Author Note

For those who has read my work thus far, it has been mainly Naruto fics.

However, because of the Covid-19 I found myself with nothing better to do while at home. My job, thankfully, allowed me to work from home, so I was left with plenty of free time, since I no longer had to worry about traffic and going to meetings. I was browsing Netflix for a cool Anime to watch and I saw one called Fate Stay Night. I was immediately hooked by the story and mainly about the main characters Saber and Shirou. Well, apparently Saber is a very famous character in the anime world and her background story was amazing…her strength…her spirit…her everything. In the end, the more I saw…the more fanfic I found on what right now is my favorite pairing, I simply stopped thinking about anything other than them being together in the end. Even though I wished for the story to be longer or even a nice sequel, it was awesome from start to finish. Shirou on the other hand is also an interesting character, as I saw much of myself in him.

And here comes the power of fanfiction.

At least for me anyway. I was able to find excellent stories and was able to calm down my anxiety somewhat.

However, despite all the awesome stories I have read, my mind and my heart are still a mess. Because of this, I have decided to give it a try and start this new fanfic, where I could impart my own view on how the story should have progressed. I already apologize beforehand if I seem like the story is bad or that I believe that the story sucked. Quite on the contrary. I did say I was hooked right. I just believe that to ease my feelings, I have decided to write my view of the anime, that's all. It is not that I have any rights to it, just for my peace of mind. I hope beyond hope that my readers cherish this attempt of mine. And for those who wished for me to instead continue the Naruto fanfics, I will also continue them, even if my focus will be to at least finish them.

But my focus in wring will be with this new fic.

Also, I am doing this first for selfish reasons, as I aspire to write a story that will help me ease these feeling inside my chest. Secondly, I wish to hear my reader's input on my work, if possible. So, please, do provide constructive criticism or any criticism for that manner. Thank you all for the opportunity and I hope you will enjoy. The story will be focused on the UBW World and will have two parts. The first part will cover the Fifth Great Grail War and the second part will be post-war.

The story will focus mainly on Shirou and Saber's experience, rarely focusing on other characters.

Pairing – Saber (Arturia Pendragon) and Shirou

Fate Stay Night: Sword and Arrow

Part I – Fifth Great Grail War

Chapter 1 – Shirou Emiya

The first rays of sunlight illuminated the inside of the household's deposit. A teenager named Shirou Emiya was found sleeping on top of a sheet settled close to a bunch of open electronic appliances. Redhead, not so small for his age, but not so tall either. He was wearing his working clothes, composed of gray jacket and pants. He always enjoyed fixing things. It helped him relax and be at ease as this place was his own personal hideout. It certainly helped him overcome the sadness of his adopted father's passing, five years ago. Emiya Kiritsugu adopted him ten years ago. Young six-year old Emiya Shirou, well It wasn't his name at the time (though he forgot what his real name was and what his life was before being adopted), was found by his adopted father beneath a pile of rubble as consequence of a huge fire that happened in his hometown, Fuyuki.

To this day, the fire brought him painful memories.

He remembered his younger self looking around the fire with empty eyes as he slowly placed small steps one at a time, to seek a way out of it.

As he walked, he heard agonizing screams of people burned alive desperately calling for help. He also remembered how useless he felt at the time. He was six years old for cry's sake. How the hell could he try to save anyone? But the fact remained that he did not…not even tried to. He was selfish that day, but who in their mind could blame him. A part of him never stopped judging him, however. Even if by trying to help, he would have risked his own life, a part of him blamed himself for not at least trying to save someone.

At some point, the pain became too much, and he fell on the ground. When he looked up in the sky, he saw what appeared to be a black hole in the sky. He remembered reaching his small hand in an attempt to measure the size of the hole with his hand. It was at this moment that his adopted father appeared in his life. The image of Kiritsugu's relieved face still vivid in his mind. The man had been crying as evident from the bangs below his eyes, but Shirou could see the relief in his father's face upon being able to save the small child.

Kiritsugu managed to take Shirou to the hospital in time and saved his life. In fact, leaving the hospital was one of his first memories as his old life was gone forever. Strangely so, it never bothered him to know about it. The small boy had a blast living with his adoptive father. True, there were times when Shirou would be alone in the house as his father used to travel a lot for his work and usually took weeks and even months to return. As such, Shirou has learned a great deal on his own in how to take care of himself. He had found books in the public library that taught him how to cook (his father was hopeless in this regard), taught him how to do laundry…basically taught him everything he needed.

