So, irresponsible number 176 decides to start a new project instead of updating his most viewed fic after nearly a year, yay! That's because this is the fifth time I became infatuated way too much with the Fate series. First was reading the first route, second was reading Fate/Zero, third reading UBW route and watching Fate/Zero, fourth reading Heaven's Feel route and playing Fate/Extra. So, now, that brings me to the fifth, which combines watching UBW animation, playing Fate/Extra with a different servant and starting an Action Figure collection all in one go. So, I present the umpteenth time anyone tried to make a story like this. I hope I'm met with moderate success and I beg for reviews. Also, I'm afraid I'm not that capable at keeping characters in character, so tell me what you thing on that end as well. So, let's, once again, draw the curtains on the Fifth Holy Grail War.

I revised this chapter a little. Reading it again, there were some mistakes I just couldn't let sit. Like "Kiristugu". That's actually embrassing... BETA, where are you?

Fate/ Stay Night Snow Princess Requiem

Act I

To learn magic is to stray from common sense

You die when you die and you kill when you must

Our essence is not in life but in death

Magic is only a way to destroy yourself

Emiya Kiritsugu, Fate/Stay Night, Day One, Magic Training(Circuits)

Prologue

Ten Years Ago

He ran. He was desperate. He had every reason to be. How could he not be so, when this tragedy could very well have been his fault? The man tried to ignore his desperation as he looked for survivors.

And there, amidst the raging blazes, Emya Kiritsugu found his redemption.

For a moment, everything stopped. Relief washed over Kiritsugu's body, even as the first effects of having tried to destroy the Grail started to show themselves. Ignoring the pain in his chest and legs, he ran with renewed vigor towards the one who could very possibly turn out to be the sole survivor of the great fire.

The boy's eyes were about to close when his hand was firmly grasped and his amber eyes opened wide. And in his ears, only two words ringed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you—"

The man was showing a sad smile while he continued saying words of gratitude, repeatedly. Soon, he was even crying, from both the feeling and the smoke around them.

The boy's spirit was renewed. With this, as he closed his eyes, he had decided he wanted to live. And when he contemplates back to that day, that was likely the only reason he did.

When again he awoke, he was in a hospital's bed. With white swallowing him from all sides, then man's black outfit really stood out in that place.

Who was that man?

He remembered. The man that saved him. The one who cried while thanking him for being alive.

And then, one of the first thing he heard spoken to him.

"Do you want to live with me?"

That offer came only to him. He was only one who was asked such a thing. None of the others kids that survived the incident received such a proposal. To live with this man? To be adopted by him?

It did not take long for him to come with an answer. All the other kids would be going to some kind of orphanage. Would he rather live with this man or go with then?

And so began the story of Emiya Shirou.

Eight Years Ago

Black pants and a white shirt underneath the black jacket. No matter how casual his appearance seemed to be, as soon as anyone caught sight of his red eyes that illusion would be shaken.

He could, obviously, hide his eye color, but such a though never occurred to him. He was all pride with all of his characteristics, and he would not change anything about himself to fit the common sense of all these mongrels.

Walking around Fuyuki, his sense of boredom was filled again. That is the truth. He was bored with this world.

Day after day, the same mongrels at the same time passing by the same place. Occasionally, something that put him in a good mood happened, like that altar in his name some guy kept at his home and the poem about his greatness that a high school girl had written last week. Even if he could not remember their names right now, he would make sure keep them as his servants when he reclaimed the world.

But mostly, he was bored.

A being such as he could feel things others could not, and, in a certain October, he was sure of the time it would take for everything to be set in motion.

Eight more years.

After waiting eight more years, the war would start again.

And then, after having his fun, the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, would finally be able to reclaim all that he wanted.

But, for now, he would have to rely on the fake priest to keep him entertained. At least he was a human interesting enough for the job.

Seven Years Ago

The old man smiled. He was always smiling in that horrifying way of his.

Matou Zouken's preparations were going smoothly. And now, one more step had been taken to ensure his victory in the war to come.

He let out a laugh, a painfully creepy one, just as the screams stopped.

