Fate/ Stay Night: Infernus

I don't own FSN or any of its concepts, be they magical or not. I do claim credit for introducing this particular brand of magic to the universe but not for creating it. If you've read my other stories, you know this is gonna be warped and f***** up the wazoo. Enjoy!

Advanced A/N: Alrighty. This Shirou will be quite different to the anime one. But that is the purpose of fanfiction. Difference. There will be questionable themes in here so if you don't like...run away fast.

Chapter 1

Shirou Emiya shivered as he lay amidst the echoes of life. He was cold…so very cold. The fire had been horrific, so tall and fierce. Even the stones buried a metre deep had melted and oozed up through the ground to create puddles of magma. The sky was so very dark as if the butchered souls filled it.

The day had started out fine. On his way to school, he had smiled at a pretty girl in an odd style of blue dress and she had smiled back. He had felt such contentment at making a new friend. School had been so boring that day, just lectures upon lectures about nothing.

Shirou knew he was going into shock.

The fire had started on his way home from school and as he had walked down the street to his home, he had been picked up and thrown into a wall violently. The house where he lived…decimated. A few human limbs decorated the sidewalk and scraps of flesh splattered down around him with met smacking sounds.

Then the conflagration had really started. As if the gates of hell itself had opened, arcs of fire had leapt across the sky like arcs of water and splattered everywhere. It was like napalm, even water wouldn't douse it.

Because the fire was divine in origin and magical in nature. Then…as he had stumbled his way towards his house with tears filling his haunted eyes…Shirou was struck all along his left side by a stray shot of fire.

A scream tore itself free from his throat and for a second, all movement and action stilled on the battlefield before the sharp ring of weapons striking weapons filled the air. Stopping to drop and roll, Shirou whimpered in agony. That has been his bow-holding arm!

Raising his face to gaze down at his ruined flesh, Shirou screamed. His skin was red and it was clear even from first glance that the burns were horrific. The nerve endings had been sheared off like bread before the knife. Epidermis and dermis had been flayed away and left him feeling…nothing on that side.

Over the roaring flames and clang of battle, he could faintly see two people fighting, throwing themselves against each other. Catching sight of her face, he sobbed. It had been than nice girl from today, the one that had smiled at him! Except now her face was set in a rictus of hate and she held a golden sword which made the air hum with its power.

Each time she struck, arcs of flame would snap from her blade to pummel at her enemy but said blows were deflected and sent flying about. Then a man entered the scene. A gust of flame hid his features but moments later, the entire area was bathed in flame. It felt…evil, a violation of the natural order.

As a stone wall collapsed over him and shielded him from the tide of annihilating fire, Shirou choked back a sob. That…that nice lady…she hurt me… he thought and felt a spark of resentment start to smoulder within him.

Hearing scraping from up above, he gazed into the joyous face of a man.

Shirou bolted awake from sleep and panted harshly. Angrily wiping tears away with his left hand, he gazed down at the skin angrily. After he had been found, he had been taken to the hospital. There he had been stayed for over four months as the doctors carefully applied skin grafts to him. They claimed it was a miracle he had survived.

Hearing Sakura knock at the door, he wasn't fast enough to pull the covers up to hide his heavily scarred torso. She had seen it before but no matter how often she saw it, she always started to cry and hyperventilate.

Sakura paled as she saw Shirou's torso. Scorched almost right up the middle, one side was plain, unremarkable skin…Looks so smooth…wonder what it feels like? a traitorous corner of her brain asked, breaking her from her horrified stare.

The other half was a darker pink than the rest with ugly red joins connecting the skin grafts to each other. Considering his burns, the grafts had taken amazingly well. But he still had to daily massage in moisturiser to make sure the skin stayed supple. In addition…he couldn't practice archery anymore. Due to the grafts, he couldn't over-extend his arm like archery often required.

It had almost broken him when that had been told to him. So instead of turning outwards for meaning…he turned inwards. And discovered magic.

His way of using it was a crude bastardisation of modern magic but he had the reserves to work it. That said, using it more than six times before resting left him exhausted and on the borderline of unconsciousness.

What he did was he drew magic directly from his circuit and condensed it into a semi-solid ball before him and then threw it at the target. Immensely destructive, it was the same as having grenades on hand.

He was still in school to be sure. His father hadn't allowed him to quit despite the teasing he got.

"A man who fails when trying is bad, but a quitter is lower still."

Those words had struck him deep. When Kiritsugu had revealed his personal goal to be a hero of justice, Shirou had disagreed. What good was justice when the idealitself was blind?

