Author's Notes:

Hey Everyone, this will be one of my first recent works in a massive while.

There are some obvious things to note before starting out:

a) There WILL be spoilers for F/SN here. This should be obvious. I consider myself having a decent amount of Nasuverse knowledge (anime, VN, F/HA(English)) and will try to keep to Canon as accurately as possible. Which brings me to point...

b) I am open to any constructive criticism and suggestions to be had regarding structure, plot, etc. If there is a genuine error I'll be happy to fix it. For those of you who are heavy Nasuverse fans, I would like to think I'm well informed about Nasu lore but corrections are welcome as well.

c) OC will appear as rarely as possible if you're the type that dislikes those.

d) This story will be borrowing a certain pink haired character from the excellent ZnT/FSN crossover story "Hill of Swords" by Gabriel Blessing. If you havent read it yet, I suggest you do so as its very well written and witty. For those of you that haven't, the plot essentially focuses around a battle hardened Shirou being summoned by Louise as her familiar. I'll try to keep the ZnT references well explained and as brief as possible.

***OBVIOUS SPOILERS FOR "THE HILL OF SWORDS" YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED***

Without further ado, here we go!

[ BGM: Fate/Stay Night - Gentle Everyday ]
.com/watch?v=2KysWTK5PrM

Prologue:

He had always hated these days. There was more than enough time to breath and rest but not enough to completely plan for the chaotic times ahead. Sitting at the roadside cafe, he waited for his associate to arrive. Already having read through the same articles over a dozen of times, he was about to get up and leave when he noticed that an iced glass of milk tea had materialized between him and his paper. Trying to find the source of the delicious drink he looked both left and right. A friendly face finally popped up above his newspaper smiling cheerfully. She lowered the newspaper with her head until she was eye level with him. Behind her, he could see she was holding something behind her back.

"Three hours," he said with annoyance. He let his words hang in the air for effect.

She quickly zipped in next to him before holding the drink up to his face. "Its your favorite." she said, the infectious cheerful smile of hers still plastered on her face. Sighing slightly he surrendered and began to enjoy the drink, his eyebrows perking up approvingly at the taste.

"Sorry for being late," she said as she rested her head on her hands, her blond bangs drooping on the table. " I was delayed on the way here." He gave a brief shrug of indifference before downing half the cups contents.

Putting the drink down in satisfaction he turned back his friend. "I believe you said there was something urgent you needed to talk to me about?"

She pulled out the thick folder from behind her back and placed it on the table. "Its about the upcoming Holy Grail War."

"Don't you mean Heavens Feel?" he said.

She flicked him on the forehead for the interruption before continuing on, "Something new has come up. You're not going to like it."

He read the contents of the folder for several minutes. "I'm not really not seeing that much difference here. It looks all the same to... oh," he stopped talking before finally tossing the folder down in fatigue. Slumping his shoulders, he said, "I don't suppose we could just call the Mages Association and have them cancel it? Maybe reschedule it for never?"

"Nope!" she said cheerfully. "Don't worry though, I'll be sure to supply you with enough tea for the whole thing."

He sighed, resigned to his fate. "Well, I suppose it could be worse. The last time this happened the entire city exploded."

========

[ BGM: Fate/Stay Night - Whirlpool of Fate 2 ]
.com/watch?v=Mh4jsjjgPG0

The rain softly pattered on the ground as she walked. It was during a time like this that Caster wished she had bothered to fashion a cane from something in her masters house. Former master, she corrected herself.

She had done well. Her Master was a legitimate magus. A strong magus sent from the Mages Association to win the Holy Grail. He was a thirty year-old mage with no real distinguishing features. Though he dreamed of victory and claiming the Holy Grail, he had no plans of fighting. He was perfectly happy to let all the other servants "die in their own blood" while he sat and watched from the shadows. It was an excellent plan. But it would not win her the war. And it would not fulfill her wish. And that... that she could not allow. Not after everything she had been through.

She had waited, patiently, while inflating the man's already overflowing pride.

When he had wasted his final command on a frivolous order, she'd struck. He'd been blown across the room and into the hall. Approaching his still form, the room bathed in the light of her crimson orbs of magic, she could have ended his life right there. For what he had put her through the vengeance would have been delicious. The orb of destruction had been less than in an inch from the fools head. But her cooler self had persevered. In the end she'd erased his memories and healed his burn wounds. Although she did savor the kick to his ribs before she walked into the night.

But that was as far as her plans had went.

She sneezed violently and was brought to her knees; her long dark hair dripping ungraciously into a puddle. She always had the worst luck with her plans. Her damned former master had finally had the last laugh in the end. He couldn't bear the thought of her being a better magus than him. By feeding her a limited supply of magical energy he'd sapped her time in this world from two days to only several hours.

She shivered; not from the rain, wind or the cold but the lack of prana. Her body felt weak to the bones but she kept walking. She had to keep walking or else... was that the ground rising to meet her?