Five Years Ago

"Dad, who is Illya?"

Emiya Kiritsugu was caught unprepared by the sudden question presented by his adopted son.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"You sometimes mutter that name under your breath. It happens a lot after you have just woken up."

Five years later and the curse that befell him was finally ready to claim his life. One of Kiritsugu's dearest wishes was to keep Shirou out of the world of Magi and mage craft.

But that one time, just that single time, his feeling towards his lost daughter came flooding in and he couldn't hold back his tears.

Why hadn't he tried harder? Why did he let the Einzberns lie to her? Why couldn't he be there when she needed him?

Water flowed, but he didn't make a sound. All these years and only now could the tears flow freely.

"Dad?"

Remembering why all these emotions came to the surface, he turned to his son. And so he hugged his adopted son and told him the truth.

He told him everything. And, eight days later, he passed away, leaving behind a redhead son with two dreams in life.

Two Months Ago

"Berserker."

The ash colored skin giant let out a low roar of acknowledgement. The little one was to be his master. The little one was to be his redemption. He would win the war for the little one.

All that did not form a single tough, but were rather an instinct. His class only perk was strength, but it came at the cost of his sanity. But his instinct told him he had to protect the little one, just as had just done, killing those wolves.

The little girl smiled, covered in blood along with her white dress. And, if Berserk could think, he would have wondered if he would be able to attack her if she was his enemy.

In that particularly cold forest of Germany, the little one and the ash giant bonded.

Illyasviel von Eizbern was satisfied with her servant. He would do nicely. He was surely the strongest in the war, no, the strongest in the world. Of that, she had no doubt.

She was confident in her success, and, in her quest for truth, she would need the strongest ally possible.

Not that she would admit this to anyone, but Illyasviel was naïve. This natural naivety of hers led to the opposite in truth. Taking lessons with Sella and Leysritt, her mind dwelled on the treasons of history.

Many historical incidents happened because of betrayals. With that in mind, she though back to what grandfather had said.

Her father had abandoned her. Her father had betrayed the Einzbern. Her father was a bad man overall, one that let her mother die in vain.

At the time, naïve Illya had accepted it all at face value. She was sad. Really sad. And then was was angry. It was around that time that she started taking more serious private lessons with homunculi. These lessons focused, obviously, on mage craft, on tuning her to perfection until the start of the war.

It didn't take a genius to get her lesson just by learning about mage craft and, occasionally, magus history; the latter was simply something she was interested in, and, seeing no contradiction to their orders, the homunculi readily taught her.

Seeing herself as any of those hundreds of betrayed emperors and kings of history, she couldn't help but start doubting everything. At that point, her naivety turned 180, and she never accepted anything as the absolute truth. All in hopes of not falling prey to her enemies.

Who were those enemies? She had yet to decide. Two more months and the battle will begin, two more months before she has the chance to discover the truth. Until then, the giant monster that acknowledged her as his master was her only ally.

Alone, they shall both wage war and, and all her enemies shall perish.

One Month Ago

The man in blue sighed. Having being summoned, all information about the Holy Grail War flowed into his head.

These were his first thoughts.

"Something about these steps is familiar. This is… Ryudou Temple? But the sky seems strange…"

"That's because of the many years that passed since you had the chance to look at the sky, Sasaki Kojirou."

The man was surprised at this.

"Sasaki… Kojirou… Is that my name?"

"Oh, you don't remember? That seems to be what people of this age call you."

He felt like he was being teased. Which he probably was. And that was not something that sat well with him. She had said two sentences, and his patience was already at its limit.

"… Just who are you, woman?"

"I'm your master in this world. I have summoned you here to do my bidding, Sasaki Kojirou… No, Assassin. As a servant, you should have been informed on everything there is to know about the war. Any questions?"

Sasaki Kojirou, as his name apparently was, was actually proud of his patience, but this witch seemed quite talented at annoying him. Still, he wouldn't let it show. Much.

"Ah, things are starting to make sense. I've been summoned to take part in some kind of fight, right?"

"From here on out, you will stay at this gate, protecting my camp. Magus or Servant, no one passes through here. Understood?"