The concept was good but in action…completely impractical and pointless. For each life you saved, another would have to end so the balance could be kept. A life for a life. So in a sense, by not saving anyone he was killing nobody.

"Sorry Sakura" Shirou murmured and stood. His work pants thankfully covered his lower half and the heater he had been trying to fix stood incomplete along with a VCR. Smiling at Sakura and tugging the jacket on, he quirked his head. "I'll go take a shower. You go back to the main house."

As if to prove his point, the hungry bellow of Taiga Fujimura split the air.

ASASASASASASASAS

Shirou concentrated as he stood alone in the dojo. He still had fifteen minutes until he needed to get to breakfast. Tapping into his magic and drawing it forth, he grinned at the rush of power. Moulding it into something similar to a whip, he spun and lashed it out. The stone disintegrated under the onslaught of energy.

Wincing at the massive energy drain, he lashed the whip out twice more and disintegrated more stones on the ground. Sensing moving objects which moved through air was easy. Stationary objects were more difficult. Wiping sweat away from his brow and nodding, he adjusted his brown jacket and white glove before heading to the dining room.

"It's about time you showed up. It's rude to make people wait for you, you know" she complained. But her protests were for naught as she hadn't waited and had instead dived into the delicious meal Sakura had made. Truly, she turns cooking from a chore into an art the younger Fujimura thought

"Sakura, don't spoil Shirou like this, he'll get used to it."

Frowning at her, he contemplated the merits of blasting her through the paper door. Pro, she'd been quiet. Con, she'd probably kill him with her kendo stick. Sitting on the small cushion and perusing the table, he ignored the byplay between the two females. One attractive and cute and the other…well, the other could probably scare an actual tiger.

Accepting the bowl of rice and slowly eating it with small bites of fish and meatballs interspersing the rice, he couldn't help but enjoy the sense of family.

And they'll be taken from you too. Blasted into chunks and scattered about a dark corner of his mind whispered and Shirou's magic flared in anger at the words.

Unnoticed, Sakura's eyes widened in alarm as she felt the surge of magic. It was truly intoxicating! Like a surge of fresh, hot chocolate on a cold morning or a lover caressing her skin but far more intimate. It washed through her and a blush adorned her face at the light touch.

Taiga frowned at the uncomfortable feeling which engulfed the room. Identifying the source, she reached out and smacked the back of Shirou's head. "Bad Shirou! Stop making poor Sakura blush!"

It'd be so easy… he thought darkly before sighing. He didn't want to expose Sakura to the dark side of him, the side which was addicted to the power he wielded. Murmuring an apology, he covertly glared at Taiga out of the corner of his eye. She was a wonderful woman. Just…far, far too smothering.

As they continued to eat, Shirou clenched his gloved fist again and again to make sure the skin stayed loose there. The glove wasn't strictly necessary but after the pressure garments had been taken away, he had missed the feel of something hiding his scarred skin. The white glove he had found stashed with his fathers things.

Whilst quite a few clothes degraded when exposed to magic, the glove didn't oddly enough.

Moments later and Taiga shot to her feet and bolted out of the room, all the while screaming about how she was going to be late.

Helping Sakura take the dishes to the sink, he smiled. "I can't stay to help you, Sakura. I've got to talk to a teacher." In reality he didn't and he felt a little guilty about taking advantage of Sakura's kind nature but on days like these…he needed to be alone.

Smiling at Shirou, Sakura nodded. "That's fine, sempai."

Ruffling her hair with his gloved hand, Shirou turned and walked away, humming an off-beat tune.

He's a lovely man…but he's tone-deaf Sakura thought.

ASASASASASASASAS

Shirou paused as emergency vehicles shot along the road and as he glanced down the road, his eyes narrowed. He could sense magic…ancient magic. It made the nape of his neck tingle and the hairs on his neck stand on end. "A servant" he murmured. His father had educated him on servants and the best way to counter them.

"If you see a servant and you don't have one…run very fast" had been his words. Casting about with his senses and finding nobody, he sighed with relief as he sensed no servants.

Continuing on his way to school and looking around, he scowled severely at Rin Tosaka. School idol and model student, her sheer existence seemed to mock him. Naturally beautiful, intelligent and skilled in the magical arts, she coasted through life whilst he was forced to wade hip-deep in the social shit of society.

