Morokov and proved to everyone that you can permanently damage a person's circuits, however there will be more opportunities in the future…"

"No." Shirou stated bluntly, getting a look from the woman that promised imminent death if he did not explain himself within the immediate future. "Among the few things I will not budge on is the free use of that weapon. It is not only a matter of hiding my mysteries… it is simply the fact that that using that sword on others terrifies and sickens me. I consider it an absolute last resort."

"You did not seem to have much issue killing Morokov, or using it against Louvre." Lorelei pointed out calmly.

"Louvre was a special case and Morokov was already beyond saving." Shirou replied. "What that sword does…" He shivered. "It goes beyond merely destroying a magus' circuits…"

"… The soul." The noblewoman deduced quickly from what Shirou had hinted. It did not surprise him that she had come to that conclusion so quickly. Being the Vice Chairman of the Clocktower did not require to be only of extremely noble blood, but to have the magic and intelligence to back it up as well.

"I see, no wonder Louvre was so distraught and bewildered after you used it. His mind probably couldn't even process information fluently by the end…" She looked at the boy again. "Very well. You may decide when it is appropriate to use that weapon. Weapons and spells that affect the soul as badly and quickly as yours must be kept unknown in case we have urgent need for them in the future and must catch the target off guard. We will simply say that you are capable of performing the miracle that was used to destroy the Archibald's crest. That in itself should be enough for people to obey your commands."

Shirou attempted to control his breathing as he followed what the woman was telling him. A thousand ideas, situations, scenarios, and possibilities ran through his head at once as he tried to figure out what to do or say next. When it came to negotiations, he was normally better on the receiving end of the deal. Spending years hanging out and casually talking with Rin had, if nothing else, enhanced his ability to keep his mouth shut when it came to the minor things that could be used against him. "How often will I have to be here?" He asked. "I am still a student and other responsibilities to manage."

"I have considered those facts and while I would prefer that you stay here for the remainder of your education I realize that it would be unreasonable for one such as yourself." Lorelei nodded. "As such I will request that you come for a period of two weeks several times a year during your breaks as to ensure that you complete your public education. I understand that the Asian school system has a different calendar than the one here, so most of the populace would not be able to predict your arrival as they do not care much for knowing anything that happens on your side of the planet."

Well at least there was one thing about this deal that actually worked in his favor. The boy remained quiet as he attempted to think about his situation before realizing that he was in way over his head. If he spent any more time being on the receiving end of this conversation he would probably end up being taken advantage of.

The Clocktower was a source of nearly limitless resources. If he didn't try and get the most out of it now, he may never get another opportunity to get what he needed to save Illya…

Breathing slowly and closing his eyes, the teen calmed himself down and emptied himself of his emotions. If there was any time to forget that he was about to confront one of the most dangerous women on the planet and remember Rin's lessons on negotiation, now was the time…

He thought about his conversation so far and went through it almost as if he was performing structural grasping. He thought about what he had received. The manner in which he was given these things. What they meant….

Correction, what they indicated to members of the Clocktower, and then to himself. What he represented. Who he was. What he wanted. What Barthomelloi wanted. The means of transaction for their deal. What was on the table. What wasn't. What could be safely removed. Factoring in the pride of those involved…

"Well Emiya?" The Vice Director asked somewhat annoyed as Shirou seemed to have fallen asleep after being quiet for several minutes. "Are we at a consensus?"

Knowing that he would not be able to pull this off if he used any other method in his arsenal, the Magus Killer resolved to resort to one of the tactics that he would never be comfortable with as it went against virtually everything he personally valued in life…

He forced himself to think and act like Rin. Conniving, cunning, and above all else greedy beyond known reason, Rin.

"If I do agree to this…" Shirou began slowly, not believing that the words were coming out of his mouth as he opened his eyes. "What benefits would I get in return for my services?"

Lorelei frowned as the conversation turned into a direction that she was clearly not very fond of. "I would assume that your prolonged existence and freedom would be more than satisfactory payment."

"Why would I want to get paid in something that I would naturally need for doing this task in the first place?" The Faker asked skeptically, remembering how his friend could turn any conversation or deal to her favor with relative ease. He didn't want to push his luck against the Vice Director, but he didn't want to just roll over without putting up some sort of fight. "Equivalent exchange is one of the fundamental rules of our craft so far, and so far I'm not seeing it."

"You are playing a very dangerous game Emiya." Lorelei frowned dangerously as the room's temperature lowered to match her mood. "If you think you can worm conditions out of me for your paltry services, you are either very sure of yourself or very foolish."

Shirou mentally agreed with the latter, but he didn't stop his act. It was already too late to turn back. "You said it yourself. My name carries power and influence here regardless of how insignificant you personally believe it to be. Obviously it doesn't hold a candle next to yours, but it is something useful that you cannot simply take away without significantly reducing its value. As for what I desire in exchange for my services, I believe that you would find them to be more than affordable financially and well within the rules of the Association."

"Rules and finances aside, you are risking much by pushing your limits boy." Lorelei frowned. "Do you take me for some commoner that will simply abide by other's wishes whenever I desire something from them?"

"No, however I could ask you something similar." Shirou replied, channeling Tohsaka's essence in earnest now. "Do you take me for some common lord that wags his tail at the slightest chance of getting a promotion? I was raised by a man who could not care less about such things. A heretic, by your own words. Positions of power. Wealth. Prestige. None of those things matter to me. While I do admit that a workshop and some finances would help with my research, I could just as easily do that at home at a slower pace and not be bothered by it in the slightest."

"So you chose to possibly scorn me after I have gifted you with a Noble Color and a portion of your cursed family's crest?" Lorelei glared at the boy with a warning tone.

"I asked for neither of those things." Shirou pointed out. "You chose to do those things for me on your own leisure without my knowing. Also might I point out that they have nothing to do with our current argument of my possible employment? You said it yourself. The crest is an award for Louvre, and the Noble Color is simply because you recognized my magic to qualify for its classification."

He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms. "While I do admit that the addition crest is quite useful, I believe you mentioned that you gave it to me not out of the goodness of your heart, but because you saw a potential flaw in me that you deemed both treatable and counteractive to your future plans had it been left unaddressed. Having such a glaring problem in your future prized representative would be unseemly for someone of your political stature, so you took measures in a manner that would appear to look like a gift and enhance my potential."