Of course, Kiritsugu asked someone to look out for him. Fujimura Taiga was the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss, but Shirou did not need her help in the house. He merely enjoyed her company even if he sometimes wondered what was wrong with her. In the end, it was mostly him taking care of her needs than the other way around. Another subject in which his adopted father insisted was self-defense. At least it had started as such with kendo lessons from Taiga herself. In time, Shirou has developed from mere self defense to giving his sister figure a hard time in less than two years practice. So much so that Shirou had joined the kendo club, amongst other club, in his school and always excelled in it, even if personally the boy also enjoyed his time in the archery club. It always appeared that he was not even trying when he hit the center of the target every attempt.

Kiritsugu also took the time to teach his son a couple of his crafts as a magus. The boy remembered how awesome he saw his father as upon hearing the man's line of work.

Of course, his adopted father did not teach him much, focusing on some low-level spells and basic abilities that he believed his son needed to learn. Aside from those, Kiritsugu did not believe that Shirou would grow up to follow his steps. But, teaching him the basics of thaumaturgy and how to use the boy's magic circuits. Strangely so, his father found out, that two specific abilities were the boy's favorites. Projection and Reinforcement (reinforcement of the body and of objects as well). At first, his projections were like everyone else's It was not a field that a magus focused on, so it did not take long for his creations to vanish. With time and practice, however, he managed to create items that lasted longer and longer, his record so far being an entire day.

Since he knew from his father about his Origin (Sword), the boy has been focusing his projections on swords. Every time he saw one in particular, he would use his ability to scan the sword in question and record it. He even had a book on historical swords and he could even use his imagination to project them, but not as perfectly. It worked better if he had visualized the actual item instead. It took very little time to do so and then he practiced projecting said sword to perfection, a plain simple katana he found inside the dojo, using the steps necessary to reproduce the sword to its most intimate detail. The first times he projected it, he tried hitting a tree on his backyard and the sword broke almost instantly after impact. It was then that the second ability came forward as the boy used reinforcement spells to harden the projected steel blades. He was surprised to see that by reinforcing the projected blades, he could even prolong its durability, getting his record up to a week before the weapon simply vanished.

Aside from blades, Shirou could project and reinforce many other weapons and even managed to project a bow and arrow, but also reinforce both for added potency. He still remembered the look of surprise from his father when a projected arrow pierced a couple of trees and the house walls, before lodging at the neighbor's wall. The arrow even attempted to get inside but lacked the strength to do so. That was six years ago. He had only gotten better at since, though he rarely ventured in other crafts, aside from knowing the basics of bounded fields. His old man had always placed one around the house, so Shirou needed to understand the mechanics of it. It protected the house from strangers and trespassers and Shirou managed to tweak it a little bit adding more layers of protection from time to time. Those who attempted to break in unannounced, would be convinced to turn and walk away.

Back to the present, Shirou opened the door to the warehouse and went to the house dojo for some quick kendo exercises before making some breakfast for himself and his sister figure. He sighed in dismay as the woman ate like a glutton before running madly towards the school where she taught. Shirou placed the dishes on the sink and left his house, not after activating the bounded field. He was not aware of any threats; it was merely something that his father taught him to do every time he left his house. Shirou rather enjoyed his school activities, even though the level of competition had been lacking these days. He had no one to compete against either in kendo and archery. Even national championships proved little help to him. Because of this, to the outside perspective, the boy showed little effort but still was able to beat everyone. What he most enjoyed doing was helping his best friend Issei from time to time.

Issei was the student council president and constantly bothered Shirou with fixing the school electronic appliances.

"I appreciate it Shirou…if you weren't her, I doubt the school would have the funds to fix these appliances."

Adjusting his glasses with a smile on his face, Issei really felt at ease with his friend's company and his ability to fix electronic devices was only a boom.

"It's no problem Issei…this to me is like therapy."

Normally, Shirou would not use his mage craft in front of others. His father warned him not to as there were associations out there that would target him if he got caught. Kiritsugu even provided a couple of books on magic history for Shirou to read.

But he became so adept at using his skill that he merely placed his hand on the device and said his two words in his mind.

Trace on…

It took less than a second for his own magic circuits to pass through the device, allowing Shirou to understand the problem and get started. As far as Issei was concerned, it looked like the boy had a thorough understanding on how each appliance worked. He could see the ease in which Shirou used his tools to fix VCRs, stereos, portable ventilators, everything really. It was simply marvelous to watch.