Rin felt the gaze upon her and shivered. It was full of…hate. Now that was something she could connect to only one person. Shirou Emiya. Usually she felt the over-the-top lust of other males or the jealousy of other girls. But only one had the balls to actually hate her and publicly show it.

Archer stared at Shirou in surprise. He had lied to Rin about not knowing who he was. But the teen that was glaring at his Master was different to him. He had grown up idealistic and trying to save everyone. But this Emiya…he radiated magical power and anger. Tempted to materialise and smack him down like an impudent pup, he was stopped by Rin's smile.

"Leave him be, Archer. He's one of the few that doesn't grovel. I find him…intriguing" she stated.

ASASASASASASASAS

Idly feeling through his toolbox, Emiya snapped out a thin tendril of magic and pulled the hiding tool to his hand. Lazy, perhaps. Effective? Without a doubt. Doing that, he never once needed to crawl around to find the television remote. "I can probably coax some more life out of this thing" he reported.

Issei smiled thankfully. "Thanks Emiya. I know how much you hate heaters" he stated and even as he said that, he could see the faint tenseness in his friends frame.

"Mind leaving so I can concentrate?" Shirou asked and received a nod. The second Issei left, he placed a hand flat against the heater. "Trace: Activate" he murmured. Magic swirled from his circuit and into the device, spreading along each atom in the structure and finding the weak point.

Once located, he quickly created a replacement within the heater and nodded as it sputtered to life. Turning it off, he patted the top and packed up his tools. Really, they were just a cover so he wasn't suspected. Since the heir to the Ryudo name was one of his few true friends at school, he didn't feel the need to keep up the air of niceness around him.

Oh, he was nice enough to Sakura and Taiga and Issei, sure. But he was often forced to keep the façade up around others. He had too many secrets. Too many weaknesses that could be exploited.

Walking outside and dumping the toolbox into his backpack, he quickly caught up to Issei. "Alright. I'm done. Let's get to home-room."

"Oh, yeah. Wouldn't be much of a friend if I made you miss home-room" Issei commented. Walking towards their room, they paused at the sight of Tosaka.

Watching her walk past, Shirou frowned before continuing to walk. Seeing Issei still watching, he smiled. "Issei, don't tell me you've got the hots for that witch with a b!" he shouted and quickly took off to class, a blushing Ryudo following him.

Sitting down in the classroom and gazing out the window, he mentally clocked down the seconds. As he hit zero, the door burst open and Taiga shot in. Tottering unsteadily as she tried to slow down, she face-planted firmly into the desk. Wincing and leaning forward, he shook his head. Uninjured as always.

"Wake up, Taiga!" the entire class shouted and a second later she was up.

"My name isn't tiger!" she roared and glared at the snickering class whilst Shirou rested his forehead on his linked hands.

ASASASASASASASAS

Shirou sat under a tree and welcomed the cool of the shade. Feeling a pulse of magic and glancing up, he grinned at the faint form of Archer. He was using a form of magic to camouflage himself into the building behind him. It would obscure him from normal human's eyes but to an opposing magus's eyes, he was as observable as a shadow.

Returning to his meal and eating the cool food, he sighed in relief. Ever since the burns and skin-grafts, he had enjoyed the cold so much more. Cold liquids, weather…even he turned colder. Hearing students gossiping about what happened, he froze when he heard that apparently the murder had been committed with some sort of long blade.

Instantly, his thoughts flashed back to the blonde from the day the entire city was devastated. Unknowingly, he had shattered the porcelain dish in his hands and the shards were poking into his palm. Wincing as each was removed, he smiled as his over-active healing abilities took effect. "I love being me."

He wasn't arrogant exactly but neither did he lack confidence. He was sure of his own abilities. He was sure because he knew his limits and how to work within them. But how he loved wielding that power.

ASASASASASASASAS

Shirou left the school grounds and ignored the captain yelling for him to come watch. Really, how callous. I can't wield a bow anymore and yet she taunts me he thought. He knew he was being unfair. But he also had work to get to. Feeling the nape of his neck freeze, he looked to the sky. Based on the utter severity, there were six servant's within the city. "Crap. It's going to be a vicious night."

ASASASASASASASAS

Heading home from work, Shirou was mentally swearing up a storm. Those lazy bastards hadn't come in so he had been forced to do their share of the work as well! One pleading glance from the owners had crumbled him. He wasn't able to refuse anyone genuinely in need.

As the sky darkened overhead and as he ascended a hill, he blinked at the sight of a young girl in a purple dress and an exceptionally odd hat. Watching her walk closer, Shirou was frozen by the utter enormity of magic the girl possessed. It dwarfed his own.

