A/N: Here, have another story.

"Are you ready, Lena?"

She grinned, "Of course I am, big guy!" And ready she really was. Lena Oxton, one of the best pilots on the planet, was about to fly a prototype for a teleporting airplane.

"Okay, okay." Winston laughed with her. He believed in her. If anyone could do it, it was Lena, "Remember, though, if you get into any trouble, the comms link is always open."

"Oh, you worry too much luv! I'll be fine." She gave one last hug to the gorilla, "I'll see you in a bit, 'kay?" Winston returned the hug. He would never tell her this due to his past with the Lunar Colony, but he saw the peppy Brit as the sister he never had.

'Would you have been happy for me, Harold?'

They separated, and Lena practically bounced to the Slipstream. She went through the pre-flight preparations, obviously experienced as she glided across the controls. Athena then started with the countdown.

"Take off in 3…"

"Hey Winston, your birthday is coming up, right?"

"How di-I can't hide anything from you can I?"

"2…"

"Yep! I've got a surprise waiting for you when I get back, so look forward to that!"

A low chuckle, "I can't wait."

"1." A whoop of excitement rang through the comms unit.

It would be the last thing they hear of Lena Oxton for a long time.

Time was something that never needed to be tampered with. Sure, some people like the Kaleidoscope messed with it sometimes, but there wasn't really much in the way of stopping Zelretch from doing whatever the hell he wanted.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case now.

A human had just become temporally misplaced, and had been noticed by the worst possible 'thing'.

Alaya.

It' saw' how the human blinked through the folds of time. It was akin to poking a hole through a piece of cloth, and stitching it back together repeatedly. Eventually, however, there will come a time when the hole can't be repaired, the the entire cloth will be worthless.

It couldn't happen. No matter what, it couldn't happen.

Still, Alaya couldn't just kill the human. Doing so would create a paradox because right now, the human was something that existed, yet didn't exist.

So, it did the next best thing. It 'pushed' its influence, and prepared to bring an idea to one of the creatures on the planet.

At the same time, Alaya 'gently' guided the human to another world.

A world where its greatest warrior endlessly waited.

She was scared. For the first time in a long time, she was utterly terrified. She remembered being in the Slipstream, remembered the feeling of being there, but not there.

She didn't remember coming here though.

Lena looked around. She was standing on a hill, the sky tinted red and gears somehow floating in the sky. The place was filled with smog, the smell of steel filling the air almost choking her.

Then there were the swords.

All across the hill, swords were stabbed into the ground. Short swords, long swords, curved swords, hell she saw one whose width was taller than her.

Seeing nothing better to do, the pilot walked up the hill. Every step felt heavy, and her body seemed ready to collapse.

Still, she persisted.

Finally, she reached the top. There, a white haired man stood, looking off into the distance.

"H-Hello? Um, d'you know where we are?" Lena silently cursed herself for stuttering. It didn't matter though, for the silence was the reply.

"Hello?" She tried again, thinking maybe he didn't hear her. Cautiously, she approached him. If he decided to attack her, he would easily overpower her, going by hi-

I *m **e bo*e ** m* *w**d.

She gasped as the air felt even heavier. Something about those words, even if she didn't really 'hear' them, struck her.

Strangely enough, it only made her want to come closer. And she did.

She walked towards the man until they were side by side. She could make out the features of his face, yet he still didn't seem to pay her any mind.

'He's really tall…'

She contemplated waving her hand in front of him, but immediately discarded that thought. She looked at his face once more, and saw that his eyes looked…lonely?

'...maybe this is just a hallucination? Or maybe…maybe I'm dead?'

She turned in the direction he was looking, just to get an idea on what was going on.

Sunlight.

Sunlight was peeking out the smog that covered the hill. Lena couldn't help looking at it.

It was mesmerizing.

She sat down next to the tall man, who was as stoic as ever.

"...This reminds me of the time when I…"

Let it be known that Lena Oxton didn't like silence. When it was quiet, she felt scared, unreasonably so. That's why she talked.

She talked, and talked, and talked.

The more she talked, the less scared she became. The more she talked, the more comfortable the hill seemed. She didn't know how long she spent there, talking about her life to the ever-silent man, but when she stopped, she found that the air wasn't as suffocating, that the gears in the sky weren't odd.

She was at peace here.

'If this is just a hallucination, then this was something I could get used to...'

"So there I was, little 6 year old Lena, running around like a bloody lunatic."

'...and if I'm dead, then the afterlife isn't so b-.'

It wasn't meant to be, however. She cut herself off as a peculiar feeling shook her.

A blink.

The hill of swords faded away, and was replaced by something very familiar.

'I'm in London?'