"As for the Noble Color classification…" He paused and closed his eyes for several moments. "In the end, such an action only benefits you. I normally prefer to not draw attention to myself if I can help it, both physically and socially. It is what I am comfortable with, and it is how my father worked. If people found out about how highly valued my magic was, and subsequently found that I was working for you, it would show off to everyone that you have your hands on not only the second Magus Killer, who has killed a Dead Apostle Ancestor, but also one of the first noble color magic bearing humans in who knows how long. This would in turn make more people fear me, and in turn solidify your hold in the Association." He opened his eyes. "Save for making it easier to have people fear me, which I am not fond of mind you, I see no true benefit for myself in getting this."

"You do realize that I am feared for a reason boy." The Barthomelloi warned. "Many would not be surprised if I simply used my power, wealth, or resources to force you into the position."

"True." Shirou nodded, clearly understanding the underlying threat. "However in a way it would be more effective to get me to work for you willingly without force. The general public would no doubt be more afraid of a capable individual with a violent past who wants to work under his boss than one who clearly doesn't. The former gives the impression that you cannot get in between the dog and his master, while the latter gives others the idea that it is possible to sow discord between the two, which would eventually weaken lower their total social stature and overall effectiveness."

The room was quiet as the two miracle workers stared at one another fiercely for what seemed like hours. The tension was palpable and had anyone walked into the room they would have immediately tried to get out as quickly as possible to escape from such an environment…

"It seems as if I have misjudged you Emiya." The Queen stated coldly. "You seem to have more talent for adapting to the magical society than I originally assumed."

"You could say that I inherited it from my father." Shirou replied just as calmly. "Exceptionally few people knew what he was truly like as well, and as such many made false assumptions based on their personal standards."

"I will keep that in mind." Lorelei stiffly responded. "You have made your arguments. Leave. I will come to my decision of what to do with you by the end of the day."

Shirou stood up before bowing deeply. "I thank you very much for your time." He politely said before calmly walking out the door, closing it right behind him…

And began to dry heave despite the fact that the maid that escorted him there was standing right next to him. He was in such disarray that he had accidentally dropped the document indicating of Tracing's Noble Color status on the floor next to him.

"I take it that your meeting did not go well." The maid named Miranda stated bluntly as she watch the teen hunch over and place his hands on his knees to keep himself up.

"More like… I did something… completely suicidal." The teen gasped between breaths. "I almost… lost composure… at the end… that woman… is terrifying. I'd rather… fight Louvre again… than do that again."

"Coming from the person who has inherited the title of the Magus Killer, that certainly means something significant, although it is not at all unexpected." The maid mused.

Shirou glanced at the woman between breaths as he regained control over himself. "Right… about that. Could you by chance… not tell anyone about…"

"The doctors who worked on you, in addition to myself were put under orders to not reveal any information we have learned about you during your stay under the lady's supervision. Your concerns on the matter are unfounded." The maid answered Shirou's worries with one of the few non threatening answers he had gotten all day. "I was to lead you to McGinty's chambers when your conversation with the Lady was finished. Is that still necessary or do you have any other destination in mind?"

Shirou shook his head as he channeled prana into his shroud to wrap itself around his head. "No, Sirius' place is good. I don't think I can manage to go anywhere else right now, or at the very least I don't have access to the places I want to go…"

As he was guided through the underground maze that made up the Clocktower, Shirou made one important decision.

If the Queen let him make demands for his services, the first thing he was going to ask for unlimited access to the kitchens of the place. No arguments. No questions. If he was going to be stressed out of his mind while being here, they could at least let him cook as much as he damn well pleased in a magically enhanced kitchen with limitless five star supplies.

o. o. o.

In some uncharted territory:

Merem sat comfortably in a small shrine alone. There were no scented candles, oils, or perfumes there to mask the scent of the decrepit building slowly falling apart due to age, however the vampire did not mind in the slightest. He somewhat preferred it looking like this rather than when it was well kept and in the condition it remained when he was still human and hung from the rafters by the local villagers like a worm…

Despite the fact that his right arm was off managing his public work with the Church, the vampire had little to no issue with the fact that he was missing it…

"So he refused again I see." The immortal smiled amused as one of the rats surrounding him reported his latest information. "No, don't be ashamed. I would be more surprised if he agreed so quickly. It would take a while for him to come to terms to his current situation. Very few that make the complete jump from human to our kind by force manage to become accustomed to the transition so quickly."

"… Oh?" He mused as another rat talked to him. "He's already been brought to the Clocktower to visit? I hope that Barthomelloi doesn't catch onto his condition. It would be a shame if he was killed before his potential was realized…"

The Church member smiled gently as he noted that the rats there suddenly began to shiver in fear as they sensed death approaching. "Don't worry. He's my friend. He won't attack without saying he would first." He looked up to see a large crow with blood red eyes was looking down upon him from the rafters of the shrine.

"The White Wing is rather irritated that you have supposedly filled up the position of the tenth." The black creature spoke in its animalistic language. "The fact that you will not inform anyone of his identity is not being accepted well by the others…"

The young priest snorted. "They can complain all they want. The one I am proposing has great potential, far more than Louvre did, but identifying him now would be detrimental to his growth." He tilted his head to the side. "On a side note, since when did you start delivering messages for that blind old man? I thought you disliked him as much as I did."

"He saw it fit to have me pass the message to you as a means of convenience since he believed that I would be able to get more information out of you. I must admit, this situation you have created has gained my interest as well." The bird grunted in irritation that the fact was pointed out. "Potential can only take one so far. White Wing is less than pleased that he cannot fill the power gap with another one of his followers who are already established among our kind."

"White Wing can complain all he wants." Merem smiled, insulting the self proclaimed King of the Ancestors. The consequences of such actions didn't matter to him since he was already labeled a traitor to the Ancestors for working with the Church. "That old fashioned fool has made false assumptions on many things and he will continue to do so."

"You are risking much by irritating so many of the others. The identities of the Ancestors are supposed to be known by everyone." The crow stated irritated.

"Oh believe me, should he take up the position and allow his identity to be revealed, there would be more than a few people that would be surprised. We are not the only ones that would be thrown off by his identity." The priest chuckled.

