Chapter 05: Calm

The sin of the father was paid for by the son.

Illya was curious, what kind of person was Emiya Shirou?

What was so special about her that her father would abandon her for him?

He couldn't stop the question from circulating in his mind along with an idea or two to torture him.

But it didn't take long for him to be disappointed.

The debt took the son's blood and tears as payment, lost limbs or even a life.

Emiya Shirou was just a 3rd Magus, and an idiot running around waiting for someone to kill him.

Without a doubt, it had been a complete surprise his action in protecting his Servant.

In the end... He was just a fool wishing to die.

...

Her curiosity won the fight against her common sense and she ended up meeting him in a nearby park.

It was just simple child's play, something she thought she would never accept, much less from him.

She had never felt so happy to be wrong.

Emiya Shirou was a guy with too much kindness in his being, there was concern and care in his actions. Such as if he feared he could hurt himself with nothing.

Illya couldn't help but feel that in the end misfortune would befall the boy if a Magus took advantage of him.

He even tried to act as if they were a noble lady and her servant, it was frankly amusing. Maybe he should have Sella make him a butler's uniform.

In her mind, the image of a Shirou dressed as a servant certainly produced no small amount of amusement and amusement.

As well as, there was a part of her that whispered words to him that she honestly didn't want to hear, at least not at the moment.

Would he still be the same once he was put on a doll?

Would she still act that way if she knew everything he had planned to do to her?

She looked a little reluctantly at his back which was getting farther and farther away, she still wasn't convinced.

But maybe and just maybe.

Could they have a good relationship.

Humming a catchy tune she had heard, Illya quietly walked away.

She looked forward to their next meeting.

...

Once he was far enough away, Shirou exhaled a sigh of relief. He could feel his shirt clinging to his body covered in sweat from both playing and his nerves.

He had managed to dodge a bullet.

He wasn't foolish and inexperienced enough to think that Illyasviel would just walk out just like that without his Servant. Such a thing was nothing more than a foolish action... something he had done as well.

- ' I curse them "me" before!' - It was really frustrating to see in his mind how time and time again they repeated the same rookie mistakes. Worse yet, that they were his own actions.

Which meant that if he had made an unnecessary move or thought to attack....

Well, he would have relived his first death.

Or second? It was hard to count them after what happened with Lancer when he found him in Homurahara before summoning Saber.

However it happened, Shirou was sure he didn't want to die again.

...

4 days later

The sun stood high in the sky, it was a couple of hours before dark.

Kotomine Kirei watched the view from the front of his gloomy church. The expression on her face remained unperturbed, the thoughts in her mind churning as the odd idea popped into her head.

The war was progressing a little too slowly for her liking, even Gilgamesh seemed to be starting to get irritated.

Though that was mostly due to a person she called "Faker" rather disparagingly.

In his words, Faker had dared to change something he shouldn't have and therefore his garden was in danger, which was why he should give him a severe punishment so that he wouldn't dare to do anything else.

At this point, he had gotten used to the old Servant blurting out incomprehensible or meaningless words when something didn't go his way, but he had never witnessed such a crazed and anger-filled expression.

But most of all.

Frustration was the main emotion.

Who had provoked this reaction, who was brave enough to make Gilgamesh angry but stay alive?

It was hard to get such an individual out of his mind, and unbeknownst to him, Kotomine Kirei had ended up becoming even more interested in the person called "Faker".

Who was it about?

...

The days passed normally, even if Rin's help was practically unnecessary since he had most of the memories of his counterparts to use the projection, it certainly helped him to leave an impression on the girl.

After all it was harder to betray someone close to you than a stranger. This would serve as extra insurance to make sure Tohsaka would remain on her side.

A small smile rose on her lips.

Besides, she couldn't deny that being with someone besides Fuji-nee, Issei and Sakura felt good.

Tohsaka wasn't one of the best conversationalists, but there was no doubt that it was fun to tease her to see her reactions.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she now understood Archer's need, besides....

She couldn't deny that she looked almost cute when she overreacted to his teasing.

As much as the boy might believe he had his emotions in control, it didn't mean anything, because feelings weren't a rational thing or one that could be kept in check.

Not completely at least.

Little had been the time they shared together, but what they faced and the closeness only formed bonds.

One thing was undeniable, Tohsaka Rin had definitely become an, albeit relatively new, important part of Emiya Shirou's life.

...

The Emiya maintained his stance by not bringing Saber to Homurahara, the frustration had been too obvious in his eyes.

Of course, such frustration was vented in the time he was trained by the Servant.

He hadn't missed for a damn second the amused look Archer sent him every time he saw him take a beating.

He couldn't deny it, a part of himself wanted a battle of ideals to happen like in the "UBW" route, even if he had put his own aside, he could always surprise Archer with his skills and beat him up. Such a scene replayed in his mind to the point where he had to make an extra effort to keep the expression on his face from changing to a smiling one.

Not much had happened, the nightly patrols he did with Saber and the others hadn't been very successful, there was also the fact that even though he knew Caster's location, he didn't feel safe to confront her.

Not for now at least.

The inclusion of Tohsaka into his familiar environment had been an issue that had brought him quite a few headaches. Taiga had been less than vocal about it while Sakura had ignored him most of the day whenever he tried to talk to her.

