I don't own anything.

Prologue

"Here I come, king of heroes. Do you have enough weapons in stock?"

Magic circuits glowed in his body, his arm covered with lines of blue light.

Judging the concept of creation.

Blue motes of light began to form around his hands, quickly shaping themselves into solid shapes.

Hypothesizing the basic structure.

The blades were twins, complimenting each other in every manner possible. One was black where the other was white, and one was clean while the other was covered with an overlapping hexagonal pattern.

Duplicating the composition material.

In his hands, a pair of twin blades appeared, identical in shape, and masterful in their crafting processes. The blades gleamed in the light as he raised them to his usual fighting stance.

Kanshou and Bakuya.

Far ahead of him, was a tall blond man in a black jacket and white shirt, his eyes the color of blood and his face contorted into a twisted, angry sneer. The King of Heroes gave a battle cry as he raised his right arm, and the Gate of Babylon materialized behind him. In the sky, brilliant golden portals appeared everywhere in sight, with masterfully crafted blades coming through them. The Gate of Babylon was a brilliant sight to view, and the most powerful noble phantasm he had ever seen.

Dozens of blades shot through the air as fast as bullets, all aimed towards a single person. The blades were all as sharp as a razor's edge, and as fast and accurate as an Archer class servant's arrow. That onslaught alone would have killed even the most powerful magi, and a good decent portion of servants.

And yet-

I am the bone of my sword.

Emiya Shirou, a third rate magus, had the perfect counter to it.

With a simple raise of his arm, dozens of swords from his mental landscape flew upwards to counter the gate's blades. In the sky, blades met in the air, metal sparked, and the sound of breaking echoed throughout the landscape. Gilgamesh scowled at the sight, even more portals appearing behind him, all of them ready to shoot out deadly blades of legend.

But Shirou was faster. Unlimited Blade Works was faster. While the gate took its time to summon its blades from Gilgamesh's treasury, Shirou had all he needed laid out right in front of him.

Blades from all around him rose from the ground, flying at supersonic speeds towards the Gate of Babylon. Each blade struck true, and the sound of ringing metal sounded throughout the landscape as dozens and dozens of blades met in midair.

Gilgamesh only gritted his teeth.

Steel is my body,

Shirou knew he couldn't keep this up, however. As soon as Gilgamesh drew Ea from the gate, the fight was as good as over. His reality marble could easily counter the gate, but Ea was another level entirely.

So, now the only problem was to make sure that Ea wasn't drawn. Thankfully, that didn't seem too hard of a task. The King of Heroes was arrogant, and filled with pride.

He would never even think to draw Ea unless his life was on the verge of being taken away.

In other words, he was more or less safe.

Shirou raised his blades, Kanshou and Bakuya, and ran towards the blond King of Heroes, his swords poised to strike. Gilgamesh sneered, and around him, new golden gates appeared, holding blades of varying sizes and shapes.

They were knocked out of the air before they even left the gate, Shirou's swords leaving dazzling blue streaks through the air.

Fire is my blood.

Shirou was getting closer to Gilgamesh now. The King was more pissed off than ever, and his red eyes were practically glowing.

Shirou threw himself at the servant, Kanshou raised in the air.

In response, Gilgamesh summoned the Gate of Babylon once more, his hand now containing a wicked medieval blade.

But the King of Heroes was no warrior.

I have created over a thousand blades,

Shirou threw his arm forwards, Kanshou swinging through the air, only to be met by Gilgamesh's own blade. Gritting his teeth, the redhead pushed forwards with his sword, pushing back the Heroic spirit slowly but steadily using his reinforced body. Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes, his face contorting more and more as silver and black pushed against each other.

Then, Gilgamesh's sword broke.

Unaware of loss

It was a moment of shock for the King of Heroes, who was a collector at heart. The king's eyes narrowed, his red eyes flashing with a fiery rage as he sneered at Shirou.

"How dare you! You counterfeiting mongrel!" Shirou made no response, instead swinging Bakuya aimed at Gilgamesh's neck.

Another blade appeared in the hand of Gilgamesh, and the two blades clashed, struggling against each other.

Nor aware of gain.

"Impossible! How the hell is a counterfeiting bastard pushing me back!" Gilgamesh yelled.

"Against any other servant, even my reality marble wouldn't let me hold my own." Shirou answered. "Having an infinite number of swords wouldn't matter against someone who had taken a single one to the limit." Shirou pushed even further. "But you're a collector, not a fighter."