The crow didn't even try to hide its anger as its wings flapped once. "You mean to tell me that not only do we not know of this man, but he was foolish enough to deny such a position? What sort of individual did you choose to be considered our equal?"

The teen looked up at the crow and sighed. "The Ash of Miracles."

The bird blinked and tilted its head to the side. "… I do not recognize that name."

"You shouldn't. I only recently determined that to be his title. After all, it would be rather odd to simply know that there is a tenth but have nothing to call him by, so I took the responsibility to at least give him a fitting name to be referred as." The blue eyed vampire commented.

"How generous of you…" The bird snorted with sarcasm though did not deny that what the priest did was not without some merit.

"I talked to him face to face once. He is exceptionally young, even for a human, yet he is fascinating as well. More so than most of our kind… and honest. Very honest." Merem elaborated. "One of the most interesting things about him though, was that he possessed and was practicing the use of his reality marble even before he was turned." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "In many ways he reminds me of myself. Killed and born from human foolishness… and stripped of that which could make you human in the process leaving only something with human form left in the remains…"

"… A human with a reality marble that was turned?" The crow blinked in minor surprise. "… It seems your claims of his potential were not without reason… if he was capable of using it before being converted… something like this has never happened before…"

"Technically he is still more human than Apostle." Merem corrected. "A halfbreed is more altered than he is, but he does count as one of us none the less. As for his refusal for the position, that was simply due to the fact that he still has yet to get used to his condition and the fact that he cannot adequately protect his territory. Unlike many other members of our kind, he puts practicality before position… a rare trait these days I'm afraid. As I stated that he has potential. I never said that he has reached an appropriate level as of yet."

The room was silent as the crow pondered the vampire's words. "There will be many mixed reactions from this. If he is as human as you claim he is, what makes you think that he will not use his position to attempt to hunt us down like Enhance?"

Merem chuckled at the mention of the banished nineteenth Ancestor, who had recently been going around trying to kill other Apostle's and their entire clans. Unlike himself, who is merely working for the Church and holds no true grudge against vampire kind, Enhance has proven himself to be relentless in hunting down the other Apostles for the sake of exterminating them, which was why he was stripped of his rank in the first place.

"No, not this one. If anything, he would try to play the role of the peacekeeper without anyone asking. He is the kind of person that would attempt to keep the number of casualties to a minimum if he couldn't save everyone, and in the mean time try to convince us to stop our actions in the first place." He paused as he remembered something Shirou had once told him about Kiritsugu. "Balancing all life upon the scales of fate without discrimination, and tilting them so that the losses would be at the minimum. That would most likely be the route you would see him take should you encounter him, if he cannot find a way to stop everyone from dying that is."

"A foolish and simple mindset. He will not live long." The crow cawed in disgust. To attempt to save everyone in the world was only a feat that could possibly be done by his lord, and he knew for a fact that such a sickening task was beneath the god in man shaped form. "At best he will be a neutral party for the upcoming events. How great of a threat does he pose?"

Merem tapped a finger on his chin and thought hard. "Hmm. Well… to be honest as of right now he is only a minor threat to most of us, so long as we are careful at least. In terms of power he's the weakest out all of us, but… how do I put this… he has the means to end many of us rather efficiently if we let our guards down… if not permanently maim us before his defeat. In fact I am fairly certain that he is already capable of truly killing Strout given the right opening."

"He is capable of ending the Invincible Black Knight?" The crow asked, for once hinting curiosity instead of condemnation and for good reason. The sixth Ancestor was rumored to be immortal in all meanings of the word due to a time curse. Being even barely capable of killing him was no minor feat. Granted the one behind the crow's eyes was one of the few that could also accomplish such a thing, however that was irrelevant for this conversation. "I am beginning to understand why you hold the boy in such high regard…"

"As I said. He has significant potential." Merem shrugged. "Given a few decades or so, he should reach a level that would make him be worthy of at least being considered one of our equals, if not the number he has been assigned to. Until he is both strong enough and is willing to recognize himself as one of our kind, I will not tell anyone who he is. I will not betray my friend."

The room was silent for a few seconds as the priest's smile grew somewhat wider. "Ah how comforting to have another friend. Though he does not worship Crimson Moon like we do for obvious reasons, I still find his presence rather enjoyable. In a similar way that I consider you a good friend because we both serve Crimson Moon, I also consider him a friend as well because he idolizes the man who rescued him the same way I to our God."

He giggled like a small child. "How exciting. Rarely have I had so many people that I could truly consider friends in my travels before that I did not have a hand in creating. The members at the Church are at best acquaintances, and only a handful of the other Ancestors and Apostles can be considered a bit more than that at the most. Why I almost feel my physical age, only this time as if I was brought up as a normal human."

"Your fleeting shallow amusements do not interest me, and neither does your inappropriately shaped worship of our lord." The crow cawed irritably while leaking out a silent black killing intent that cause the rats around Merem to shiver or run away violently. The young looking priest however did not look worried in the slightest "It seems regardless of how much time has passed since we first met, my desire to tear you to shreds will not fade… however there has yet to be a reasonable time for me to do it." Its wings began to flap more as it prepared to leave. "I shall inform the others of this Ash of Miracles, for if any reason for them to leave me be about the subject. Be warned that this will not be the last time you will be asked to reveal his identity to the others…"

Merem sighed as the bird's massive wings beat down hard upon the air as it took off into the night from the abandoned shrine in the middle of nowhere. "It is such a shame that when we do eventually fight one of us will have to die. I much would have preferred if we simply stopped at the last moment when death was within grasp so we could both support Crimson Moon when he finally returns." He shook his head and began to walk outside, his business inside the shrine having been accomplished. "Oh well, if one of us is to die, at least it is by the hands of a friend in mutual agreement."

He smiled and looked up at the sky. "I wonder, would you agree with me on that Shirou?"

o. o. o.

The Clocktower:

"Sister, remind me again why we are going towards the residence of a known barbaric Sealing Designate?" Marjatta Edelfelt pouted as she followed her sister down one of the many corridors that littered the Clocktower underground compounds.