Sasaki's plot most likely began there.

"I apologize, but I must refuse. I have no trouble in offering my life for a cause, but drawing my sword at the command of a woman doesn't sit well with me."

"Assassin… Do you honestly believe you have a choice?"

She repeated her command, but this time, Sasaki felt a burning throughout his whole body. It was compelling him towards this woman's ideal, forcing his body to oblige, and he decided to "willingly" follow the order before his body control was totally taken away from him.

"Ugh! So this is the coercion of a Command Spell? Seems like I really have no choice in this."

"Perform your assigned duties. And I suggest you keep your impudent mouth shut."

"Hm. You only have two more Command Spells, witch. Are you sure you can keep me in line until the end of this war?"

The witch didn't honor his question with an answer, choosing to simply retreat back to the temple.

Sasaki Kojirou, Assassin smirked. Under the influence of the witch, he had nothing to do but to sit by the temple gates and admire the sky.

"The moon is… really beautiful tonight."

One Week Ago

That mansion was for the living of three homunculi and one heroic spirit. With the exception of the illustrious beings that were supposed to live there, the mansion looked like any old European styled mansion.

This was to be Illya's base of operations for the upcoming war. She had nothing to complain about, nor would she have complained if such a thing existed in the first place. She was not about to care about minor details when the object her personal pursuit was so close by.

As soon as she was settle, along with her two servants, Sella and Leysritt, she would steal her first glance of him.

If he died then and there, she had still to decide.

Two Days Ago

The last day of January was a normal day for Emiya Shirou.

Early in the morning, he woke up from another dream involving the great fire, from which he was the sole survivor. He had been sleeping in his shed, where he usually practices the only form of mage craft he seems to have any aptitude with, strengthening magic. As his routine dictated, he was woken up by his junior in school, Matou Sakura, and was soon helping her make breakfast for both them and for the woman who practically lived with him, Fujimura Taiga.

At school, once again a routinely thing, he was asked to fix an apparatus by the student council president, Ryuudou Issei.

And now he was returning home after spending the last bits of the afternoon at his part-time job.

The time was around seven-thirty. Shirou, walking the moonlit path, grew suspicious of the lack of people in the area.

"Oh yeah!" he remembered.

Apparently, there was a crime nearby a few day ago. It seems that a burglar had murdered someone. That explained why there was no one out at this time.

"Gas leak and murder, eh? It's becoming dangerous lately…." He reflected on another recent incident, a gas leak that had put lots of lives in danger.

It really is becoming dangerous lately. I shouldn't let Sakura go home alone anymore. I should walk her— eh?

Shirou was completely taken aback.

In this road, where no one was supposed to be.

Up the hill, as if looking down at him.

There is in fact, someone. A girl.

"…"

Shirou unconsciously held his breath. The silver-haired girl smiled and descended the hill without a sound.

As she passes—

"You'll die if you don't summon it soon, Onii-chan."

She said something strange. As long as Shirou is concerned, that held no meaning at all…

Going up the hill, Shirou reached his house and, if the lights were anything to go by, Sakura and Fujimura were already home.

When he stepped inside the living room, he smell dinner. Looking at the table, he concluded that the main dish was chicken in cream, and Fujimura, who loves white sauce, was in an especially good mood.

"Sorry for starting without you, Senpai. I'll get your dinner ready."

"Nah, you forgive me for being late. I'll wash my hands, make sure Fuji-Nee don't eat all my food"

All in all, a normal dinner in the Emiya household. With the exception of Shirou's desire of becoming an Ally of Justice being revealed completely by Fuji-Nee, but it still content as a pretty normal dinner.

Starting on what he decided early that night, Shirou decided to take Sakura home. Sakura was flustered, but Shirou's good-natured offer made her resign herself to it, and he soon found out where she lived.

After he got home, it was time for the last part of his routine.

"— Trace, on."

As if hypnotizing himself, he murmurs that spell, the spell that he has been accustomed to for so long.

In his mind, he truly is hypnotizing his body, creating a fake magic circuit, what feels like a rod being forced into his backbone.