Gilgamesh scowled as his sword began to crack once more.

"Against you, my blades are ready all day!"

Have withstood pain to create many weapons,

BANG!

With a loud explosion, Gilgamesh's blade broke into a brilliant fire.

"How dare you!" The King of Heroes summoned another blade once again, only for it to be flung into the sky with a power strike from Kanshou.

When Bakuya was less than a dozen inches from Gilgamesh's neck, the king showed a brief ounce of fear, only for it to instantly be replaced by his almost permanent scowl.

The blade that had been previously flung upwards crashed down on Shirou, making him jump backwards in surprise, landing with crouched knees.

When he looked up, Gilgamesh was angrier than ever.

"ARGH! To think that I must go all out against the likes of you!"

Then, hundreds of blades appeared in the sky, shooting forwards with a wild brutality.

Waiting for one's arrival.

Shirou raised his blades in a defensive poise as the first sword shot towards him with the ferocity of a bullet. The redheaded magus raised Bakuya to parry, and steel met steel as the first sword was flung away.

Clang!

Two blades, three blades, four blades.

Shirou kept pushing on, reinforcing his body to a maximum.

Clang!

A blade briefly struck his right leg, leaving a slight scratch.

Clang!

Shirou deflected the final blade with a wide arc from Bakuya, and sprinted towards Gilgamesh once more, the king looking more annoyed than ever.

And then, portals surrounded him from all sides.

Shit.

Shirou instantly dispelled his two blades. There was no way he would be able to block so many blades at once just with his swords.

But, he had an alternate solution.

"Rho Aias."

As soon as the first sword shot out of its golden circle, a giant shield of pink flower petals appeared in front of Shirou, surviving the onslaught of legendary blades. Around him, Unlimited Blade Works did its job once more, as gleaming blades of all shapes and sizes flew upwards like arrows, destroying the gates that Gilgamesh had created.

The ultimate protection.

I have no regrets,

Once it was over, Shirou charged the king of heroes, Kanshou raised to strike.

This is the only path.

As Gilgamesh's expression contorted into one of slight fear, a golden gate appeared right beside him, holding an all too dangerous sword. His only mistake, was that he hesitated for a brief moment before he decided to use Ea.

My whole life has been-

By the time the King of Heroes finally drew his most sacred possession, it was too late.

Unlimited Blade Works.

Kanshou curved a deadly vertical arc through the air, and through the arm of the Heroic Spirit. Then, Shirou twisted his body, and before Gilgamesh could recover, he thrust Bakuya forwards into his opponent's chest.

Gilgamesh's face could only be described as shocked as the reality marble closed around him.

...

Shirou Emiya stood up as the pain finally hit him.

Now that the adrenaline was gone, the tiredness hit him.

Shirou's legs buckled as he went down on his knees, partly from pain, and partly from exhaustion.

"Pft. To think that I'd be defeated by a mongrel like you..." Gilgamesh's voice caused Shirou to finally look up and acknowledge the king of heroes standing in front of him. Currently with a missing arm, and a sword stuck through his chest.

He summoned his magic circuits again to trace another copy of Kanshou, only to realize that his prana had been exhausted.

Stupid reality marble.

Gilgamesh smirked. "Mana exhaustion, eh? What a pathetic end." He sneered. "I suppose it is deserving of a mongrel like you." A golden portal appeared behind the king, a sword from medieval England appearing from it.

Shirou gritted his teeth, biting his lip in frustration. Was this the end for him? After beating Gilgamesh, surviving the onslaught of over a hundred swords...

A single blade would be what killed him.

How strange fate could be.

Shirou closed his eyes, preparing for the end, when he heard a yell.

The yell of Gilgamesh.

The redhead's eyes snapped open, his eyes widening as he gazed upon Gilgamesh's bloody stump of an arm opening what could only be described as a miniature black hole.

"ARGH! Stupid thing! Does it not realize that swallowing me accomplishes nothing?" Gilgamesh let out a yell of anger as the hole started to consume him, threatening to leave behind no trace of the heroic spirit.

His eyes were filled with a foreign fear.

Shirou could only watch as the entire ordeal transpired.

"WAIT!"

Suddenly, Shirou felt something wrapping around his arm.

No way.