"Must I repeat myself?" Luvia sighed. "The Sealing Designate and renowned mystic code crafter Sirius McGinty was the man I saw partaking lunch with the Magus Killer before I spoke to the mystery man myself. Given how informally I witnessed them address one another, it can be assumed that they are close. As such, if anyone easily accessible will be willing and able to tell us about the whereabouts of Mr. Emiya, it would be him."

"I still don't know why you are so interested in that savage." Marjatta snorted. "Even if he is the legacy of that man Emiyai or whatever his name is, I highly doubt that anything he could say would be of true worth to those who actually have noble blood such as ourselves."

Luvia mentally groaned. It was a well known fact that many nobles disliked those from the east and considered them savages, however that fact went double for members of her family. That was mostly due to the fact that two of her ancestors participated in the third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki. Long story short, the events in said war did not leave them with a good impression of the Japanese.

The heir to the family name was not certain why she did not carry such a hatred towards Easterners like her kin did, however she was somewhat certain that it had to do with her personal preferences in others. She enjoyed the fact that she could sympathize with the common people, and was rather intrigued at times at how they, for the most part, got along rather well despite their varying pasts and backgrounds. Even Americans, who as of late have been rather wary of those from the middle east due to those terrorist attacks in New York, were as a whole more tolerant of the other religions and personal views than a majority of the rest of the world's population.

To be able to act and cooperate with others without letting one's judgments impair the overall end results… such an efficient idea was beautiful in the eyes of Luvia. It was a shame that a majority of the magical world was not willing to consider such a concept.

"I would not be too sure sister." The elder countered. "During my short conversation with Emiya, I discovered many very interesting things about both him and his father. So much that I intend to find out more about both of them."

"Oh please do not tell me that you have fallen for him like you did for that dirty mechanic boy at the airport." The younger groaned. "Your taste in the opposite sex will never cease to bewilder me."

"I have fallen for neither of them!" Luvia snapped irritably. "They merely interest me! A magus that is intimately familiar with non magical technology and the second Magus Killer simply possess qualities that are not common and I merely wanted to investigate them!"

"Whatever you believe sister." Marjatta rolled her eyes, clearly not believing her claims.

Luvia would have countered her sibling's remark had yell of absolute terror not interrupted her from down the hallway. "What the?" She frowned as a young male yelling in what she recognized as an eastern language was heard.

"Ah am glad tat ta lass isn't gonna kill ya lad!" Roared a very loud and familiar man from the same direction. "Cause now ah know tat, ah won't get inta trouble fer beatin ta shit outta ya fer doin tat stupid stunt!"

"Well at least I know we're going in the right direction now." Luvia laughed somewhat hesitantly as the sound of something large crashing into something breakable was clearly heard, followed by some more frantic foreign speaking.

"Ah don't care tat tis was ta only time ya could get yerself ta negotiate wit ta lass!" Sirius's voice yelled even louder, indicating that the pair was closer than they were before. "If ya had screwed up even a little bit ten all ta effort tat Wava, mahself and yer old man put inta trainin and preparing ya would have gone up in smoke fasta than ya can say Ta Fuckin Blue!"

"Well if that man is anything, he is at least straightforward and to the point." Marjatta deadpanned as some more crashing and screams of fear were heard. "I am almost curious as to what poor unfortunate fool has irritated the barbarian to this degree."

She didn't have to wait long to find out as another crash echoed throughout the hallways and a familiar figure with his head encased in red cloth flew through the air in front of them before slamming into the wall with enough force to have it cave in a bit. Much to the females' surprise, the teen managed to pick himself out of the wall with some effort and a hiss of pain before apparently seeing something that the girls obviously didn't, screamed in fear, and bolted with more speed than they thought he would be capable of after taking such a blow towards their direction. Moments later, a Sirius McGinty covered in glowing runes rammed into the spot he was just in with enough force to feel the impact from the observer's position.

Skidding to a halt right near to the females, the mystery teen winced in pain from his wounds before noticing that he was not alone anymore. "Sirius-jiji! Chotto! Chotto!" The teen waved his arms frantically in an attempt to get the large man to hold his violent charging for a moment and pointed to the very confused Edelfelt sisters standing nearby.

"Why ta bloody hell would I stop now?" The old man yelled as he turned menacingly towards the teen and saw him pointing to the girls and instantly deflated, causing the runes on his skin to dim dramatically till his body once again resembled something that humanity could naturally produce. "Ah. Good reason… ya lucky bastard. We'll finish tis later ya daft idiot."

Luvia didn't know what her fellow teen was muttering as he slumped over and caught his breath, but she was fairly certain that he was either expressing relief… or cursing the old man that nearly killed him. Her Japanese was nonexistent and her translation spell was a bit rusty so she couldn't tell the difference. "Well then… this is certainly not how I was expecting to see you again Emiya."

The Magus Killer let out a brief laugh before standing up. "Hai… ore…" He paused as he realized he was still speaking in Japanese before clicking his tongue in irritation. "Er… Sorry, I slip into my native language when I get a bit frantic." He apologized sheepishly before wincing at his injuries and momentarily grabbed his chest. "I don't think I need to tell you this, but a lot's happened in the short time we haven't seen each other Lady Edelfelt."

"I can tell." The elder female mused as she glanced at the hole in the wall that the two males made. "Dare I ask why the man you spend so much time with has come at you so violently that he has harmed you more than the Dead Apostle you killed yesterday?"

"Ya can ask lass, but fer yer sanity's sake yer best not knowin." Sirius growled as he glared at Shirou. "Ta lad did sometin very stupid recently tat almost left him in a worse position tan death. Since we just got word tat he isn't screwed, ah took it upon meself ta pound it inta him tat he shouldn't do sometin tat retarded again." He grinned sadistically and began to crack his knuckles, each one loud enough to make it sound like he was breaking his bones. "Oh ta tings ahm' gonna put ya through lad. By ta time ahm done ah wouldn't be surprised if ya managed ta finally do absolute reinforcement by pure fear an reflex. Heheheheh…"

"You certainly know how to pick them sister." Marjatta rolled her eyes as she noticed how much the male next to her was shivering. "THIS is supposed to be the son of the Magus Killer? The boy who single handedly killed that man Morokov or whatever yesterday?"

"In my defense… I'd rather fight the vampire again than go up against the old man." Shirou feebly argued while slowly backing away from the disturbingly eager Irishman.

