"Now, now, there's no need for this level of hostility," Zelretch began as Shirou Emiya all but stomped into the room. The Faker's brow twitched at the vampire's cavalier attitude. Shirou knew a missing apprentice was a relatively common occurrence with Zelretch's track record, but it still annoyed him that one of his best friends had vanished without a trace after one of her projects had gone horribly wrong.

"Where is Tohsaka?" Shirou demanded, arms folded as he glared at the Wizard Marshal.

"Too vague!" Zelretch immediately replied, his lips curled into a smile that didn't quite reach his ears. Shirou clenched his jaw. Riddles were Rin's forte, not his. After a few moments of fruitless staring and copious amounts of killing intent radiation, Shirou finally managed to come up with a better question.

"Okay then, what are the spatial and temporal coordinates that will LEAD me to Tohsaka?"

"That's MUCH better! I knew you were Tohsaka's apprentice for a reason!" Zelretch wore a saccharine smile so sweet Shirou could feel his own teeth rotting where he stood. With a simple flick of his wrist, a scroll made of human skin flew from his desk and into Shirou's waiting hand. He had to suppress a shudder at the sensation. "Relax. I fashioned it from someone who didn't deserve to live." The Wizard Marshal explained with a nonchalant shrug.

"You don't get to decide who deserves to live or die. Much less whom you skin into a piece of rolled paper!" Shirou growled, his voice barely neutral.

"I don't want to hear that from you, Mr. 'Hero of Justice,'" Zelretch chuckled. "After all, justice can be oh-so-very cruel. Regardless, what do you plan on doing with those coordinates? In all my travels, no version of you was ever able to use the Second Magic." He reminded, honestly curious.

"Luvia. I'll ask her."

"Not me? I hate to brag, but I'm the better Magician."

"No, definitely not you," Shirou immediately answered with a meditative sigh. He needed to rein in his raging emotions. Zelretch may appear kind and selfless at times, but he was still a Dead Apostle. His humanity had its obvious limitations. Getting killed in one of Zelretch's insane pranks wouldn't help him with his search for Tohsaka. With his mind clearer, his attitude and poise became much sharper. Like a sword held steady.

"Good instincts, boy. You shouldn't trust me. Respect and even fear me, but never place your trust in someone as fickle as I. In the end, I am a Dead Apostle - and I affirm my existence by finding amusement throughout the multiverse. A creature like me can never be truly depended upon." Zelretch praised and leaned forward, fingers steepled over his desk, his eyes dark and inhuman. "That honed focus makes you much stronger and improves your judgment. You'll need that strength if you wish to travel as far as those coordinates go. I'll warn you now, the world Rin is in is much further than most. The laws of our world will not apply there. Magecraft may be entirely dysfunctional."

Shirou waited a few more seconds for anything else he'd say, but Zelretch merely stared at him with gleaming eyes, laced with expectation. Shirou turned on his heel and with a simple goodbye, he made his way back to his workshop to prepare for a dangerous journey.

He packed light - mostly contained a few meal-ready-to-eats and a handgun with three magazines. Although he was a living, breathing armory, Shirou understood the pragmatism of carrying a conventional weapon. Stories of his father's reign of terror was a testament to how effective they could be against mages. It was even more important if his magecraft were to be compromised as badly as Zelretch implied. He then showered, as if doing so would wash away any distracting thoughts. He went through a normal, morning routine but paused at the sight of two toothbrushes set on the bathroom sink. Shirou shook his head and stared at the mirror. Steel eyes, unnaturally grey hair and dark brown skin greeted him. He looked so much like Archer, now. But perhaps that was just an inevitability. How he looked wouldn't phase Shirou Emiya. What mattered was how his ideals had changed ever since the Grail War.

Rin tried to make to love himself more and over the course of the last few years, he grew to do exactly that. He began to cherish his life and the people in it. He no longer viewed lives on a scale to be measured like his father and future self did. He no longer derived pleasure solely from the act of salvation. Sure, a certain part of him would never change, but it no longer dominated his whole life's outlook and outcome.

"Archer, no matter what, I won't become you. I won't sell my life and my soul for the sake of my ideal. If I die in this, it was because I wanted to save Rin out of love, not some twisted form of self-gratification." Shirou wasn't sure if Archer could hear it, but the determined smile he saw in the mirror told him all he needed to know.

It was time to go save Rin.

"Shero… These coordinates are..." Luvia trailed off, her eyes glued to the parchment and the information within. She shook her head lightly, her curly hair elegantly following the motion. She would never admit to weakness; her pride wouldn't allow it. No Magus worth her salt would ever do so. But she shot him a pleading look all the same.