"— Basic Structure, Analyze. Composition, Analyze. Basic Structure, Alter."

Emiya Shirou was currently trying to reinforce a metal pipe. In a delicate blend of pouring his own magic into it and deeply understanding its composition.

"Composition, reinforce."

It was at that point that Shirou, distracted by his thoughts, lost his concentration, and felt a burning throughout his body. The result was a normal metal pipe, with Shirou's mana having, probably, evaporated into the air.

Frustrated, Shirou contemplated his ideals.

First, becoming a superhero. Not simply someone who simply goes around helping others, but a hero. The difference between the two is what has been eating at him for the past five years.

And second, finding his sister.

Illya…

A week before his passing, Kiritsugu told Shirou about her. About his lost daughter, taken away by her mother's family after he had been unable to prevent her death. How beautiful a girl she must be now, he had said. That was another source of frustration for Shirou.

He wanted to find her. He really did. How useless must he have felt, unable to lift a finger in order to do so? What did he know about her? Her name and country? He did not even have the money to leave the country, let alone do a proper search on another.

Year after year, the regret of not being able do anything tore away at him, just as it had done with his foster parent.

Frustrated to no end, Emiya Shirou went to sleep.

Last Day

Fire. Collapsing buildings. Burning people.

Once again, Shirou woke up after dreaming of the past.

Another day like any other…

"Senpai, your hand."

When going to school with Sakura, this was the first sign that Emiya Shirou's illusion of peace was about to be broken.

"Hm?" He said, looking at his left hand. Looking down on it, it was bleeding.

"Huh?" He pulled up his sleeve to check. Sure enough, there was blood present. "I must have cut myself fixing stuff last night." It was a mark. Like a thin snake running from his shoulder to his hand, but while it bled, it didn't hurt "Well, I don't feel any pain, so don't worry. It'll be gone soon."

Leaving Sakura, who has club activities behind, Shirou went to the main school building. But something was oddly wrong today. The students are the same, the school is the same, the ground is the same. But there is something wrong.

"Maybe I'm imagining stuff…"

But when he closes his eyes, everything changes. The school is covered with stains like membranes and the students resemble empty dolls.

"Maybe I really am just tired…" He resigned himself when he opened his eyes to a normal school building.

Fateful Night

Despite being Saturday, and school ending early, the sun is setting when Emiya Shirou is finally ready to leave school. He is yet again stopped by his somewhat friend, Matou Shinji, who asks him to clean the archery dojo. In the end, it's already night when Shirou is finally about to leave school.

When he leaves the archery range, it's cold outside. And quiet.

"Huh?"

Or it should have been quiet. The sound of clashing steel echoed through the night.

"Is it coming from the school grounds?"

The boy lost to his curiosity and went to investigate it, even with all his nerves screaming that he shouldn't.

Getting closer, he recognizes the sound. Metal hitting metal. That means someone must be fighting here.

"… That's stupid. What the hell am I thinking?"

At time, maybe it was because of his instincts, but he hid himself as he approached. Getting to a tree big enough to hide him, he looks at the source of the sound—

His mind is blank.

Something is wrong.

A man in red and a man in blue.

They are dangerously armed and are effectively slashing at each other. Emiya Shirou is completely unresponsive, focused on the beautiful movements he cannot follow…

The sound was enervating. Even if she honed for this all her life, there was no way she would have no reaction to such display. Obviously, she could overcome her amazement easily and focus on the important parts, but a fight between servants was truly a marvel to witness.

Their killing intent is so strong that even she could feel it. The servant of the lance and the mysterious red-coated servant both had amazing skills.

After confirming all she could gather from the fight, Illyasviel turned her attention to the one that truly interested her. Emiya Shirou was there.

He looked stupefied watching such a battle for, more than likely, the first time.

When the sound stops, Illya looks back to the servants. They have disengaged, and the blue one, Lancer, was reading his ultimate skill, his Noble Phantasm.

At that moment. Shirou gulped for air.

"Who's there?!"

Lancer keen hearing caught to Shirou's breathing. And Shirou starts running.

