All right. This is a new story that will have (what little) attention I can give in November. Why, Nanowrimo. That, said, I'm not giving too much attention to the rules. I'm just seeing if I can write most of a story in one month.

In addition, this is part of Alex-Kellar's writing contest. This entry is Salem/Shirou.

Updates will be sporadic but hopefully frequent for this month.

A New World of Magecraft

Prologue: How He Came to Be

Shirou Emiya stood over the copy of Berserker's sword and wondered what he should say.

Sella had not survived his walk through the gate of the corrupted Grail that led to the Root. She had not even been able to walk at all so Shirou had had to carry her. Carefully. As merely brushing the Dress of Heaven would have turned a human into gold and gold wasn't noted for its ability to walk. After all, nobody worried about their gold getting up and running away. If gold did, thieves would be more noted for being sprinters than being sneaky.

But a projection to strap Sella onto his back and to separate him from the deadly dress was enough for both of them to go through instead of Illya. Sure, Shirou would have loved to spend more time with his sister and Kiritsugu's daughter. But they had no choice. The Grail was full and was about to unleash a world ending threat. And Illya would not have survived. Something that had managed to bring him, Sella, and Leysritt into unity.

Shirou reached out and patted Berserker's sword which now served as the gravestone for Illya's maids.

"Sella," Shirou stopped, not finding the words before trying again without much success. "You and I were not friends, not like how Leysritt and I could have become. In contrast, you were always worried that I would harm or distract Illya. That my presence, my very existence, would hurt her more."

Shirou smiled bitterly. "You were right. I did hurt her. I loved her, took her in as my sister, and then left her behind. My sister, who lost her entire family in the Fourth War and never saw them again. And now I, me, her unworthy brother, betrayed her and left her behind."

Shirou looked up at the sky, hidden behind the dark black clouds and thought about the scene that his father might have seen when looking up at the stars that fateful night all those years ago. Was he also thinking about the daughter, his precious girl, that he couldn't save?

"I did it to save her. But that doesn't matter. Kiritsugu did too. If he hadn't destroyed the Grail, Illya would have died from Angra Mainyu. Or maybe she would have lived a life worse than death. I don't know. Dad never talked about what Angra Mainyu tempted him with. But whatever it was, it was enough for Illya to reject it with horror. The most scared I ever saw her, except for when Berserker was killed by the remains of the Tainted Grail."

"But you know that already. Both you and Leysritt saw Illya's fear. That was why we hatched this plan. Why we attacked and knocked Illya out after sacrificing Leysritt to make the Dress of Heaven."

The dress that even now was buried underneath Berserker's sword. The last remains of Illya's quiet but strong and loyal maid. Still wrapped around Sella as her clothes.

It was disgusting that the only way to make the Dress involved sacrificing a life. But they didn't have good options. And letting Illya carry through on her decision to sacrifice herself wasn't one of them.

"We loved her. That was the only thing we agreed on with our differing personalities." Shirou's eyes watered as tears slipped down.

He missed Illya. He wanted to be with her. But he couldn't. The Gate was closed and it would never be opened again.

"We all knew it would kill us. That you could not wear the dress and move or even survive. That Leysritt could not wear the dress as her life was the key ingredient for making the dress. But without the dress, we couldn't seal the gate and the Grail. So we needed to sacrifice Leysritt to make the dress. But only a homunculus could wear it. And the only options were Illya or you."

Memories of the last several days flashed through his mind. The long careful walk to the Greater Grail. The whispered conspiracy that he and the two maids had engaged in until they had agreed that they would all rather die than lose Illya in this manner.

"You chose to wear it. Even though you knew that you would be unable to do anything else. That someone else would have to be trusted to carry her. And it could not be Illya. That would make our sacrifice be for nothing." Shirou could see Sella's frustrated expression as she proposed that Shirou be the one to carry her after she put on the Dress of Heaven. "You hated me but you would ally with me in a heartbeat if it meant saving Illya. Because she was the most important person in the world to us."

"Thank you, Sella von Einzbern." Shirou made a decision and laid one hand on Berserker's sword before remembering the other person buried here.

"And Leysritt." Shirou stopped to think about what he could say.

A minute passed.

"I guess I should just go with how you would speak. Something blunt and to the point." Shirou cracked a bitter smile. "Thank you Leysritt. I think you were the one who sacrificed the most as you died not knowing if we succeeded or not. And so, thank you. Thank you for loving my sister above yourself. Thank you for accepting me into Illya's life."

Finding the words within himself, Shirou used a bit of Alteration to carve words into the solid stone.

Sella von Einzbern & Leysritt von Einzbern

We loved her and chose to die for her. May Illyasviel, beloved sister and fun master, enjoy a long, happy, and peaceful life.

Shirou regarded the words.

They weren't good. They missed a lot of what had made the two maids distinct and important.

But it covered what they had given up their lives for.

"May the one we love find someone to love her again," Shirou whispered the words through a choked-up throat.

The wind blew, almost as if it could carry the funeral's words to Illya.

But it couldn't. Shirou had carried Sella forward, hoping to find a way to the Root. After all, if they could find the Root, perhaps they could find a way back home from the Root. There was more than one way to the Root after all.

Only, Shirou hadn't found the Root. Too mindful of preventing even the slightest brush of Sella's clothes, he hadn't paid attention to the steps in front of him. Then he had stumbled and staggered to the side before catching himself and looking up to realize that he was somewhere else. On what looked to a completely different world to tell the truth. A world that seemed bleak and almost uninhabitable.