She stood there for a full minute. Soon enough, people started noticing her. After a few more seconds, the whispers and pointing came. That was what it took to make her bolt to the nearest Overwatch outpost, which she recalled was conveniently just a block away.

She ran, her legs burning as she dodged around the sea of people. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached it. The familiar Overwatch symbol on the front made her heart race.

The door was halfway open when the increasingly familiar feeling coursed through her once again. Her eyes widened.

"He-!"

A blink.

And again, she was standing on the hill of swords.

She let out an anguished cry. She was so close. She felt hot tears flow down her face. She collapsed on the ground and pulled her legs close to her chest.

She cried for the life she had seemingly left behind.

"Winston?"

"Go away, Athena."

Winston was a complete wreck. Three months after the "Slipstream Incident", as the media had taken to calling it, and the gorilla still blamed himself for the accident. No matter what anyone said, the guilt eating at him wouldn't go away.

"Winston?"

'Damn me and my calculations. If only I'd gone over them again, this may not have happened.'

"Winston."

'God, I haven't even talked to anyone after it. This is what I am, isn't it? A coward, who can't even face his own goddamn actions.'

"Winston!"

'I never should have left Horizon. I should have just died with the other scientists. Maybe then I-'

A noise that could only be an exasperated sigh came from Athena. To his left, the monitor turned on to show a news broadcast that Winston ignored.

Until a name popped up, at least.

"-ess reports, Lena Oxton, who was labeled dead after the failed Slipstream test, was seen running through the streets of London towards the Overwatch branch."

The gorilla immediately snapped to attention.

He watched as a video, obviously taken from a phone, showed as the pilot, still in her uniform, was making a mad dash through the mass of people.

"Athena, contact the hangar. I'm going to London."

St**l i* m* ***y, fi*e *s m* b*oo*.

Her sobs came to an abrupt end as yet again, words that she didn't really hear resonated. She looked to her side.

The man was still there. How she didn't notice escaped her.

She talked.

"I was there. I was right THERE!"

She choked back another sob.

"I wanna go back. I want to go back, to meet new people! I want to do the little things that I always did!"

She punched the scorched ground.

"I want to live! I want to live the life I always took for granted! I want to-!"

"Sometimes, the things we want never come true."

Lena turned her head fast enough that it was a miracle that she didn't get a whiplash. A deep baritone voice spoke, and it came from none other than the red-clad man.

"Yet, I believe that this time will be the opposite."

I *a*e cre*t** o**r a t*ou*a*d ***de*.

A feeling rose in her chest.

All was silent. She looked at him as he once more stared into the sunlight. Slowly, a small smile grew on her face. She wiped away the tears that were stubbornly clinging on to her.

"...Thanks. I needed that."

She took her position next to him once more, "Now, where was I?" Her tone was still a bit watery, but she pressed forward. Her companion was once more silent as the grave, but it didn't dull her hope.

If she was gonna be honest, his silence only fueled her hope.

Once more, time flew by. Lena hands stopped with her stories, and the man hadn't spoken again.

A feeling that she was now very familiar with.

A blink.

London.

When Lena appeared for a second time, they were ready. The entirety of London was covered by Overwatch operatives, 24/7, two weeks after her initial reappearance.

Winston couldn't help but still be paranoid.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" he asked the driver of the military-grade vehicle he was in. It was larger than most hover cars on the market, but it was still a tight fit considering he's who he is.

"I'm sorry sir, but any faster and we would be risking civilians."

A sigh, "It's fine." And in a way, it was. At least he'll have time to think about his little theory.

Going by the reports, Lena was still wearing the same uniform from the test, so either she managed to wash them during the three months that she was gone, or something else was happening.

Considering that people saw her literally fade into thin air, he ruled out the first option.

The second option then had him conducting a massive search for the lost Slipstream, which was coincidentally found near the outskirts of London.

It was in perfect condition.

Not a single bump or scratch. Not even dirty. It was just parked in the middle of a soccer field, looking like it was always there. Upon investigation, the people living near the area said that it appeared the day before, and that they had already filed a report for Overwatch.

Strangely, when they reviewed the security tapes, it was always there. People would pass through it, but the plane itself looked completely real.

This all started to add pieces to the puzzle. When the Slipstream was created, they wanted to fold the fabric of space, creating a wormhole, allowing teleportation. What they seemed to forget is that space and time are interconnected. When they messed with teleportation, they didn't just allow the Slipstream to travel through space, they allowed it to travel through time.

One thing stuck to Winston's mind though: the Slipstream was mechanically engineered to travel through both time and space, yet the human body was not.

He hypothesized that the pilot was suffering from 'chronal disassociation'.

The whats and hows could wait, however. The problem now would be how to fix it. Maybe if he-

The brakes slammed and Winston's head almost hit the seat in front of him.