"I know. Zelretch warned me they'd be far. And that it'd be extremely dangerous. I want you to do it anyway." Shirou said, his voice resolute as he stepped into the center of the magical array. Luvia bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes in resignation. She wanted to tell him not to go - to consult Zelretch or at least ask for his assistance, but Shirou's bravery, determination, and stubborn attitude were some of the traits that endeared him to her in the first place. She wouldn't stomp on his pride, no matter how little he had.

Luvia stepped over to a surprisingly large treasure chest filled with a myriad of high-quality gems. Shirou's entire life savings were contained within. From a financial standpoint, he'd bet everything on a single spell that she had no real confidence in succeeding with. One gem, in particular, stood out among the others: the Tohsaka family jewel. The very same one Rin used to save his life during the Grail War. Luvia hypothesized it would help 'lock on' to her coordinates. At this point, Shirou would take any reassurance. He treasured the jewel in more ways than one, but Rin's life was far more important.

Luvia took the gem in her right hand and placed her left hand over the chest. She began chanting and Shirou sat, cross-legged on the ground, entering into a state of deep meditation. There was nothing he could do now but trust Luvia.

The gems slowly melted into a glowing, neon-like liquid that spread out to fill the array carved into the stone floor, walls, and even the ceiling. It was a complex design; the most difficult one Luvia ever constructed. When the Tohsaka family jewel finally melted into the spellcraft, a black vortex the size of a raindrop spawned beneath Shirou and immediately sucked him in. The aftermath of the black hole ruined Luvia's spare workshop and the spatial and temporal fissures would take decades to repair. She'd have to abandon the location for now. The blonde spared a glance at the spot where Shirou vanished and then walked out after recomposing her noble bearing.

"Lady Edelfelt," August, one of the Edelfelt's most trusted butlers, greeted with a deep bow. "Were you successful?" He asked, displaying some measure of rare concern for someone outside of the Edelfelt lineage. He knew how much Luvia cared for the boy, woe she was to fully admit it.

"Partially," Luvia shook her head, her voice detached and analytical. Her emotions were now tempered. Her responses were measured and dignified. In her current state, Luviagelita Edelfelt would continue down the path of a Magus even if the world were to end around her.

"The world was correct, but I still could not lock onto Tohsaka's exact location or even her time period. That world has auxiliary dimensions and possesses other temporal interferences I could not account for. Nor was the spell powerful enough to ensure a smooth and quick transition. In layman's terms, I 'flung' him as far as I could in the right direction. It's up to Shero, now." Luvia sighed and motioned for her butler to fall in line.

"Now that he's gone and my second workshop is unusable, I suppose I'll have to open up my schedule for more hunts. August, prepare my Mystic Codes and find some suitable prey."

"As you wish, Lady Edelfelt." August primly answered.

Shirou was no master of interdimensional travel, but even he could tell something went wrong. He'd been drifting in this sea of nothingness for what felt like an eternity. His rations, which were supposed to last three weeks, had long since run out. He hadn't had a sip of water for even longer. By all accounts, he should have died by now. The fact he hadn't meant he was trapped in this black limbo for what may be an eternity. It would take a miracle for him to reach his destination.

But Shirou Emiya was no stranger to chasing impossibilities.

So he waited and rather than stare pointlessly at infinite darkness, he closed his mind off into his Reality Marble. When he wasn't off cleaning after humanity's messes, Archer spent a majority of his wretched, unending existence staring aimlessly into his own soul. Shirou could do likewise. At least his Reality Marble had grass, decent weather, and a better view.

Shirou wasn't sure how much time had passed since he last felt a physical stimulus, but the sudden spark of immense pain jarred him out of his Reality Marble. He blinked, opening his eyes. What greeted him was a pair of light blue eyes. The sun lens flared him into blindness. He tried to speak but his words came out in a dried croak. He sounded like a dehydrated frog and felt even worse.

"Hope! What was that?! Who is that?!" Called out a voice a distinctly aged and masculine voice.

The woman looking down at him turned in the speaker's direction and answered: "I'm not sure, Dr. Saltzman! He just fell out of the sky! He's still breathing! He's alive! Barely!" The woman knelt down to put an ear next to his mouth when she saw his lips moving again. Shirou called for water, but his voice was still barely audible. Somehow, the brunette managed to understand him and drew out a water bottle and slowly poured it down his throat.

"Hold on, I'll come out with a stretcher. Lizzie, Josie, call Emma into the infirmary!"

After a few more gulps of life-giving water, Shirou promptly passed out.