"Sir McGinty, while I have no doubt that your plans with Mr. Emiya are well thought out and elaborate, could you perhaps postpone them?" Luvia asked with authority. "I want to continue the conversation I was having with him before we were interrupted yesterday, and seeing as you did not seem so worried about harming him, I am under the assumption that both of you currently have time to spare."

Sirius paused and dropped his imitation of a sadistic serial murderer before glancing at Luvia with some irritation. "Humph. Lass. Ah don't know who ya are or what family ya come from, but let me give ya some advice. Just because yer request sounds reasonable and ya come some rich, old and uptight family doesn't mean tat just anyone will just roll over fer ya when ya ask fer sometin, especially when those yer askin are in ta middle of sometin important tat doesn't involve you."

"Now see here you brute." Marjatta stepped forward with a high and mighty attitude that was fairly common in the Clocktower. "We are the heirs of the Edelfelt family and as such we have far more power, history, and money than you do. Should we ask for it, we could have you executed for your crude remarks."

Sirius looked at the girl for a few seconds before turning to Shirou. "Oi lad, you know tis runt?"

"R-r-runt!" Marjatta stammered in disbelief and anger. True she was a bit on the short side and she was a bit underdeveloped compared to her sister, however she was still praised by many members of her family for being a stunning woman in the making. "How DARE you speak to me in such a way commoner? When I am done with your punishment I swear you will…"

"Runt?" Luvia managed to breathe out as well, although in her case it was in a attempt to hold back her laughter while her sister ranted at a giant man who clearly wasn't paying attention to what the girl a third of his height was saying. While it was beneath her to make such comments to her sibling even when they were well deserved, it did not mean that she did not enjoy that brand of crass humor whenever it was used against those who needed it every once in a while.

"Jijiiiii…" Shirou groaned in frustration, interrupting the scene as he shook his head tiredly before wincing and grabbing his chest in pain again. "I think… I need some more of the potion."

"Hm?" The old man glanced at his charge and raised an eyebrow, not paying any attention to the young female pointing at him from a few feet to his left. "Ah right. Ah forgot about tat. Damn. Now ah'll feel like a prick if ah beat ta livin shit outta ya while yer still recoverin." He sighed and shook his head in an exasperated manner before walking up to the teen, pushing Marjatta out of the way in the process like she was a small child. "Come on lad. We both know it'll just get worse if ya put it off, even if tat shit does taste like wet cats."

"Stop ignoring me!" Marjatta yelled rather childishly to almost no effect at all.

"Yeah…" The teen nodded before turning to the girls again. "I'll be here for a few weeks, so we still have time to talk. I'll be busy for most of the time, but I'm sure I can try to match my lunch schedule with yours if you want."

"Oh?" Luvia put on a playful knowing smile, wrongfully assuming that Shirou was making an attempt to woo her by asking her out to multiple lunches… and completely missing the look on Sirius' face that pretty much screamed frustration and the phrase 'not again'. "Well I am fairly certain that I can adjust my schedule accordingly…"

"Ah won't say it." Sirius shook his head and talked to himself as he looked away. "Ah'm not gonna say anytin. Nope. Not tis time. She's a big lass. She can find out all on her own."

"What on earth are you babbling on about you decrepit drunk?" Marjatta panted, having ranted for so long that she actually lost her breath in the process.

"First of all, ahm not tat drunk." Sirius corrected offhandedly. "But ta answer yer question…" He paused, then shook his head again. "Nope. Never mind. Ah'm not gonna say anything."

"I demand you to tell me!" The youngest one there commanded, only to once again be ignored by everyone there.

o. o. o.

In the Matou residence:

Zouken's chuckle sounded like wet rocks shifting as he watched amusedly while Sakura went through another session with his worms. His plans regarding the Emiya boy were yielding more benefits than he expected, some far earlier than others…

The girl in front of him was strong which was to be expected considering her pedigree, however she was not unmalleable, nor perfect. His original plans for her had been indeed varied. He could have taken his time and allowed her to gradually turn into the black grail over the course of decades as she slowly accumulated prana while possibly having her continue the Matou family, if only in name. He could have taken a gamble and sent her into the grail war to win despite the fact that her education was not geared towards combative magic. He could have even forced her to go insane and use her alternate side to speed up the process in the war by attacking and absorbing civilians…

But all of those options held risks that he would prefer to deal without. Too little time. Too much risk of attention. Human error. As he noted before, the girl was strong. So much so that had he continued his standard treatment of her with Shinji, he suspected that there was a chance that she would lock up her heart and soul to the point that he would not be able to control her other side, or worse, she would have killed herself before serving her purpose…

Then came the Emiya boy.

In one fell swoop the oblivious teen had improved nearly all his worries regarding Sakura and the premature war that was developing soon. True his disgrace of a descendant Shinji had died, but in his place he had received a far greater tool. The boy had stunning combat potential, as had been proven when he went up against the Dead Apostle half a year ago, and that potential would grow even more as time went on. Such a resource should never be wasted, and while he knew that the Clocktower would make use of this hidden gem, the worm user had ensured that he would be the last to utilize his abilities…

Which would be in two years if everything went according to plan.

In the mean time, the old man would enjoy the fact that the assassin's son was doing a fine job keeping his project alive, healthy, sane…

… and full of enough psychological cracks that he was certain that should something go wrong in the war he could assume control over her other side at almost any time he wanted. It amazed Zouken that he did not think to do such a thing sooner. While he certainly did not suspect that the Emiya boy had as much potential as he did as a fighter, he at least should have remembered that nothing could wreak havoc on a teenager's psyche and state of mind more than young love.

Young, foolish, senseless, reckless, pointless, stupid love.

Hope was what the boy wanted to give to that thing he called a granddaughter, hope is what he managed to give to her… and hope was what would ensure his victory in the end.

It was rather simple. His granddaughter would be constantly exposed to both heaven and hell. Much like any metal or plastic that was repeatedly heated and cooled, expanded and contracted, it would eventually crack or break given enough time only instead of some precious metal being constantly altered, it would be Sakura's mental defenses…

All he had to do to ensure that the boy's influence would not prevent his grand scheme was to slip in a few occasional words of observation…

"You are progressing nicely Sakura." The old man commented as he walked through the catacombs under his home, paying no attention to the countless worms that covered the stone flooring to the point that it looked like he was walking on a living wet carpet. "So much so in fact that I believe that I decided that it wouldn't be detrimental to allow you a few days rest before your next session."