Except for by the hordes of strange but decidedly hostile black, white, and red monsters that were like nothing Shirou had ever heard of before. Nor had any weapon in his Reality Marble ever killed anything similar. Well, not until he had arrived here at least. Now he had killed several thousand. They held up rather poorly when compared to a Noble Phantasm. He might be an intruder and an alien, but he didn't want to die. Not really.

But even before he had stumbled, Sella's body had long since shut down. She had arrived here as a corpse. But Shirou felt that Sella would have preferred a grave in the earth, rather than her body being lost in the space between worlds. Or maybe she wouldn't have. Shirou didn't know. They hadn't planned or thought about anything beyond going through the gate instead of Illya. It was a rather slapdash, last minute plan.

Saber hadn't liked it. But what could she do?

Shirou had used Rule Breaker to steal her back from the priest and old man while they had competed to see who could fill the Black Grail, which had been in Sakura's body, while keeping it away from the other. And it had been frightening to see just how quickly the remaining Servants, all except for Saber, had fallen to either the former Executor or the Matou.

But even though Rule Breaker had severed the Master-Servant bond between Saber and whoever her Master had been, Shirou had lost his right to be a Master and only one of the Tohsaka, Matou, or Einzbern could take her on as their Servant.

Sorry, Tohsaka, but Shirou liked Illya a bit more than her.

At least she beat out Kirei and Zouken by a landslide, though that had not been of much condolence to the girl who had already lost her last family member.

So Illyasviel had agreed to replace Berserker with Saber as her Servant. And had reluctantly taken Avalon when Shirou had, in an act of selfishness, gave it to her instead of Saber.

Saber would have been a better fit for Avalon. But Saber's corruption and act of betraying Shirou had left her with enough guilt that she had vowed to Shirou that she would stay as Illya's Servant and take care of her for as long as Illya wanted her.

And Shirou believed her. Even after being altered, Saber would never break her vow. It would disgrace her honor as a knight and a king to break her word.

Illya was in good hands now. With Saber at peak power and Avalon keeping Illya alive, Illya would have a long and safe life.

Just not with him.

Shirou let his hand fall and turned away from the gravestone and the body of his companions, letting out an exhale. They had died. Shirou was alive. More importantly, Illyasviel was alive. On a separate world, but alive. She could become happy as long as she was alive.

Shirou let himself dwell in the feelings he had for his sister before shunting them aside.

He didn't know where he was now. It could be a parallel world. It could be a different world. Shirou didn't know.

But Shirou was here and unless he found a new way to the Root, which would take any magus numerous generations of work, he would never find a way back. And Shirou only had one life to work in. Mortality was so constraining. Also, Shirou doubted that he could squeeze multiple lifetimes of work into just one. Otherwise every magus would have already done it and his old world would have been full of True Magicians instead of magi. Regrettably, Shirou recalled True Magicians being decidedly rare.

Furthermore, he didn't think that Illya would wait until he could return. She had certainly not been planning on returning when she said her farewell.

No, there was no way to be at Illya's side now. Shirou had to abandon his love for his sister behind. Just like he had abandoned everything in the Fuyuki Fire, leaving everyone and everything behind and never looking back. Or else his heart would shatter and he would die.

And Shirou didn't want to die. He hadn't…

Hadn't what?

Shirou paused as he thought. He couldn't think of protecting Illya. She was safe now. But he also couldn't turn back to his old dream. He had sacrificed too much to pick it back up. He had chosen to fulfill Father's regrets in being unable to save his daughter. He had discarded his inherited dream in order to fulfill a duty that his father couldn't.

And Shirou didn't think he could bear to pick his dream back up from the trash heap. He couldn't be a hero of justice. Not only had he already discarded it, he wasn't strong enough. He had seen that all too clearly with Archer. And the beautiful dream of that impossible ideal deserved someone who would devote their entire life to it. Not to be second place.

And to be fair, Shirou felt that Kiritsugu would be proud of him. Shirou had saved Illya.

But Shirou needed a new life now. One that wasn't centered around Illya.

Shirou let his eyes fasten onto a distant black castle in the bleak lands that surrounded him.

He didn't know if anyone was there. He figured that if there was someone, they probably would have been killed and enthusiastically eaten by these monsters. They hadn't seemed sentient at all, without even the cunning of Berserker buried underneath his Madness Enhancement.

But just as Shirou needed a new purpose, he needed to find someone. Anyone. Anyone who could help him. Because if there were people, there was food. And Shirou hadn't seen anything edible in these lands. Not even trees. The only hint of anything that could be a sign of life on the horizon was that castle, which for all that Shirou knew, could have been abandoned centuries ago.

But what else could he do?

Shirou took a step towards the castle. Followed by another step.

He had no goal. He had no dream. He had never even once considered "And then what?" when he had pursued his dreams.

And now that his dream of protecting Illyasviel was fulfilled, he didn't know what to do. He felt empty. Empty like a table after Taiga and Saber had finished dinner.

No goal. No purpose.

But alive.

And the only thing he could do was keep on moving. And hope that he could find a new reason to keep on existing for the future.

Not Heaven's Feel Route. More like a post-Illya route. Has a bunch of similarities to Heaven's Feel but isn't quite the same such as not losing his arm to Sakura's shadow as her mind died before she could rip off his arm. However, I am not writing a story regarding what an Illya route could be. I just want to write a story with a Shirou that went through the gate and has some more crash courses on the history of the magical world and both Illya and Sella taught him a bit to get him up to speed.

We will not be seeing the Fate cast again.