Shirou looked downwards to see a golden chain wrapping around it, leading back to the giant, consuming hole.

"That malformed abomination! Does it not realize a servant cannot be made its core!"

Shirou gritted his teeth. "You're trying to take me with you?"

"FOOL! I haven't the least intention of dying! Stay there, mongrel! At least until I can get to where you are!"

"No way! I'll chop off my own arm if that's what it takes!"

Shirou's foot slept briefly, and he felt his strength slowly starting to wane.

"Don't you dare, mongrel! I have no intention of dying!"

Shirou scowled at Gilgamesh as he slowly started to climb out of the giant hole of darkness.

The redhead widened.

Gilgamesh slowly but steadily made his way upwards, grasping on to the golden chain.

If he were to make it out, all of his efforts would have been in vain.

So, in that second, Emiya Shirou made a decision.

...

When the redheaded boy started to poise his feet to jump, Gilgamesh's eyes widened in both surprise and fear.

There's no way that idiot is going to-

His thoughts were cut off when a bloody Emiya Shirou jumped towards him, grabbing a lock of his hair as he pulled him towards the abyss.

...

Shirou's eyes snapped open to the sight of a fire.

Cackling, bright, yellow flames were all around him, threatening to consume anything and everything.

The ruins of a building, the flames of death.

Shirou gasped as he realized exactly where he was.

He was in his birthplace. Not the one where his physical self had been born, but where Shirou Emiya had been born. The idealistic boy who had spent his entire life living on borrowed ideals, striving to become a hero of justice.

Despite the flames, he chuckled.

"That's hell you're walking into, you know."

Shirou's head snapped backwards as his own voice echoed from behind him.

In that moment, Golden eyes met Golden eyes.

That was when his memories snapped back to him. The fight with Gilgamesh, throwing himself into the holy grail. Everything.

Shirou cautiously walked up to the Shirou in front of him.

"What are you?"

"You."

"I know you are. But what are you?"

"I'm you."

Shirou bit his lip in frustration. There had to be a reason the other him was there, but he wasn't exactly cooperating.

Oh my god, I'm turning into Rin.

"Where am I?"

"You."

Shirou stepped back in confusion.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

The redhead narrowed his eyes. Somehow, he was most likely inside somewhere in his mind. Somewhere in his psychology.

Then it struck him.

"I... This is the holy grail, isn't it? This is my greatest desire, somehow..."

The other him only nodded in response.

But how could the Fuyuki fire be his greatest dream, his greatest ambition? It was a place of death, not life. It was a place where people cried, and suffered while his ideals strived for a world where everybody was happy.

So, how?

Shirou scratched his head in confusion before finally chuckling.

So that's it, huh?

After all, this was the birthplace of Emiya Shirou.

After seeing strangers sacrifice their lives in daring acts to save lives, and to see all of them fail, devastated the young boy. Even worse, he had turned down and ignored every single request, every single plea for help, shutting down his guilt by covering his own ears to avoid the screams of the dying. It was a cowardly act. To minimize pain for oneself while others were suffering by the masses. And there came Kiritsugu Emiya, trying to save everyone he could, not wanting anyone to die, and gaining so much happiness in the simple act of saving a young child, and seeing that at least one person survived.

That look of happiness. . .

Shirou admired it. And maybe, that was where it had all started. Admiration for a man striving to save others, and a search for redemption from a boy who couldn't do so.

After that day, for a while, he simply helped out everyone he could, to redeem himself from his own crushing guilt. To assure himself that his soul, and his sins could be forgiven by doing good deeds. But somewhere along the way, it changed. Although he could never truly become like his father, Shirou's ideals were his own. It didn't matter who was the one who invented the idea of a hero of justice. In that case, even Kiritsugu Emiya was a faker. What mattered was that his ideals were special to him.

And perhaps that was why the grail dragged him here.

Because in the end, he was looking for redemption. Even if he believed that he had long past started to move past the guilt. It was his unshakable core, his motivations and roots for what he had become.

Finally, Emiya Shirou stepped forwards.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to play into the Grail's games one last time."

As Shirou began to move, he heard his voice one last time.

"That's hell you're walking into, you know."

Emiya Shirou merely turned towards himself, his eyes alight with a determined fire.

"I know."

And with that, Shirou stepped into the fire, his reinforced body lifting debris easily.

A man with a blue sweater.