"So, have you decided about quitting the clubs yet?"

Issei smiled as he saw Shirou's shoulders slump. Ayako Mitsuruzi, the archer club's captain, kept trying to convince the boy to stay and even take on her job, but Shirou rarely displayed an interest in, merely going about his routine, hitting dead on every time, while looking like he was bored doing the dishes. The redhead had zero arrogance in his actions. Aside from Matou Shinji, who was extremely jealous at his skills, Shirou got along with everyone quite nicely and even stayed late cleaning the dojos. He just didn't see any reason to stay if he was not challenged. Seriously, he was having a more challenging practice inside his own house, attempting to fire multiple arrows at a longer distance.

If he were to show off like this at school, then he would never hear the end of it.

It was the same with kendo club, but people there did not bother him as much as archery club.

"I don't know Issei…Mitsuruzi has been bugging me, but I'm not sure. It's simply not doing it for me anymore". Issei nodded, also acknowledging the redhead's prowess in archery.

In his mind, Shirou had already made up his mind to leave.

"They will miss you I'm sure." Shirou sighed, wondering if perhaps would be best to simply come up with an excuse and avoid the headache.

Eventually, the bell rang signifying that the classes were about to start.

Many hours later, the class ended and Shirou began his journey back home with a disinterested look on his face. His fellow classmates simply watched him leave, wondering about the absent look on his face. Truth be told, the redhead did not find much interest in his own life, at least not like his classmates. He rarely did anything aside from going to school and train his abilities to perfection. He did all this, however, not because he believed that something would happen anytime soon and that he would need to prepare himself. He trained his craft and abilities so that one day he could achieve his dream of becoming a hero of justice. To this day, he remembered having this conversation with his father.

A small boy dressing a kimono sit at the porch of his house next to his father while both were looking at the full moon up high. The boy talked about repaying the world since his father saved him from the fire by saving everyone.

"Shirou, it's complicated. Because you say that you wish to save everyone…however, when you choose to save someone…you also choose not to save another." The boy remembered looking perplexed at the explanation.

It took some time for Shirou to understand what his father said, despite still believing it. No matter what he did, it was impossible to save everyone. True, it was a foreign concept in his mind. The moment he is faced with a tough situation, he would need to choose who deserved saving. To this day, it irked him to even think about it. It was not fair, he concluded. Everyone needs to be saved. Or else…he stopped that train of thought seconds before it even began. He would find a way…

As he walked back from school, he then passed through a park that he has clearly seen better days. This park was built right after the fire that engulfed the city ten years ago and almost killed Shirou. Shirou could feel the ominous energy in the air every time he came. The image of the fire burning in his mind every time also. Being a practitioner of mage craft, he could feel the energy that flowed in this place. As he felt the wind blow and the sun setting down, he slowly left the park towards the road that will eventually lead to his house. Once he stood up high, he turned to have a look at the city he grew up in. Using mage craft to improve his eyes, he could see the majestic lights of the city harbor as well from a great distance.

Ever since he learned of the craft of reinforcing parts of his body using mage craft, Shirou spent a great amount of time practicing. His movements, his agility, even his senses were heightened. Of course, he never had someone to practice it against in order to see eventual deficiencies in his movements. For that to occur, he would have needed to know another magus and he did not know anyone. So, since this time at night, he was alone inside the house, the boy could be free as a bird to venture around the house's grounds, dashing in various direction and even mixing his abilities with tracing a katana in his hand. He began by picturing imaginary opponents. After a few fast strikes, the sword vanished from his hand as Shirou backflipped using a tree in his backyard. Immediately tracing a bow and arrows, he heightened his eyes in order to spot the target. Releasing three iron arrows in quick succession, he landed on the ground just as he heard the arrows lodging on the bullseye.

He did this routine for at least an hour before wiping the sweat from his face. It was indeed liberating to let loose like this, he reasoned, as the smile never left his face.

After the workout and a quick dinner, he took a bath and went straight to bed as tomorrow was another day. Drifting in his sleep, he started dreaming about facing strong opponents that he could test himself against. He dreamed about different swords used by heroic figures in the past from the time immemorial.

Well, that was indeed thrilling to write. I feel more at ease now and even more pumped.

Thank you everyone and please review. If you're interested in asking questions, I will respond all of them next chapter.

See ya.