"You better hurry up and summon someone mister…or you're gonna die" she whispered.

Turning to glare at her, he blinked at the empty street. "I hate Astral Projections" he muttered. Really, it was cheating to create an intangible construct to piss people off. He knew of all the basic magics and a few of the advanced types. Astral Projection was often considered to be the most useful but dangerous of the magical arts due to the fact opposing magi could capture your soul that way.

ASASASASASASASAS

"Geez, what are you doing coming home this late?" Taiga complained as Shirou entered the house.

"Not like I was up partying or out with a girl" he snapped back. That girl had really freaked him out. What cute young thing like that stated such a prediction like that? A deranged girl in need of therapy, that's who.

Digging into the bountiful feast Sakura had prepared, he unintentionally let loose a small bolt of magic at Taiga's words.

"I don't know if you're a do-gooder or just stupidly naïve."

Watching her rock back but quickly regain her balance, he acted concerned. He hadn't meant to do it, the magic merely responded. It was as if it was borderline sentient.

"…he wrote an essay titled, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a champion of justice. It's admirable for a grade schooler…but for a nearly fully grown man, it's pathetic" Taiga continued.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Sakura exclaimed and clasped her hands.

He couldn't help himself. Having an attractive girl exclaim about that about him just caused it. A blush. He hadn't blushed in years!

Turning to Taiga, he frowned. "I think you've said enough, Fujimura" he seethed and couldn't help the sense of satisfaction that filled him as his magic-charged words made her retreat. "So what are you hiding back there?" he asked, pointing to the rolls of material.

"Oh, these?" Taiga asked coyly.

"Taiga, do you know what a rhetorical question is?" he asked.

"I don't know. What does one sound like?"

"It sounds like…"

"That was rhetorical." Grinning at her victory, she unfurled the poster to reveal a recruiting image of the armed forces. "I think this is an excellent career choice for you!" she exclaimed proudly.

Instead of voicing his thoughts which were running along the, "No chance in hell" tangent, he grabbed the paper and rolled it up. Swinging it down, he fumbled as she dodged and grabbed the shiny one and brought it down with a clang on his head. "What the hell…is that?" he grated out.

"Sheet metal! I'm a fifth degree Kendo. You think your lazy ass body can beat me?"

Sakura frowned at that. Fujimura was skilled, no doubting that. But if they had been really fighting and not messing around…she doubted the older women would have survived. She had watched Shirou use that destructive magic of his and it stood alone, far above what other magi were capable of. "Sempai! Are you alright?!"

Most magi were like a gun with a large supply of bullets. Shirou was more like a missile. If he connected, you were dead.

An hour later, all three stood at the door. Taiga and Sakura on one side of the portal and Shirou on the other. "See you tomorrow. Walk her home, Fujimura" he commanded and shook his head at her enthusiastic response.

"Leave it to me!" she shouted and pumped a fist into the air. As they walked away, Shirou watched Sakura's hips sway in the skirt she wore before scolding himself. Bad Shirou, bad thoughts!

Shirou had discovered his magic by accident really. Or rather, his ability to compress it into a sphere and hurl it at the enemy. His dad had thrown a ball at him out of the blue and before he could consciously react, he had blown it out of the sky.

But the elder Emiya had died before he could pass on the magus seal. The seal itself was like a basic library of magical knowledge for the clan. It covered the basics such as shaping your magic and the like.

"Magic is a power that gives rise to conflict. Power breeds jealousy and fear. That is why you must be prepared to defend yourself, no matter the cost. You can never use it in front of normal people either" his father had told him. And he had been forced to defend himself more than once. The stray necromantic construct on his property had to be dealt with before it called more of its kind.

Entering his bedroom and collapsing down onto his bed, he sighed in relief at the cool embrace of the sheets. The air itself was quite cool, enough to chill a normal person. But to him, it was perfect.

A/N: Alrighty! Chapter one is done! I hope you enjoyed this! Now, to explain several things you're no doubt curious about. Kiritsugu Emiya taught Emiya the basics, such as servants and basic sensing. He's taken abilities like that beyond most though since aside from his raw magic manipulation, that's all he can do. He doesn't know about the Grail War though.

Now you're also probably wondering about the raw magic ability he has. His reserves are so great; he can force magic out of his circuits and condense it into a ball of volatile magic. This is a Shirou who has shunned the outside world because of what happened and so it is plausible this happened. Cheers!