Shirou gasped in sweet relief as the warm water rushed over him.

The studies at the Clock Tower were certainly something else entirely then his own rudimentary form of training. It had been two years since he had moved out here to London to study. It had been three years to the day since their fight with the Four Kings had ended and it was a memory that Shirou wouldn't soon forget.

How could he? No matter how many days passed his heart felt heavy learning that the woman he had grown to love, the woman that reminded him so much of Saber was nothing more then a charlatan that had played him like a puppet on strings, all for the sake of power.

It left a noticeable impact on Shirou and he still often had nightmares about that day. As if she had only existed to muddy and tarnish everything that the Saber he loved stood for.

His thoughts where interrupted as he felt something press against his back and a pair of arms snake around his muscular chest.

He turned his head, seeing none other then his girlfriend Rin Tohsaka, completely naked, her hair loose and now starting to get wet. She smiled at him.

"Thought you wouldn't mind some company" she said, winking at him seductively.

"From you. Never" Shirou replied as he spun around and wrapped his hands around Rin, pulling her in for a kiss as the warm water enveloped them both.

Ten minutes later they where dressed and out of the shower. Shirou still remained surprised by how affectionate Rin was at some moments. They had been in a relationship for three years now and still after all this time she took him by surprise from time to time.

Shirou walked over to the refrigerator, ready to start on dinner, there was a loud knock at the door. "I'll get it" Shirou said as Rin was reading at the dinner table. He walked over to the door and opened it, a wave of perfume hitting him in the face.

"SHERO!" a loud yet elegant voice boomed as a pair of hands wrapped themselves around Shirou.

Rin slowly pulled her book down from her eyes and watched with a twitch of irritation as her least favorite person in this entire place was now shamelessly hugging her boyfriend.

"Lady Luvia! What an unexpected surprise…" Shirou said as he gasped for air as he was tightly hugged.

Luvia Edelfelt let go of him and smiled brightly, dressed in her over the top usual blue dress she said "oh Shero I told you many times before not to call me that. Just Luvia is fine with me. May I come in?"

"Of course come in" Shirou responded, ever the courteous and respectful young man.

Luvia walked in without a care in the world and made eye contact with the young woman at the table that was staring daggers at her.

"Oh Rin Tohsaka you here too?" Luvia asked with a sardonic tone.

"Of course," Rin said calmly as she closed her book and placed it down on the table "why wouldn't I be in the apartment I share with MY boyfriend."

The dry sarcasm in her tone wasn't lost on Luvia and she turned her half hearted smile into an envious grin for a brief moment before composing herself.

"Well it's actually good you both are here. I came here to deliver these to you as per the request of El-Melloi" she said as she grabbed her handbag and pulled out what seemed to be two tickets.

"What are those?" Shirou asked.

"An invitation to the upcoming Clock Tower Gala. Since Tohsaka here is part of a prestigious Magus family she is of course highly wanted there. And of course El-Melloi has a glowing good opinion on you Shero so of course you get one too."

Luvia said as she patted and ruffled his hair affectionately. Rin watched from the table with clutched fists, trying very hard to restrain herself from hitting that snobbish little prude with her stupid spaghetti hair in the face.

"That's very kind of you Luvia," Shirou said as he took one of the tickets from her hand "we should go Rin would be a fun date wouldn't you agree."

Shirou didn't notice all the color draining from Luvia's face. But Rin did as she stood up and walked around the table and grabbed the remaining ticket out of Luvia's hand and walked over to kiss Shirou on the cheek as a seething Luvia clutched her fist and gritted her teeth.

Zander Morrison never imagined as quickly as he had met this mysterious woman that appeared on his front door, that the day after that he was already on a private plane with her.

The woman, Marianne Foucault, explained to him that her boss was fascinated with his research paper and wanted to see how knowledgeable he really was. So Foucault offered him to come with her on an expedition of course. Morrison was hesitant at first but in the end, he figured it was better to do something then to stay at home trying to drink away his sorrows.

Besides he needed to prove to himself and Isaac that he was at least going to try.

Morrison took a sip of water as Foucault sat across from him reading a paper. They had been completely silent this entire plane trip and it was making him uneasy.

"Uhm Miss Foucault. Not to bother you but where are we going?" Morrison asked her.

Foucault folded down the newspaper and placed it aside "to Paris" she answered shortly.

"Paris? Why there?"

Foucault's gaze remained stoic as she explained "Professor Morrison your paper went into the deep intricacies about how magic may exist in the modern world. Well we are going to a place where such magic can be found."

Morrison couldn't believe his ears "are you telling me magic is actually real?"

Foucault's expression remained stoic and unchanging "I couldn't possibly explain it to you. You wouldn't understand. But my boss believes you are very capable of finding what we are looking for, especially since time is of the essence."

Morrison didn't understand a word of what she was saying. But before he could ask again she spoke first.

"A team of researchers will be waiting for us when we land. Don't worry professor, I promise you everything will be made clear to you."

And with that she grabbed her paper again and resumed reading. Leaving Morrison there to wonder what it all meant that she was trying to convey. So the silence reigned until they finally landed in Paris on a private air strip.

Foucault opened the plane as Morrison grabbed his belongings and followed her out. As soon as he stepped out the plane he was greeted by the sight of at least a dozen men all dressed in neat suits standing behind another man with his arms clasped around his back.

The man in the front stood out to Morrison. He was tall and looked to be in his mid-thirties with short blonde hair with bangs that seemed to end in dark brown. He wore a long leather trench coat and white undershirt with matching black pants.

Foucault walked into his direction and he asked her "is that the one the boss asked for?"

Foucault nodded in response. "I'll take it from here. Get the transport ready" the man told her as he walked past her, right at Morrison.

"Professor Morrison I take it?" the man asked, allowing the professor to hear the obvious British accent coming from the man.

"Yes. Are you miss Foucault's boss?" Morrison asked him.

The man smiled as he stopped right in front of the professor "on this operation yes but not the real power behind this all so to say."

The man unclasped his hands from behind his back and extended his right hand to Morrison. It was then that Morrison saw the unusual sight of his hand.

It looked…almost metallic. It was clearly a prosthetic hand and it took Morrison by surprise and the man noticed.

"Don't worry about it professor. I have had it for nearly two years it's nothing weird" he said calmly.

Morrison took in a breath and reached out to shake his hand with a smile "Professor Alexander Morrison. But please call me Zander."

The man returned with a smile of his own "my name is Gilgamesh. But please call me Gil" he said.