A Sword Amongst the Roses by ahdokobo

(Shirou died protecting women and children in a war zone. He didn't know what to do when he woke up in a new world with a new family. He had been a hero once already. Perhaps he'd take it slow and protect his new sisters. Whatever the case, Remnant now has two heroes it can count on, both are Roses, but will the two of them be enough to succeed where so many others failed?)

Screams and flames, those were the earliest memories Shirou had access to. They weren't really memories he enjoyed remembering, even now. A hell that was made by the grail, the same object that he fought for years later. A hero, thats what Shirou always wanted to be after that fire and especially after the grail war. He fought countless battles, he saved the lives of the innocent, and he upheld justice. Until finally, he fell in battle, buying time for the women and children to evacuate from a war torn city.

He remembered seeing Alaya, come to him in his final moments. If he was the same as Archer, he may have considered it. However, he didn't wish to make Archer regret helping him out all those years ago. He idly wondered if Bazett and Hippolyta were proud of what he had been able to accomplish.

He'd never know. Though, he supposed that he could infer what they might have thought. He did what he thought was right and just. And in the end, unlike Archer, he wasn't completely alone. Shirou found solace in that fact. Funnily enough, fifteen years later, in another world that was very different from his original, he was still tied to heroes in some form or fashion.

Huntsmen, despite what many people said, were heroes for the people. To drive away the darkness and bring hope to those without it. Shirou thought it was ironic, that his new world celebrated these huntsmen, when his world actively tried to stop him from doing the same as these huntsmen. Though, if he had to be honest, he wouldn't have minded landing in a peaceful world.

He had already accomplished his goal. So, realistically, he didn't have a goal to focus on that wasn't doing the same thing he already did. He thought he might've enjoyed a slow, peaceful life, the kind Bazett used to tell him about when they were staying in Fuyuki. However, it seems that it wasn't in the cards, especially considering what family he was born into.

Both his mother and father were both huntsmen. His father was named Taiyang Xiao-Long, while his mom was named Summer Rose. He thankfully kept his name, though he had the last name Rose. Something he shared with his twin, Ruby. His elder sister Yang, however, had the Xiao-Long name. This caused Shirou to wonder if the Rose family was some sort of clan like the Fraga's he was born into in his old world.

Growing up with two sisters was a unique experience to say the least. Especially because he had a twin sister. That's saying nothing of growing up with real parents. Even it only lasted for about five years. He had to admit that his mom was an amazing mother, who showered all three children with love and affection. Going out of her way to tell them stories, bake cookies, and bond with each of them.

In his last life, his memories were burnt away, though he always remembered the man who saved him. He didn't find out until later, that the man died saving him. Though, that image of him was stuck in his mind, even after his aunt found him in that hospital.

He remembered his aunt raising him alongside his cousin Bazett, who he quickly grew to see as a sister. Sadly, when she turned fifteen, she had left to pursue her own path, giving him one of the earrings she had treasured when she left. He had to admit that the family dynamic with his aunt wasn't anything like Summer's. Bazett was his only real example of what a family may be like, seeing as the two saw each other as siblings.

After Summer died, Shirou took it upon himself to tell stories to his sisters at night. The stories of heroes from his world. He remembered hearing many different stories from his mom, so he knew that the history was different enough for him to do so. It would only sound like a child's imagination. Along with this, he began to do more of the housework and even began to bake cookies for his sisters, though he hated having to make them less than his best.

Shirou really loved his sisters, both reminding him of Bazett in one way or another. He also knew that his mom would have wanted him to watch over them in her stead. His father couldn't do it, considering he was a broken person after her death. So, Shirou took over his mom's duties. It was going well for awhile, though he noticed some things that bothered him about Yang's behavior.

Then came what Shirou likes to call the 'incident'. He partially blamed their father, but Shirou understood that grief was something hard to get rid of. Either way, one night, Yang decided to go look for her mom. Needless to say, Ruby and him got roped into it, Shirou mainly to watch over them. This ended up leading into a development that caused Shirou to both, metaphorically jump for joy and to face palm.

Yang had dragged Ruby and him in a cart to an old worn down house. Needless to say, they were attacked by grimm, as Shirou expected. What he did not expect, was to activate a semblance. Considering he had a reality marble, he figured it'd be next to impossible. The fact that he had aura would have been surprising enough when it was unlocked, but a semblance at his age?

