prologue 2

Emiya Shirou was in trouble. He realized that when he left his house and felt the air around him weigh, he could feel the magical energy in the air and that shouldn't be possible. Shirou looked around for any traces of life, but found none.

He was in a kind of pocket dimension. That was his conclusion, it wasn't possible to have so much MANA in the air in this era, that was bad Shirou realized. He possibly was in the territory of some mage powerful enough to create such a thing

Shirou realizing that his life was in danger ran through the streets of Fuyuki desperately trying to somehow get out of this pocket dimension. In the midst of this despair, Shirou's breathing began to wheeze, and he was forced to stop in front of the train station near his house.

Shirou took a piece of wood from the floor and used his reinforcement magic to improve and make the wood stronger.

Shirou took a deep breath trying to calm his worry and tried to focus all his attention on the path he was following. He knew that an enemy mage could show up at any time, and he would likely be killed if caught by surprise

Of course, there was the slightest possibility that the mage wasn't a bad person and helped him out of the mirror dimension. No, that wouldn't happen, Shirou knew enough about magus society not to expect anything good from them.

"Come on Shirou, you can do it" Shirou spoke to himself while looking at the corners "we're going to get out of here"

He positioned the piece of wood like a Kendo sword and walked calmly towards the station stairs. He took silent steps and quickly reached the staircase

*Help*

A crying scream caught Shirou's attention, and he lost all his composure. He tried to avoid running up to the voice because he knew it was probably a trap. He wasn't foolish enough to fall into such a trap.

*Help*

Shirou clenched his fist with all his strength as he continued to walk in the opposite direction of the screams. He continued to take one step at a time, he could ignore the screams it was a trap, he didn't need to go to the source of the screams

There was no one in danger, Shirou had to ignore the screams, he couldn't fall into such a silly trap. He had to just keep walking and ignore the screams, and he would do it

Shirou put his hands over his ear and started running to the opposite side of the screams and with every step he took a strong pain settled in his chest

*Help*

"FUCK" Shirou yelled in anger as he stopped running and turned in the direction of the screams, "I can't ignore"

Shirou ran with all his strength and speed towards the screams and with every step he took, the louder the screams were the louder, and he started to smell a strong smell of blood

Shirou took a deep breath as he looked at the escalator filled with blood running down it. He squeezed the wood in his hand and took a step forward. Sweat fell off his forehead and his shoulders began to tense and his mind was fully alert to any kind of attack he might suffer.

Upon reaching the bottom of the escalator, a feeling of panic entered Shirou. He felt fear creep into his being and his survival instincts told him to run

What he had at the end of that hallway was a monster he could never have a chance to defeat. That was the one thing all his instincts told him

with trembling hands he walked forward in short steps and found a woman lying on the floor in the middle of a pool of blood, Shirou froze at the sight of the woman, but what made him scared was not the mutilated woman but the energy that came out of her

It was monstrous and terrifying, a tyrannical aura that made Shirou's legs tremble just from being near her. The woman's aura was much worse than the aura of that old monster Zouken Matou

"Hey, are you okay?" Shirou asked as he took short steps forward

He didn't want to get too close to the woman because he knew she was dangerous, something with such a powerful aura couldn't be human

As he approached the woman, Shirou felt his life passing through her eyes, the chance of him dying would be great and the most conscious part of him told him to flee from there.

{No! No! I have to save her} The other part of his mind, the most irrational part of his brain, spoke louder, and he continued to walk towards the woman lying on the floor

"You… I'll let you save me," the woman said softly and looked into Shirou's eyes.

He froze for a second when he saw those beautiful, inhuman yellow eyes, something in those eyes mesmerized him and made him want to offer everything he had to that woman.

His eyes then flashed in shock, and he took a few steps back on his way back to reality, was he hypnotized? That was the question in his mind

"What do I have to do to save you?" Shirou hesitated to ask.

He kept a considerable distance from the woman. Without being exposed, he didn't know what this woman was and didn't want to risk Shirou despite being altruistic was not suicidal to get closer to something so powerful

"your blood, I need your blood to recover me," The woman said as she looked at Shirou expectantly

*Vampire*

That thought terrified him, why was there an apostle in that place? Did this woman attack anyone? Wouldn't it be better to let her die here? All the questions made Shirou's head heat up.

With all his willpower, he took a step back and slowly turned around. He closed his eyes and ran to the escalator

Shirou ignored the woman's screams, he didn't want to get involved in this, she was a monster, there was no point in saving her. She wasn't human.

As Shirou ran with all his strength away from the woman's body, he thought of something that made him stop at once. Was it okay to let non-humans die?

He didn't dream of becoming a hero of justice to save everyone, so why let non-humans die?

As long as he remained in this dilemma, his ears could no longer ignore the female vampire's cries of despair.

She was dying, and he had to save that's what the most irrational side of him said, he had to save all the people in need

Shirou then stopped running and grimaced, and couldn't ignore the vampire woman to die. He knew he wasn't capable of doing that.

If he lets the vampire woman die, he has no turning back, Shirou could no longer become a hero of justice because he had already left someone to die. From that moment on, he would just be a broken boy with no hope in the world.

More than fucking "Shirou yelled with all his strength, he couldn't help it.

He had to save the woman, she was in danger and if he died saving someone would be something to be proud of, after all, he wanted to know the feeling of saving someone.

Shirou wondered if he would be as happy as his father was when he saved him, maybe Shirou could have a smile as beautiful as Kiritsugu had when saving that woman

The sound of a train rang through the station, and it was a sound Shirou didn't mind hearing, the teenage magus walked down the escalator while keeping a smile on his face.

Today he would make a difference, he would save someone. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he could have a vision of the dismembered woman who was crying softly no pool of her blood

Shirou saw that the woman had already given up, the same way she had given up when she was caught in Fuyuki's fire, and felt a strange sensation inside her being. Shirou came very close to her and touched her face

"don't give up," Shirou said as he took the woman's torso in his arms, "I'll save you"

He kept his smile on his face as he saw the look of disbelief and then hope on the woman's face. Shirou felt for the first time in long time happiness, he would save someone and be like his father

"Can I?" the woman asked weakly

"of course you can," Shirou said as she laid her head against the woman's breasts, "drink it all, let me save you"

The woman looked at Shirou in a total stupor until she opened her mouth and bit Shirou's neck. She felt his blood entering his mouth and tears started to come out of her eyes.

It was not tears of sadness but of happiness, she had never received anything from anyone if they expected something in return for her and this boy was sacrificing himself for her without asking for anything just out of sheer kindness and altruism, this was something she had never seen in her life

Shirou felt his awareness slipping away as the woman bit her neck, and then he fell backward. Shirou formed a distorted smile on his face, so that was the happiness Kiritsugu felt when he saved him.

Shirou finally understood why Kiritsugu was so happy that day he saved Shirou. It was because whoever got saved that day was not Shirou but Kiritsugu

And now who was being saved was Shirou and not the vampire, Shirou was finally at peace with himself feeling like he had paid a debt that was devouring him from within.

He saved a life just like Kiritsugu saved him, and now he can truly be saved.

Shirou at that moment died again, the first time the boy died to make room for the empty being named Emiya Shirou and now the empty being named Emiya Shirou died to make room for the vampire Emiya Shirou

(-one year later-)

"Senpai" Shirou heard a gentle voice calling him and a gentle hand shaking him

"Sakura?" Shirou opened his eyes and saw his friend who always took care of him, "what is it?"

"You're going to be late for school" Sakura warned him with the kind smile she always had

"What?"

To be continued