Approaching the naked teenage girl in front of him the man noted that she was fairly appealing in a physical sense. Given a couple of more years she would no doubt become fairly developed in the ways that most young males are attracted to these days. None of this really mattered to him, but it was comforting to know that it was another reason for the Emiya boy to stay with her, at least until the war.

"Th-thank you Grandfather." Sakura stuttered weakly as she somehow managed to stand despite having virtually every part of her body violated by the small creatures on the ground for nearly three hours. Doing so was another testament to both her mental and magical strength. Most people, magi or not, would have trouble retaining consciousness at this point, let alone manage to stand.

"No thanks are needed." The old man smiled kindly, belying the sick individual that was wearing it. "You have earned it." He paused, never removing the smile off of his face. "That and it would be detrimental to push you too hard without your friend here to take the edge off of things."

The centuries old man savored the knowledge he gained from the worms in her body telling him that her stress levels momentarily spiked despite the fact that the girl did not physically move in the slightest.

"You are most considerate." She emotionlessly replied, bowing politely in thanks despite the exhausted condition she was in.

"Think nothing of it." The worm user gently chuckled before turning around and walking back to the stairs again. "That boy truly is something special isn't he? Already he has been noticed by the Association, and has been brought over to be evaluated even though he is from the East. So much is happening so quickly around him… I do hope he fares well."

"What…" Sakura's weak voice spoke out above the faint squirming of the worms in the room, the curiousness and fear hidden deep underneath was like music to Zouken's ears. "What do you mean by that Grandfather? Why would Emiya-kun have trouble in the Association?"

The old man turned around and looked at her confused. "You mean you didn't know?" He asked bewildered. "The man that adopted the boy, Kiritsugu Emiya, was famous for being an assassin before he retired and disappeared from the public eye. He was so talented in his profession, many in our world dubbed him, the Magus Killer." He smiled dryly and turned away. "To earn a name like that… I have little doubt that the boy will inherit many old grudges in the near future."

"To announce his heritage to the Association while he's there…would be almost akin to throwing a wounded sheep in the middle of a lion's den."

Sakura's eyes were wide with fear as Zouken's point was driven home.

Another wet chuckle as smooth as grinding stones escaped the old man's throat as he turned around and climbed up the stairs. "Well… upon thinking about it, I wouldn't go as far as to believe that. The boy did manage to defeat that powerful Apostle those months ago. Still I would not prefer to be in his shoes as of now. The Association has two kinds of people in it. Those who use and those who are used… and unfortunately those of the latter group do not last long."

The room went quiet again save for the sounds of Zouken's cane gently tapping on the stone steps he was travelling up and the wet sound of worms on the ground. Neither being there capable of human speech said anything.

Just as the old man reached the main exit he turned around. "Just to let you know though… I believe that the boy will do fairly well in the Association, and will last a very, very long time..."

It would be another hour before Sakura left the basement.

o. o. o.

Clocktower:

Shirou sighed contently as he continued with cleaning the cafeteria dishes for the third hour straight with a smile on his face. After what seemed like weeks, when it had only been a few days, he had finally managed to get a grasp on life in the Clocktower. Granted the jobs he did were not that well received by a good portion of the magus community, but he took what he could get at the moment.

For right now, the seemingly harmless and lucky errand boy from Asia known as Shirou was merely doing his job as a dishwasher for the breakfast rush. No one asked him much due to a combination of racism against Asians and the fact that he held pretty much the lowest position in the kitchens, but the red headed boy didn't mind in the slightest. Plus he was doing a damn good job at what he was doing. In fact he almost glowed with content, much to the confusion of the other cafeteria staff around him.

Technically, Shirou couldn't perform his duties as the Magus Killer in the tower even if he wanted to. Until the addition to his crest had set to a certain point it would be extremely dangerous to perform any thaumaturgy. If he did attempt to do any form of time magic as of now, he could very well end up blowing up his heart. To his knowledge he still had half a week before he could attempt to do anything with his crest again, but even then he didn't feel like he would ever use it for more than what he was doing before.

Theoretically he could now accelerate his body like his father used to be able to do with his crest, but he wasn't comfortable enough with the after effects to use that innate bounded field that often…

Then again, he wasn't really at peace with the idea of turning his body parts into solid meshes of tiny blades either, but at least that branch of spells wasn't guaranteed to rupture his organs, splinter his bones, and tear apart his veins upon use… it was only fairly likely to happen.

Pausing for a moment, the sword user recalled how he got into his current position in the first place. After he and the Edelfelts had talked a bit more about his father in Sirius' chambers, and then left, he had gone back to the task he had been unofficially assigned by Lorelei…

Meaning pretty much the woman sent her maid over and told him, if not exactly in those words, that he was to begin working as soon as he was ready and to send over his requests to be evaluated and wait for her approval. In short, she would let him make his requests and was compromising, but at the same time make it look like she was in control of the entire event regardless of what happened in the end.

So, once everyone had gathered, (and Waver, Sirius, and Bazett each had their turn wailing on Shirou for nearly having the Barthomelloi, known for having one of the biggest sticks up her ass known to Mage kind, snap and kill him) the group had compiled a list of demands for Shirou to hand in.

There were several additions added to what Shirou had originally planned to request and personally didn't care much about receiving or not, however Waver pointed out that it was good to over extend himself so that he could have more material to barter and wager with in the end.

Among the first things on (Shirou's) list, and approved of was, of course, access to the kitchens and the ability to aid the kitchen staff as a grunt. Granted, he had to work from the bottom up with washing dishes like any other scrub, however he did not mind this fact in the slightest. He did have to work there as Shirou and not as "Emiya", however this could technically be used in his favor to walk around the compound without gaining any attention to himself so long as he was careful.

On the other side of the coin, Shirou did not for example, gain unlimited access to inspect any significant magical artifacts that the Clocktower possessed in its stores. He did not gain unrestricted access to the bios and information of the Tower's general populace either.

Despite the fact that both requests technically would have made his job easier, the teen admittedly didn't care one way or another if he got them or not. He had no interest in becoming more powerful, having more weapons, or being able to hurt people like his father did. Besides, the response letter that he received from Lorelei stated that while both requests were denied, he would be given some leeway in terms of restrictions in both areas if it was related to maintaining the security of the tower.