"Sir, isn't that Ms. Oxton?"

The gorilla looked to the right, and right there, Lena was running like a bat from hell. He immediately opened the door, almost breaking it in the process, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"LENA!"

She stopped, "Winston!? What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain. Get in, quick."

Confusion, then a nod. They got in, and Lena frowned, "This car feels…different."

The gorilla finished getting in the back, and answered, "Well, yes. The car is specifically made so that you won't, for lack of better words, 'fade away', or at least prolong it."

The car started moving, "Winston, what's going on?"

So he explained. It took most of the ride for him to fully explain her situation, but she was strangely calm about it. Then, he asked the one question he wanted an answer for, "What happened when you were…gone?"

She looked to the side, "I was…on a hill of swords, and there was this guy. Tall, white haired, and would just stare into the sun the entire time. Then there were these…words. I couldn't understand them, but they were important."

A frown look appeared on Winston's face, but he didn't say anything.

A few seconds of silence, "So, what now?"

"Well, I'm making something so that you won't fade away again, something more permanent that a staying in a car. Right now, we're heading to an Overwatch facility where-"

"We're here." The driver called out.

A grim look, "I guess I really don't have-"

For the third time today, Winston was cut off, "Winston, it's happening again."

The scientist's eyes widened, "No, dammit! I thought I had more time!" His hands tightened into fists, but she merely smiled.

"Don't worry big guy. I've got faith in ya."

She disappeared.

"So…it looks like I'll be leaving soon."

She stared at the ever stationary sun longingly, "I'll miss this place. Even if it's just in my mind."

Un*o** t* dea**, n*r k**wn to li*e.

She had gotten used to the heard-but-not-heard words after the first three times.

Ha*e wit**t*od p*in to *re*te *ou*t*ess we*p*ns.

"...this really has been a ride for the ages, eh? 'Least I won't I'll have a story to tell at Christmas" she joked, and for a split second, she swore she saw him smile. It was gone when she blinked though.

Yet t*ose **nds wil* ne*er h*ld anyt*ing.

She sat next to him, and copied what he had been doing for the longest time: his endless gaze into the horizon. She wanted this to last, funnily enough.

So as I pray.

She heard the air behind her split. She turned, and heart heart leapt to her throat as she saw swords flying towards them at high speeds. This hadn't happened before.

They stopped right in front of her eyes. A beat, with her only staring at the edge of the rather plain broadsword.

Suddenly, they converged, and right in front of her eyes, the swords began to shrink and change. Soon, they were in the form of a small necklace of sorts.

It landed in the man's hand.

"Take this. You'll need it."

Unlimited Blade Works.

She took the necklace, and after a brief moment, put it on. She blinked.

She was in a strange room.

"Lena! I think I've done it!"

"Wha-Winston?!"

She saw the large mammal enter the room, with a glowing device in his hand, "I call it the Chronal Accelerator. It should stabilize your molecules so that you'll stay in this time frame. You'll be briefed about it later, but for now,"

Winston gave a big smile, "Welcome home, Lena."

Another blink. She smiled, "I'm glad to be back."

She didn't notice that she was wearing till she took a bath.

It was time. The human was no longer fluctuating in time. It had to be destroyed now.

Strangely, Alaya couldn't do it. And it knew why.

It turned to the world of blades, and the Archer perched on the hill.

"Oh? You're wondering why I gave a part of my Works to her."

It 'felt' annoyed.

"It's simple, really. While we exist outside the flow of time, I, as well as every other Counter Guardian, am a paradox. Kill even one of us, and you risk the fate of humanity." he smirked triumphantly, "Similarly, try to destroy her, and you'll be destroying my soul."

It was a gamble on his part. He knew that the Counter Forces have almost limitless power, but he was betting that that power doesn't extend to another World.

It worked.

Alaya definitely showed its displeasure. He felt pain course throughout his body. He stood his ground. This pain was nothing compared to his life. It went on for who knows how long, and then it suddenly faded away. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"...I hope that I made the right decision, Lena Oxton."

Still, with how, after all this time, he had managed to slip one under his 'employer's' nose, he was proud of himself.

For once in his eternity of existence, EMIYA saved someone.

A/N: Sometimes, I don't know what I write anymore. Tbh, I don't think that this story is that good. Also, I might write an epilogue for this one.

Anyway, to clear a few things up, the person that saved Jack from my other story, 'Heroes', was Shirou, not EMIYA. I put this here cause I don't want to update that story just for an author's note.

Side note: this story and the previous one exist in the same universe. If I were to continue writing stories involving FSN and OW, assume them to be in the same universe as this one.

Disclaimer: I own my socks, but not Overwatch or the Fate series.