To his surprise, his semblance was an extension of his reality marble. Rather than tracing the weapon from his reality marble, his semblance pulled the weapon out of it. The weapon would still be inferior, it was a copy, but his semblance allowed him to pull out a weapon that wouldn't degrade. Within a certain radius, he could summon whatever was in his reality marble, with aura rather than his circuits.

What caused him to face palm, was that when he dematerialized it, or rather, sent it back, it would leave an image of the weapon in the form of silver rose petals. When used in conjunction with magecraft, well, he had many ways in which to use what he called in a variety of ways. However, this was his first time using it, unlocking it on accident because he didn't want his sisters to be harmed.

He was trying to forcefully open his magic circuits by using the energy in a dust crystal, but instead, swords burst from the ground around Yang, Ruby, and him in the shape of a wall. Shirou was surprised by the sudden appearance of the swords, but was glad that he was able to protect his sisters. He knew that the swords would hold, he could feel his connection to them.

Before he could do anything else, their uncle, a man named Qrow, appeared, slaying the remaining grimm. This was when Shirou felt like face palming, as when he willed the swords to disappear, they were replaced with silver rose petals before blowing away in the wind.

Shirou sighed, that was the moment he knew he would be dragged into matters beyond his control, as usual. Naturally, Ruby began to treat him like some kind of hero for a long time after this. He could still tell she had that view of him, always telling everyone growing up that he was strong. What he didn't expect to happen, was for his sister to develop an obsession for weapons. Though he supposed it was partially his fault.

The years went on, the siblings were trained to be hunters, and eventually went to school to teach the basics of combat and such. Fifteen years old, and the two were hailed as prodigies at their school. Yang was already on her way to a huntsman academy, having graduated already. Shirou was actually surprised that the two were being called such a thing. He did think Ruby was special, she was gifted in combat, much more than he was at her age. So, he didn't have an issue with it.

Of course, he couldn't just say he was a reincarnated human from another world. So, he had to put up with being praised. At the moment, the two were now inside of a dust shop. His sister Ruby wore a black long sleeved blouse and dress, black combat boots and black stockings. 'A lot of black.' Shirou thought to himself for the thousandth time. You could see a bracelet on her right wrist underneath her sleeve, a copy of the earring given to him by Bazett was placed on it, modified to be smaller.

Though the red accents on her clothes added to the black, as well as her red cloak, which she had insisted on wearing. She had tried to get him to wear one too, but he was able to get her to compromise with what he chose. Her emblem was a silver buckle shaped as a rose, located on her belt. Something she insisted on him wearing as well, once again, he was able to get her to compromise on something else.

Which led to him. He was told he had to, at least, look memorable, so he decided to emulate his servant. He wore a red, short sleeved, hooded shirt (Ruby's idea) underneath a sleeveless, black kimono, with a red and black version of Hippolyta's sash worn in the same way, held in place with a black obi belt. He wore black combat pants and combat boots. Completed with black archers gloves on both hands. His emblem was located on a buckle on his right leg, a sword with a rose where the guard was located. The same bracelet that Ruby had was worn on his left wrist underneath his glove.

Both of them had black and red hair, though Shirou's looked more blood red with some black darkening certain parts. Ruby's was the opposite, looking more black than red. They both also had silver eyes, which Shirou found ironic, considering they were steel colored at the end of his life. Though, Shirou was pretty the two of them had some sort of mystic eyes, considering the dormant magic in them. Mystic eyes weren't his forte, so he hadn't been able to activate them just yet.

Both twins had weapons placed on their lower backs. Shirou's weapon, named Clarent Rose by Ruby, citing that it looked like the sword of Mordred. His weapon appeared more like a sword than his sister's Crescent Rose. Her beloved weapon appearing more like a rectangle box when in standby mode. He still didn't understand why everyone liked guns so much in the world, but he liked Ruby's, it meshed well with his own transformed ranged option.

