Prologue

He walked.

Flames licked the ground all around him, consuming everything in their path.

He walked.

The voices and screams of the doomed and dying filled the air, calling out for something, anything to save them.

He walked.

Even as his past, his memories, everything that made him who he was was lost to the flames.

He walked.

He walked until he couldn't go on, falling to the ground. He looked up at the night sky, painted red from the flames. And he gave up.

But then something blocked his vision. It was a man. Dark haired, wearing a disheveled and torn outfit. But what drew the boy's eyes was the expression on the man's face. An expression of complete and utter joy and contentment.

As the boy's eyes closed and his fatigue consumed him, one last thought went through his mind.

I wish I could smile like that one day.

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When he woke up in the hospital, the man was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.

The man smiled at him, "Good morning. My name is Emiya Kiritsugu. What's yours?"

"…Kazuto. My name is Kazuto."