Ugh.

Relationships really were difficult, and no amount of experiences could help him deal with the monster known as "Troubled Women".

At least he had Saber, she was relatively nice.

...

Archer had already reached his wits end trying to find answers about Emiya Shirou's strange behavior, he had even gone so far as to seek information about the Fuyuki fire and other events that helped to forge him, to forge Emiya Shirou into the person he was during the fifth war.

Maybe something had changed and affected this timeline causing it to be this way.

You know, different timelines and stuff, there was always a person or event called a "variant" that caused a new series of events different from the original.

The closest example I could give was as if there were two versions of the same movie, with the same actors but different writers and director. The result, although similar, would never be the same.

But here there were none, everything was exactly the same....

But not to the timelines in which he had been summoned as Tohsaka Rin's Servant.

This timeline...

It was identical to his own.

To a ridiculously terrifying degree, with no deviations that made it relatively close to Saber, with some elements of the second timeline where that version of him ended up with Rin, and for now he hadn't seen anything related to that timeline where the entire war is affected by Angra Mainyu and Sakura.

One of the few present reliefs if he had to add.

His eyes grew sharper as his gaze did not leave a red-haired idiot, who was taking a brutal beating from a short blonde-haired girl.

It seemed, at last, that luck was on his side.

For he who waits gets.

For he who seeks finds.

And finally after countless years, Counter Guardian EMIYA, would get his wish.

He only had to stretch out his hands and reach for it.

...

The long-awaited moment had arrived.

Another turning point was at hand.

Shirou and Tohsaka began to move around the school destroying the circles and stopping the Rider Master's plan.

Of course, it was clear that things were not going to end there.

In any case he didn't even have to fake any emotion for the rookie act he was doing for Rin to see, because Shirou was furious.

It was one thing to know something existed, quite another to see it firsthand.

One could hear about a murderer on TV and feel worried, but in spite of that he would not be very afraid because he would unconsciously think "That will not happen to me" so he would be unconcerned, then if the same situation occurred, but having the murderer in front of him?

The answer was obvious fear, fear and disbelief.

No matter how you wanted to describe it, the sense of dread was there.

The consequences of Shinji's actions would carry a lot of weight if he actually succeeded.

It would be enough to cause a complete diversion from any timeline, complete the separation and change he so desired. A perfect opportunity to achieve his goal.

He just had to be selfish, to put his happiness and the happiness of others before that of a few.

He was aware that to achieve the desired end he needed many sacrifices. Some of them too bitter and sour.

But he was not going to do it at the cost of the lives of others.

This was not the way he wanted to help.

And from that came the hesitation.

Should he kill Shinji? He couldn't deny it, a part of him really wished it wasn't necessary.

Shinji had been a good friend to him, as much of an idiot as he was, but on the other hand there was also the matter of his actions towards Sakura.

A cold glint crossed his bronze colored eyes the plans for the two guns, which he had named Ebony and Ivory after the guns of an old friend that one of his versions had known, appeared in his head ready to be projected.

He'd never killed anyone, but that didn't mean he was going to throw the option off the table.

Not with everything that was at stake.

𝙊𝙈𝘼𝙆𝙀: 𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨?

Shirou's mind went blank for a few small moments.

A figure that looked familiar from the thousands of memories of his alternate selves made his head ache.

The figure in front of him was definitely not one that he would have believed could make its presence known.

Much less one that would have answered his call.

Not after how awkward those times had been and on the terms they had parted on that occasion.

-...Emiya - She murmured as she looked at him with longing and restrained anger.

Shirou couldn't help but blink and feel his mouth go dry.

Beautiful long white hair slicked back....

Moonlight shining as if it were a spotlight present just for her.

For the first time, Emiya Shirou questioned himself about whether he had some sort of fetish for white-haired women.

Perhaps it was a thing shared by father and son.

He wore a black suit somewhat tight to his body, gloves of the same color on his hands.

A blue trench coat with gold accents.

He swallowed what little saliva he had in his mouth as he watched her scowl at him.

A black Katana sheathed at his side.

Obviously ignoring Lancer, who was beginning to feel annoyed and somewhat uncomfortable with how he was being ignored.

Even with an annoyed expression, his face did not lose its great beauty.

- I ask you, are you my Master? - I could hear his teeth grinding with fury, the tone used far from being respectful was almost mechanical, as if he had said it more out of obligation than because he wanted to.

It really wouldn't surprise him if that was the case.

Shirou was surprised when he found himself smiling in her direction.

He was sure, even if the path he was following led him to hell.

This moment would forever remain etched in his memories.

A half-demon mad for power and a sword mad for justice.

No doubt the changes they would sow would be one of a kind.

What could go wrong?

************************************************

This Omake is more than anything that would have been the prototype for this fic.

And yes, I know I'm crazy about all that sucking at a Vergil Fem, but be honest with me.

Is it the biggest smoke you've seen/will see or will continue to see from me?

Is it the worst thing you'll find in the gigantic cumulus of curse things that is Fanfiction?

Anyway, with these words said Wolf takes his leave.

But not before asking...

What do you think of the chapter, the omake, and the story so far.