Currently, his little sister was looking at some comic books, while listening to her music, which she also made him listen to with a pair of extra earphones. He looked at the titles and found one that seemed familiar. He grabbed it, taking note of the title, The Lonely Archer on the Top of a Hill. He flipped through the pages, idly smiling. He was pleased that the story was not based on his future alternate self. That would have been embarrassing. As he put the book back on the shelf, the twins felt someone tapping their shoulders.

The two turned around, Ruby taking her earphones off, while Shirou simply placed them around his neck. A man in a black business suit wielding some sort of machete was standing there. "Hands in the air!" Ruby's eyebrow raised, before looking at her brother, who turned his head towards her in a lazy way.

"Shirou, is he robbing us?" She asked in a slightly high, questioning tone. Shirou looked from his sister to the man, to the man's sword, to the man again, then back to her.

"It does appear that way sis." He said with a smirk. Ruby responded with a similar face, before kicking the man across the store into a wall. Shirou slightly winced, he hoped that guy had some aura, otherwise that was going to hurt for awhile. Soon, another goon appeared, this time holding a gun. Before anything could happen, the glass window shattered.

Shirou let out a sigh. The two now outside on the street. "Was breaking the glass completely necessary?" Shirou asked as he grabbed his weapon from his back, Ruby doing the same but with a flashy flourish. Revealing, what Shirou liked to call, 'a big freaking scythe'. He already knew what to do. He summoned an exact copy of his weapon with his semblance, attaching the two together at the bottom of the handles. He pressed a button on the handle, causing the two blades to curve inwards slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just caught up in the moment! Did it look cool though?" She replied, switching from apologetic to excited at the drop of a hat. Shirou grabbed a steel cord from underneath the tip of one blade and tied it to the other side, revealing a silver bladed, red and black handled bow. He sighed at her question. Though he had long grown used to her.

"I suppose it was pretty cool. Though, the flourish may have been a bit much." Ruby visibly deflated a bit. Before brightening up again.

"So, tone down on the flourishing and it'd be better? I'll be sure to remember that."

"Excuse me?! It's rude to ignore the star of the show reds." The man with a bowler hat said. Shirou's eyes narrowed when he looked at the mans cane. 'Why Melodic Cudgel?' He inwardly asked himself. The twins looked at each other, then back at the man, before shrugging. The man was obviously angered by this, since he ordered his men to go after them. But, he obviously underestimated them.

Ruby quickly dodged the first man that tried to attack her, before planting both of her feet into his face. Shirou summoned an arrow as he began shooting the goons that were farther away. Ruby continued to fly around, using her recoil to zip around, dodging and evading attacks before knocking said enemies away, one of which she knocked up into the air, before moving onto another. Shirou quickly readied another arrow before blasting the airborne goon away.

Within eight seconds, all seven goons were knocked out for the count. Three for him and three for Ruby, with one combined takedown. 'Nice and even', Shirou thought to himself. Ruby suddenly appeared next to him, as he dematerialized the copy of his weapon, red and silver petals mixing before floating away. Shirou activated another mechanism, causing his handle to extend and the blade to curve farther, to reveal his own scythe, placed onto his shoulder.

"Worth every cent, yep, truly." The bowler hat said sarcastically to the men on the ground. "Well, reds, this has been an eventful and fun time, and as much as I'd like to stick around,..." He lifted the Melodic Cudgel up towards the pair of siblings, a sight appearing on the end of it. Shirou's eyes narrowed,"I'm afraid we'll have to part ways here."

He fired off an explosive round at the two, Shirou placed a foot on one side of the scythe as Ruby did the same. He grabbed Crescent Rose and used reinforcement on it, specifically, the ammo. As the explosive neared them, Ruby shot the enhanced round into the ground, causing both siblings to fly upwards. Shirou landed first, planting his scythe into the ground before holding out his arms, where Ruby came landing into them.

"How do you always manage to do cool stuff like that?!" Ruby exclaimed, to which Shirou only gave her a smile, before letting her down. He nodded his head towards the man, who was trying to escape. Ruby turned to the shopkeeper, "Will you be okay if we go after him?" The old man nodded his head in the affirmative.

Shirou activated the runes on his boots, as Ruby quickly sped forward with her semblance and jumping up quickly to the roof using the recoil of her rifle. Shirou had managed to train his semblance in a way that, while too precise for anyone else to try, he could perform flawlessly. Though, he did embarrassingly mess up a lot over the years when attempting to do it.