Morning drills with Dr. Alaric Saltzman were Hope Mikaelson's favorite part of her daily routine. The sparring kept her darker tendencies at bay and the exercise helped cool her blood from boiling. Calling it stress relief was the understatement of a century. Today, they were using two bamboo sticks, training in Escrima or Philipino stick fighting for the uneducated and the generally lame. As usual, Dr. Saltzman dictated the pace of their matches until he was finally worn down by Hope's superior strength, speed, and stamina. Every day, she found it praiseworthy that the man could keep up with her with pure skill and experience. It was as if he could predict her moves before she even made them. If they were to really fight to the death, and he had been fully charged from the start, she still wasn't sure if she'd come out on top.

Ugh, there it was again: the subtle urge to kill and dominate the nearest human she could find. Being a Tribrid was not the miraculous existence most thought it to be. Three times the power meant three times the problems.

The sunless morning gave way to dawn when she finally knocked Dr. Saltzman off his feet and onto his back. She placed a foot on his chest and pointed a stick at his throat for emphasis.

"I give! I give!" He panted with an exhausted smile. Hope grinned back, glowing with victorious satisfaction then helped him stand. "Have you been keeping up with your studies as much as your training?" Dr. Saltzman asked as he wiped off a layer of sweat with a towel and drained his protein shake and water bottles.

"Yes," she drawled sighing. "I'm crushing it - all of it. Like I crushed you." She chided in a relaxed but chipper tone while sipping lightly on her own water bottle. She wasn't nearly as dogged as he was. Even the pain from any blows he managed to land was already starting to disappear.

"Well all right then. Wash up and get ready to move out after breakfast. We have a lead on transitioning werewolf nearby. I'm going first. And I'm quizzing you the entire way!" Hope replied with a deadman's glare. Dr. Saltzman simply smirked and placed a hand on her shoulder then stepped past her and toward the boarding school.

Hope watched him go then went for a few laps through the woods. As fun as sparring with Dr. Saltzman was, she still needed much more to get a real sweat out of her workouts. The old man simply couldn't keep up with her and his age was showing more and more. Hopefully, this new werewolf could throw a punch or two - she needed more sparring partners. None of the other students ever wanted to fight her anymore. An instinctual part of her brimmed with pride at being the undisputed top-dog, but her joy was reflected with an equal amount of painful loneliness.

BOOM!

Just as she was circling back to head into the school, the air two stories above her collapsed in on itself then exploded outward with enough force to blow her off her feet and into a tree. She slid down the trunk, her vision milky and filled with stars. But she was only dazed for a few moments before she pulled herself into a readied stance, her senses expanded out in preparation for combat. Her eyes were drawn to a small black bead that hung in the air. Her eyes widened in surprise when a corpse flew out of it and fell to the ground.

With great caution, she stepped toward it, reaching for a branch to stake it in case it revived. In her world, nothing stayed dead. In fact, it was notoriously hard for her to truly kill anything. Her eyes narrowed at the impression of a handgun holstered discreetly under the corpse's coat.

"Hey!" She called out then prodded the body's emaciated arm with her stick. "HEY!" She tried again, this time poking at the corpse's skull. "Are you…?" She finally made her way to get a better look at the face, only to see the lips moving ever-so-slightly and even the corpse's chest rise weakly up and down.

"Whoa!" You're human?! AND ALIVE?!"

"Hope! What was that?! Who is that?!"

Hope turned toward Dr. Saltzman's voice with her keen hearing. "I'm not sure, Dr. Saltzman! He just fell out of the sky! He's still breathing! He's alive! Barely!" She knelt down and placed an ear near his lips to try and better understand what he was saying.

"...Water… water… water…"

She immediately reached for her water bottle, suddenly grateful she wasn't all that thirsty earlier and began to gently pour it into the man's mouth. From her standpoint, he looked very old, just judging from his full head of grey hair. What happened? Where did he come from? And why did he look like an Egyptian mummy straight out of a bad horror movie? Did one of the students from the vampire faction drain him dry?

"Hold on, I'll come out with a stretcher. Lizzie, Josie, call Emma into the infirmary!" Dr. Saltzman yelled then ran back into the school. Hope drew back her bottle when she noticed the man's eyes closed. She was afraid he really did die, but the subtle rise and fall of his diaphragm told her otherwise. And, despite his ghastly appearance, she could hear his heart was still beating strong.

It didn't take long for Dr. Saltzman and another student to arrive with a stretcher. Between the three of them, they easily brought the stranger into the infirmary where Emma Tig was standing by with a few simple herbal remedies already waiting on the counter.

"Easy now, get him on the bed!" She immediately looked for any bite marks but didn't find any trace of vampiric attack. "He's extremely dehydrated," Emma informed, inserting an IV line and beginning saline therapy. "What happened? Where did he come from?"

"Dunno," Hope answered with a helpless shrug. "There was a massive blast of…magic, I think? Then this old man just appeared out of a hole in the sky."

"I'll round up the vampires and see which one-" Dorian called out from the doorway.