Other requests that were granted on the other hand included Rin's full sponsorship into the Tower within the next three years under a highly ranked noble, and sponsorship for himself as well including both a moderate workshop and funds for his research. Hopefully the scholarship would keep the Tohsaka from killing him after she found out Shirou had dared to stand up against the Queen. The workshop and the funds were far less than what Sirius and Waver had originally requested in his name, however the teen was personally uncomfortable with the amount he was being given even with the reduction. It was not like his magic needed many ingredients or holy objects to use in the first place.

The last of his requests that was granted however was something that the Faker had tacked on when he was delivering the letter away from the others. He had put down that this, above all else had to be granted for his services, and thankfully had been agreed to in full despite its risky contents.

Now all he had to do was wait for the Barthomelloi's men to find the woman…

All in all though, what Shirou got was far more than he had expected or believed he had deserved or needed. Ignoring the fact that the letter detailing what he got for his services clearly stated that if he ever told anyone that he had pulled off what he just did, slacked off on his responsibilities, or humiliated the Queen in any way she would slap a sealing designation on him so fast that no number of copies of Kiritsugu would save him, he was pretty much set.

"Hey new guy. Shoto or whatever. Come here for a sec. Some of the guys and I wanna ask you a few things." One of the other guys working in the cafeteria called out to Shirou suddenly, snapping him out of his minor daze.

Looking around and seeing that there wasn't much need for him to work at the moment, the teen shrugged and put down the plate he was working on and approached the fellow food workers. "What's up? Something wrong?" He asked curiously.

An unremarkable man snorted and crossed his arms. Unlike the students that came from highly wealthy families, many of the other students that attended the institution needed to earn their finances to pay for their tuition. They could be teachers aids, custodians, assistants, or in this case, cafeteria workers. "We were just wondering. You're Asian right? Chinese or Korean or whatever. There's not many guys like you here, so we were thinking if you've ever talked to that Magus Killer guy that showed up recently. You know, meet up and joke about comics or rice or whatever the hell your kind normally talks about."

Shirou sighed dejectedly. He should have assumed that he would be asked this sooner or later, but at least they weren't asking him if he WAS the Magus Killer. "No. I haven't talked to him." He replied honestly. He might be a bit distorted, but he wasn't crazy enough to talk to himself frequently. "Even if I did find him, I doubt we would have much in common. I know a lot about cooking, cars, and a bit about magic, but not much more about killing people than any other Magus."

Killing people was easy. Hit them with the sharp end of the sword. He didn't need much more than that. Now fighting, that was another story completely.

"Cars?" Raised one of the other chef's eyebrows. This one was a rather large man in his mid to late fifties with a beer belly, ratty brown hair, and massive hairy arms that looked like they could kill a man with a single blow. From what Shirou could tell from his limited time in the kitchens lately, this guy was the head chef and supposedly focused his studies on food based thaumaturgy… something that the teen was quite interested in learning about in the near future if he could help it. "Why the heck would you want to know about those things?"

The red head shrugged. "They're useful. People like talking about them. Plus I'm good at analyzing physical structures so people take them and motorcycles to me on occasion so I can fix them. It helps with my finances and it's a good way to practice structural grasping on complicated and intricate objects."

"You know a bit about car mechanics?" A black man in a waiter's outfit asked. "What's the most expensive one you've screwed around with?"

Shirou blinked for a moment before thinking hard. "Um… I think it was the engine of a BMW, but I forgot what its model was. As for motorcycles, I've had to fix my neighbor's Yamaha more than a few times because he occasionally gets a bit carried away with it."

The big chef whistled, clearly impressed. "Not bad kid. You don't look older than seventeen yet you're already tinkering with beasts like those as if it was nothing. German cars in particular are a bit of a bitch to fix if you don't examine everything right. You might be working in the wrong part of the Tower. I'm fairly certain that you could earn a fair amount in the transportation sector if you told them this. They got drivers and guys who claim to know how a car's motor works there, but no real mechanics for obvious reasons."

The Japanese native laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks for the suggestion, but I'd rather be here. Cooking and cleaning up afterwards helps calm down my nerves whenever I've had a rough day. I don't really need much more money at this point."

"You serious?" Snorted a rather scraggily looking cook from the side. Judging from his pale fair skin and rather irritated demeanor, it was safe to assume that he was probably from a fairly old, noble, and not so wealthy background. "You actually enjoy doing these servant level tasks? Why? Save for cleaning up your workshops, there shouldn't be any need to do such a thing."

Shirou shrugged. "I just do. There's nothing wrong with that, and in the end it means that I can cook myself some good meals when I'm home alone and save some money. I'm pretty good with both eastern and western dishes if what my friends back home have told me is true." He paused before smiling sheepishly. "Actually a few of them will try to do anything they can in order to get a free meal out of me."

"Is that so?" The head chef mused as he looked at Shirou analytically. While most people would assume that the man was thinking about possibly utilizing the cooking talents, Shirou noted that there was something else in the man's gaze that was looking at something else. "Well then kid, if you're as good as you say then I'll have to put your food where your mouth is some day. If you're good enough, I might even bump you up to cook whenever we decide to serve Oriental food." He snorted in bitter amusement. "It's funny. Most of the people here distrust Asians with a passion, but every once in a while one of the nobles here has a fit because no one here can whip up a decent dumpling or make sushi to save their life. I've almost been fired myself a couple of times because of it back in my younger days, but the best I can do are only the basics. Fried rice and all that crap."

"Well, I'm only a bit practiced when it comes to Chinese, but I can teach everyone some fairly simple Japanese, Korean, and Filipino dishes if I have the time." The teen suggested. "They won't look that elaborate, but I know a few good spice combinations that go with dark meats that should get their attention. The trick with most Eastern dishes is the right balance of spices and side ingredients. From our point of view, Western dishes have too much meat and bread, and too little of everything else. I think that's why it's sometimes hard for people who start cooking from your side of the world to get used to our recipes. We normally use a lot of ingredients."