"Blade Works, Set!" Shirou said as he ran and jumped, a sword appearing underneath his foot, acting as a platform, two more swords later and he was now on the roof. Admittedly, without the runes he inherited from the Fraga, such a thing would take a lot more swords. Five stories, yeah, to much aura and mana use.

"Stop right there!" He heard Ruby yell. The man mumbled something, before a bullhorn appeared. He quickly jumped aboard before turning around. "End of the line for both you reds! He threw out a dust crystal, it landing next to Ruby's feet. Shirou, using his rune enhanced boots quickly dashed forward.

"I am the bone of my sword." He said quietly, before holding his hand outwards, "Rho..." Flashes of pink and silver appeared from his palm. This was Shirou's ultimate defense, a combination of his Semblance and magecraft, "Aias!" a pink flower with six petals appeared, six silver layers appeared in front of it. The round quickly hit the shield, managing to crack the first layer surprisingly.

He heard a laugh, before it died out. "You just tried to blow up my sister!" The Aias dematerialized, though the petals that made up the layers of shielding refused to blow away, instead reforming around Shirou, "Let's see how you like it when you're attacked with lethal intent! Blade Works, sword barrel,..." The silver petals formed behind him into six different swords, he overloaded them with mana, breaking them, "Full Open!"

The blades all shot forth. Though they were only mystic codes, they were still strong enough to do some damage. The swords hit the bullhorn, damaging the ship and managing to nearly knock it out of the sky. A woman with a red dress appeared in place of the man they were chasing. Shirou stiffened for a moment. The smell coming from her was much different. It was flames, yet smelled of the season of fall. 'Interesting.' he thought.

She charged up a mass of power before firing what appeared to be a fireball. Shirou quickly cut the attack with his scythe. However, she did something with the remnants of the attack, causing them to ignite the ground underneath him. He quickly grabbed Ruby and rolled out of the way. The ground exploded in a pillar of flames.

While on the ground, Shirou prepared to fire another barrage, when a blonde woman appeared, wearing black and purple cape. She began to unleash a barrage of attacks, ranging from ice shards, to using what Shirou assumed to be her semblance to collect debris from another attack towards her and redirected back towards the bullhorn. It almost appeared to be a type of telekinesis from the way she was moving the debris around. Shirou knew this wasn't good, for his sister or him.

He quickly grabbed her by her waist, collapsed his scythe and placed it behind him. "Blade Works, Sword barrel." Ten swords appeared in the air, one particular greek spear was included. "Full open!" he fired the weapons, noticing the huntress watching the weapons fly towards the woman in the ship. Shirou took this moment to quickly jump from the roof. "Set." a sword appeared underneath him, allowing him to only bear the pain of jumping down two stories, rather than five.

"Alright, Rubes, let's start running!" Shirou said as he picked her up in a princess carry, he weapon folded up in her lap.

"Wait! Why are we running in the first place? Wait, that was a huntress! Oh, my gosh, go back, I need her autograph!" She began exclaiming as Shirou began running the alley ways, before a wall of stone appeared in front of him. He kept running, wondering if he should just try to break through, before he looked at Ruby, who had a very confused look on her face.

He let out a sigh, before he stopped after taking a few more steps. "Fine, we can just wait here and see if you can get that autograph." He joked lightheartedly, but he honestly wasn't a huge fan of being trapped or being punished for doing the right thing. He let Ruby down, before patting her on the top of her head. He always forgot how small she was sometimes. Despite being twins, he was at least a head taller than she was.

He gave her a gentle smile. He was about to say something when he was interrupted. "Excuse me, I'm going to have to ask you both to come with me. Willingly would be preferred." She said with her eyes narrowing at Shirou. He let out a sigh. 'I guess I asked for that.'

"If you'll sign this first, I'll have no problem doing so." Shirou said, with a smile on his face, holding out a notebook. Ruby was standing behind him looking confused, wondering how he managed to grab her notebook.

After being taken to an interrogation room of some kind, Shirou and Ruby sat at a table, underneath a singular light, which bothered Shirou. "You know, you could at least bring some milk and cookies for my little sister while we wait." Shirou said to no one in particular.