A little girl with a yellow dress.

An old man with too many wrinkles to count.

Shirou saved them all with a smile on his face. And even if he knew it wasn't real, and that it was all a simple illusion-

He couldn't help but enjoy it.

Finally, Shirou walked towards the final person who needed to be saved.

A red haired boy with golden eyes.

Shirou merely walked towards him and smiled as he lifted the small boy in his arms, embracing his past both physically and metaphorically.

His mind screamed for him to stop. To look past the illusions, and get a grasp on reality.

But Shirou didn't care. It was poetic, almost. He knew he was a hypocrite, and that his ideals were those of a fool, and yet he decided that he would pursue them anyways.

Now, he knew his reality was but an illusion, and yet he decided to play into it.

After all, there's nothing that says a fake can't rival the real thing.

Emiya Shirou embraced his past self as blades started to rain around him, shattering the illusion of the Fuyuki Fire like glass. When the swords finally stopped, he found himself on a hill of swords, his past self slowly dissipating into blue light.

The environment only remained for a brief moment, however. Instantly, the hill started to disappear too.

The last thing Shirou saw was a brilliant space filled with white.

...

Zoe Nightshade really wished she was a mortal sometimes.

Not that she would quit the hunters for anything, of course. But it would be extremely refreshing just to get away from all the sheer weirdness that came with being involved with the mythological world.

Such as the 3 extremely annoying old ladies in front of her.

3 extremely annoying ladies who happened to have the power to control fate.

Currently huddled around a bundle of blue light that happened to be shaped like a human.

It was all Zoe could do to keep her calm when the glob of blue light turned into a freaking boy.

What in Tartarus is happening?

Zoe desperately kept her calm when the 3 old ladies suddenly snapped their heads towards her, their gazes staring into her own eyes. Then, they moved to other hunters, making sure to stare them down one by one.

Normally in a circumstance like this, she would have shot the 3 ladies with her bow.

But unfortunately, it was considered disrespectful to shoot an arrow at the person who could decide the day she died.

Zoe gritted her teeth in annoyance.

So much for having a normal dinner.

"Take this boy to your goddess. His appearance here will change destinies and alter the strands of fate. Tell her that it is of upmost importance that he be delivered to Camp Half Blood."

And then, the 3 fates disappeared. Not even leaving behind a poof or a wisp of smoke. They simply vanished. Just as if they had never been there in the first place.

That was when the Hunters started to unfreeze.

"Who were those?"

"Do we really have to do this? He's a boy, right?"

"Why in Hades did the fates come to us?"

"Obviously since we're the best out there!"

Zoe took a moment to observe the boy himself. Physically, he seemed no older than 14 or 15, and his features were Asian, save for his exotic looking hair color.

That was when Artemis herself finally came out of her tent.

"Silence!" The goddess' voice was loud, with a commanding aura that caused everyone talking to shut their mouths. Artemis continued, "What is a boy doing on our dinner table?"

This time, Zoe spoke up. "The boy arrived together with the 3 fates, milady. They carried the message that it was of upmost importance that he was delivered to camp half blood, and that he would somehow change the strands of fate."

The face of the goddess of the hunt changed from an expression of anger, to one of concern.

"Pheobe, is Zoe telling the truth?" The red haired hunter nodded in response.

"Bring him to my tent. If the fates themselves consider this boy important, then it is wise that we do not ignore them." She turned around to leave. "Once he wakes up, we will question him."

Artemis called up 2 hunters to lift the boy's unconscious form, and left the area.

Zoe simply sighed.

Somehow, she had the feeling that something really bad was coming soon.

...

Shirou's eyes snapped open to the sight of a 12 year old girl with red hair who was currently meditating on the floor.

He also happened to be in a tent, and tied to a chair.

What the hell have I gotten myself into this time...

"Erm... Do you happen to-"

Instantly, the 12 year old was standing up with an arrow notched in her bow, aiming straight at him.

Great.

"Ah, so you are awake, boy." The girl said. "I believe that you shall be answering a few questions."

Shirou nodded, not eager to have an arrow through his neck.

The girl smirked in response. "So you are willing to cooperate? Good."

"Now, tell me. Who are you, and why are you important enough that the 3 fates themselves consider you important?"

Notes

Aaand this thing's back!

For clarification, the Holy Grail isn't what brought Shirou to the Riordanverse. That is something else entirely.