Illya, who observed everything from nearby, started running towards him, but he was faster, and Lancer was even faster. Even if she was an extraordinary mage, she still had a child stature, and manifesting Berserk would actually slow her down after she reached the building.

Which she did a few seconds after Lancer. She could probably jump or fly to any floor of the school building, but going through the front door is still the quickest way of finding where Shirou ran off to.

A couple of floors later, she hears what could be described as a voiceless scream. Lancer succeeded. He pierced Emiya Shirou's heart with his lance. She is angry. Once again, she is losing someone. She hasn't decided yet if she was going to kill Shirou! How dare Lancer take that decision for her!

"Man, you make me do unpleasant jobs. It's a joke for a hero to be doing this. Yes, I am not complaining. I saw her servant, so I'm going back."

In seconds, Illya could no longer feel his presence. She snapped out of her anger and ran to the Shirou.

Crying tears of frustration, she tried the only thing she could. She took a strand of her hair and turned it into some small kind of familiar. She then molded into something even smaller and thrust it into his chest. He actually let out an agonizing scream at this.

After doing so, she transmuted it into a heart. Not a full heart, but enough to cover the big hole that his internal organ had at the moment.

"It won't work, it won't work like this. Sella will know, yeah, she is the best with this kind of thing."

Hearing more footsteps, she could only pray it would work before she forced herself to let go of Shirou and hid in the corner.

Agonizing minutes passed while the other girl, Thosaka Rin, despaired herself over Shirou.

"Hey, Archer. His heart should have been pierced, but it's whole."

"What?" the red servant wondered examining the body. "Well, that certainly is true. He will still die soon with this whole bunch of veins snapped by the heart though."

"Archer, follow Lancer. He is most likely going back to his master, and uncovering his identity is the only thing that will make all this worth it."

The time it took the girl to use her spell after Archer left was unbearable. If she could not do it, why not give up fast so Illya could take him to Sella?

"Phew", she finally hears.

After that, he coughs a little. It seems he was saved after all. Relief washed over her body, even she could still quite possibly decide to kill him herself soon.

After the girl left, she stole one more glance at Shirou. He seemed to be fine enough.

Soon, he started showing signs of waking up. She quickly hid again as he got up and started his way home.

She followed him – there were only benefits to finding out where he lived. When he reached home, way past midnight, she stood by his gate, admiring the house that probably belonged to her father.

But this peaceful atmosphere wouldn't last. It wasn't long before she saw the blue spearman diving though the ceiling.

Witnessing that, Illya herself invades the property. She started running towards the house, but she soon heard glass breaking. In her mind, that could only mean that Shirou had escaped through the window. Making her way to the source of the sound, she found Shirou running towards a shed, and Lancer after him.

It wasn't a second later when Lancer unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick that sent Shirou flying all the way to the shed, hitting the wall. Illya was more and more desperate, seeing Shirou evade death yet again when he sunk to his knees and under Lancer's weapon.

"Tch. If you're a man, keep yourself together…!"

The blow opened the shed's door. Shirou bolted through it. His desperation was clearly reaching it's limit.

After seeing Lancer's lance get repelled one more time, Illya finally snaps.

"Berserker!"

Her only answer is an angry roar, and that is the only answer she seeks from the servant.

Lancer, meanwhile, was stupefied.

"Berserker, kill him!"

Another roar was let out as the giant was given purpose and started running towards the blue spearman.

Three seconds before the impact. Lancer prepared to jump away when a blow hit him from the opposite direction. He was sent flying towards the giant, and barely managed to protect himself with his lance before Berserker weapon made contact, sending him flying even further.

Curious, Illya approached the shed, and a familiar figure was found inside it.

Then, her clear voice made it all even clearer.

"I ask of you. Are you my master?

So… It's actually a pain to correct all these names when Word don't let you add stuff to the dictionary. Anyone knows who "Illia" is? That's what word auto-corrected "Illya" to. So, This one is rushed because I wanted to get rid fast of the "three days period", which is the same for each route, with rather minuscule differences for Sakura's route. So, this is the fastest thing I have ever written, and I would very much like constructive criticism, ideas and a beta would be a good idea too. Overall, review!