"No, he wasn't fed on. There aren't any bite marks," Emma interrupted. "His body is amazingly resilient. I have no idea how he's managed to survive in this state. Is he human?"

"As far as I can tell," Hope confirmed.

"At least that makes treatment a bit easier. You all try to figure out what happened. I'll do my best from here. Worse comes to worst, we'll send him to the hospital."

"Sure. But if he's not about to die, this will have to wait until after we recruit a transitioning werewolf," Dr. Saltzman reminded.

"I'll start the investigation on my end, then," Dorian said. "Hope, can you take me to where you found him?"

"Sure. Uh, wait. Can I stop by the cafeteria and grab some breakfast-to-go first? I won't get a chance before we leave otherwise and I really don't feel like eating fast food today."

"Yeah, all right, meet me at the porch in five," Dorian instructed.

"Gotcha!" Hope made herself scarce, her stomach growling angrily the entire way.

Author's Notes:

Tyonis here with my first ever F/SN and Vampire Diaries fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed the read. If you did or even if you did not, please leave a review. I have thick skin, so don't be afraid to light me on fire. As most F/SN fans can tell, this story occurs a few years after the F/UBW Epilogue episode. And as most Vampire Diaries fans can tell, this story takes place a few hours before Legacies S1E1.

I won't commit to a solid output schedule since creative writing is just a hobby for me, but you can reasonably expect a chapter once every two months or so. Regardless, there will be a massive slowdown as I wait for more Legacies episodes to be released.

I could also use a beta with exceptional knowledge on the Vampire Diaries, as I am already quite confident with the Nasuverse.

At the end of every chapter, I will provide a list of key terms to help introduce fans of the Nasuverse and the Vampire Diaries to their corresponding worlds. Note that these are just the bare basics of each term or person. You'll have to do your own research if you want to know more. Luckily, both series have dedicated wiki pages if fans from one become interested in the other.

Key Terms:

Shirou Emiya: A man of Japanese descent who primarily works as a Freelancer, a contract killer for the supernatural. He takes jobs based on his moral compass and not on how much money he is paid. His Origin and Element are "Sword" which enables him to perform a unique type of magecraft. He is the story's protagonist.

Rin Tohsaka: The woman who taught the meaning of 'love' to Shirou and drew him away from his dark and self-destructive future. During an experiment to test the limitations of her mastery over the Second Magic, she was sucked into her own spell and went missing.

Archer: Shirou's cynical future self. He sold his life and afterlife away to act as an immortal hero to save humanity time and again. Unfortunately, that meant killing people for all eternity. The boy who just wanted to help as many people as he was condemned to watch them die at his hands for the "greater good." After a confrontation with his future self, Shirou learned that he needed to start to cherish his own life or he'd turn into a self-loathing, self-destructive, self-sacrificing machine. Archer vanished afterward, satisfied that he'd saved his younger self from his horrific destiny.

Zelretch: A powerful vampire and 'Magician of the Second Magic.' He is capable of traveling through parallel worlds and alternate realities at a whim. He has two apprentices as of this timeline, Luvia Edelfelt and Rin Tohsaka. He often ruins entire worlds and universes for his own amusement.

Dead Apostle: The Nasuverse's version of vampires. Comparatively speaking, they are much crueler and far more powerful than the vampires found in The Vampire Diaries.

Reality Marble: A powerful spell that allows one's unique inner world to be physically manifested into reality. Shirou's inner world is an endless plain of infinite swords and is called Unlimited Blade Works. Even when it is inactive, Unlimited Blade Works allows Shirou to recreate and use weapons of almost any type or level, with the exception of certain divine weapons or weapons beyond human comprehension. Unfortunately, his Origin and Element prevent him from being able to cast even the most basics of spells that are unrelated to "swords."

Alaric Saltzman: Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted's infamous headmaster. He was once a vampire hunter, among many other things. He also serves as Hope's father figure and mentor.

Hope Mikaelson: A Tribrid and the story's deuteragonist. She is the only known combination of Witch, Vampire, and Werewolf to ever exist in her world. Thus, her powers and potential are so immense that they are yet to be fully quantified.

Emma Tig: A Witch who serves as the school's guidance counselor.

Dorian Williams: A human who works as the school librarian and one of the substitute teachers. His entire family was slain by vampires.

PS: For any Vampire Diaries fans interested, the TV watching order for the Fate Franchise is:

Fate/Zero (TV), Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Unlimited Blade Works (TV), then Fate/Heaven's Feel (Movie Trilogy).

#micdropped #Luviaisbestgirl #imsry #Zelretchmademedothis #plzdontkillme

PSS: For any F/SN fans interested, the TV watching order for the Vampire Diaries franchise is pretty self-explanatory.