"Great, more annoying dishes to learn." Grunted the scrawny noble as he turned around to his post in the kitchens again. "I thought this job was going to be simple, but apparently someone forgot to tell me that such meager tasks are meant for meager people who couldn't handle the advanced classes for a reason. Feh."

"Ignore Raymond. That brat's here only because he got in trouble researching some minor forbidden curses a few months back. Personally I wish they just stuck him with janitorial duty, but he got stuck here instead." The large head chef sighed before looking at the rest of the small group. "Back to work guys. Things are gonna pick up again soon with the early lunch crowd." He turned back to Shirou and donned a wry grin. "You'd better leave soon kid." He spoke in a quieter tone while making sure that none of the other staff was listening in on him. "You no doubt have another session with that old drunk Sirius to deal with soon."

Shirou's eyes widened in surprise and fear as he realized the large man in front of him knew who he was.

"Heheh." The big man grinned. "Don't worry. McGinty and I go way back and he's told me quite a bit about you over the years whenever we got proper smashed. He's taken quite a liking to you. I owe my job and life to him. Hell, he made practically all the custom equipment that we use in this kitchen. I won't sell you out like virtually everyone else in this place."

"Th-thanks." The teen fumbled over his words while attempting to lower his heart rate below the red. He was honestly terrified of the possibility of already having people find out what he looked like so soon after arriving at the Clocktower. He wanted to at least keep that secret until after the Grail war, or hopefully until he graduated from High School.

Having uptight rich westerners attempt to kill him during the school year would absolutely destroy his grades and any hope in getting accepted into a good non magical college.

Plus it would piss Rin off since it would all take place on her property and as such she would be held responsible for cleaning up the mess, which of course she would push onto Shirou. He didn't mind the cleaning up part, it would be technically his fault after all.

Between an angry Rin and a small group of vengeance driven magi, he felt safer going up against the magi.

The chef patted the boy on the shoulder in a uncle nephew manner before walking to his post. "I'll be expecting you to show off your cooking skills soon. Try to live until then at least, and don't disappoint my expectations of your work. Depending on how well you do, you might end up with some more useful allies in the tower." He grinned. "What was it that you taught Sirius? Oh yeah, never mess with the people handling your food."

The Magus Killer laughed lightly. "Truer words have never been spoken." He bowed deeply. "Thanks for your help. I'll try not to disappoint you with my cooking."

o. o. o.

As he walked down the hallway that lead from the cafeteria to the area where Sirius' quarters were, Shirou mulled over his current situation. All in all he felt pretty good. True, he was now pretty much Barthomelloi's bitch, but considering what he got in return for his services and the political backup he got as well, the title was a double edged sword he was willing to bear. He would have preferred it if he was unknown, but it was not something he could work around, and he had already managed to get some time inside the kitchens surrounded by all those wonderful ingredients and smells.

The red headed boy smiled dreamily in a blissful daze. He could definitely get used to working in the Tower for a few weeks every few months. His could learn a fair amount about both cooking and magic which could help make his future exploits to help others much easier. He could get some more contacts as well whenever he had to go do a job. With enough time he may even gain some good friends here…

All these happy and comforting thoughts of Shirou's disappeared and were forgotten within moments however as he turned a corner and walked past a moderately large group of people walking in the other direction.

The center of the group consisted of two middle aged men with pepper black hair and tall well built frames…

The outer ring of the group however consisted of nothing but fairly young and attractive men and women… all with red eyes and white hair.

o. o. o.

A/N:

Ugh. Done. Took forever to write this. I had to delete and remake a good half of this chapter cause I didn't like the way it turned out.

So here I showed a bit more of Shirou's differing personality compared to his FSN self. FFD Shirou is a bit more assertive and willing to be a bit selfish at times, but only in the cases where the profits are things that he thinks would greatly aiding in his task of helping others.

Unlike Kiritsugu and his FSN self, FFD Shirou sees the merit in studying thaumaturgy in a more magi like manner. This is because he knows that his field of study and magic can greatly enhance the efficiency of his performance in the field and improve what he can do.

For example, Kiritsugu only used his magic crest to the bare minimum of his ability and imagination, on his body, in order to enhance his physical abilities, but nothing else. Had he studied it more, I am certain he could have made a spell to drastically enhance his bullet's speeds and say make them move faster than Kayneth's mystic code could react. Plus he had access to earth and fire based thaumaturgy, but he rarely, or never used those as well.

FFD Shirou on the other hand of course finds many if not most ways of thinking in the Mage's Association disagreeable and sickening, much like his FSN counterpart, however he is less likely to have a fit and speak his mind about the subject thanks to Rin's, Kiritsugu's, Waver's and Sirius' early influence on his education. He is more tolerant of viewpoints that don't agree with his own and while he can still lose his temper fairly easily, it is nowhere near as bad or irrational as his FSN self was.

For those who are still complaining about the lack of Rin and her less than glowing performance so far, please understand this: in FSN Shirou was a hopeless idiot. Someone had to play the role of the person who actually knew what was going on and could plan accordingly otherwise no one would understand what was happening until the end of the story, hence Rin.

Here, where Shirou is actually competent, the need for Rin to constantly hold Shirou's hand is all but gone. Because of this and because she has spent so much time with Shriou so far, I believe that Rin's hold on her maturity would significantly lessen as a whole now that she isn't worried about a hopeless idiot that she has feelings for foolishly or accidentally killing himself.

Granted, now she's worried about a fairly talented and unique idiot that she has feelings for foolishly or accidentally killing himself, but in this case Shirou can handle himself perfectly well in most cases since she knows what he is capable of.

As such, she is a bit more flippant and loose with what she says because she doesn't have to play the role of the responsible adult guiding a helpless child. She's playing the responsible friend smacking some sense into a clueless but equal friend.

Ok. Now that that's over with, onto other things.

This chapter is dedicated to my sis, whose birthday is tomorrow. Fate Zero season two is amazing, as expected.

For those who haven't heard yet, I finally got some fanart which you can see on the third fang deviantart group page and looking in the collections folder. There are only two so far, but they're both from the guy that did that amazing Hill of Swords fanart for Gabriel Blessing with Shirou and Louise. Hopefully there will be more in the upcoming weeks.

So that's it for now guys. There may be a delay in the next chap because I got finals coming soon for grad school.

Review! Worship the Log! Never Ever piss of a Barthomelloi! And Review again!