Warm hands caught her before she fell and she unconsciously hugged the warm heat-source. It felt good to be held like that. Safe. As her mind finally fell into darkness her thoughts went to how she missed moments like this in her last life.

=============

As Caster opened her eyes the first thing she noticed was the softness of the futon on her back. Looking around she noted she was in a rather plain Japanese-style room and someone had changed her into a dry Yukata. "How long had I been unconscious?" she wondered. She could feel strength returning to her body. The fact she was awake and wasn't slowly fading away meant two things. Firstly, someone had carried her here from the broken trail. More importantly, two, the slight tinge of aqua in the air and her recovered strength meant she was sitting upon a potent layline. If it had been anywhere else, she had no doubt she would never have opened her eyes again.

"You are awake," stated a steady voice from the side, "Your original clothes are cleaned and ready. If you need to leave, then leave. If you need time to recover, then you can stay at this temple." Kuzuki Souichirou closed the book he was reading and put away his glasses. Even though she was grateful he had saved her, his constantly neutral and monotone voice disturbed her more than just a little.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"Over a day," said Kazuki, reaffirming Casters hypothesis. She was glad she hadn't gotten any blood on her cloak. Right now it looked simply as if she had simply collapsed from a fever. She hoped to keep it that way.

"You do not have to make your decision immediately. Dinner is in two hours in the main hall if you wish to attend," said Kazuki as he got up to leave. She stopped him.

"I suppose I should thank you for saving me?" Caster asked from the futon.

"No," said Kazuki, "it was a young student of mine that found you on his way here. His name is Emiya Shirou. "

"Waaaa!" she nearly yelled, "he... he didn't... um... eh... did he?" Though she wasn't making much sense, the fact she rapidly held the blankets above her already completely clothed body made her question abundantly clear.

"No, I did. They did not see anything if that is what you fear," stated Kazuki plainly.

"I see... Thank you," she replied, her cheeks radiating a shade of scarlet. "If it is okay with you, I would like to stay here for a little while."

He responded by a curt nod and then quietly closed the door.

= = = =

[BGM: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia - Stranger] .com/watch?v=_zJBSNM77rQ

Day 3: February 2nd
Fateful Night

The city of Fuyuki had become quiet long before the Sun had set on the horizon. These days the recent string of violent murders had forced most people back to their homes early. Evening business' closed earlier than normal as their customers declined and their employees were wary to stay out so late. There was a great fear that hung over the Miyama residential district. Which is why it was amazing no one heard the high pitched scream of the small petite girl as she was thrown through the air. Behind her, the green portal that had brought her there sealed itself shut.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Bouncing several times before slowing to a crawl, she mumbled something about the Root before pulling herself up.

"I have to say, that was worse than the teleport we tried in Bretland. And we were in the air that time" clanged a voice from her back.

"Shut up, stupid sword" said Loise as she forcefully closed its quillon. "Besides, that was no ordinary teleport, it was a World Gate spell. Travelling between worlds is harder than travelling between cities."

"Still seems to have failed, though" chirped the sword.

She clamped down hard on Derflinger again before she gave out a large sigh and surveyed her surroundings. They had landed in an empty field outside the city. In the distance she could make out the tall skyline of the urban core as cars travelled to and from their destination.

Which meant she had failed. She slumped to her knees in defeat at that realization. Now she was trapped here again.

She had originally been sent here by the Tristain Acadamy of Magic as a joint magical project between the four nations of Halkeginia. With the crusade between Halkeginia and the Elven nations ended, hundreds of thousand of people were dead of both sides but peace had finally returned; at least on the surface. Underneath all the fanfare and celebration, all four Halkeginian nations were actively seeking new weapons of destruction. At the victory celebration the Pope of Romalia, Vittorio, had reveal the existence of this "Other World" to the Nobility of the other Halkeginian nations. It was rather unsurprising to her when the banquet hall had exploded in outrage. At least, those that hadn't known about Earth before. Once the cries had died down, Vittorio had outlined his plan for an international association that would explore and search this new world. He called it a Mages Association that would travel to this other world to obtain magical artifacts that could be used to fight against the possibility of a renewed elven attack.

The Root sure had a funny sense of humor.

The other great surprise happened when she, the Duchess of Emptiness, the Confidant of Tristainia, had announced she would be joining in the exploration of Earth. The nobility had exploded once again in outrage. To risk their greatest weapon in a perilous expedition into the unknown was ludicrous. The only table that had remained silent was Tristain. There sat the greatest allies and best friends she had known during these tumultuous quiet, they knew her reasons. Battle upon battle and war upon war, she had been there. Whether against armies, creatures of myth and magic, or even against the legendary magic of the elves she had been there; her and Shirou. But that had all finally ended at the cost of his life. All the stupid politics, endless battles and pointless wars had finally caught up with them. At the end of the last battle, he had left her.

"I'll come back" he had said before running back into the fray.

And why would she doubt that? He had defied fate and returned from the 70,000 at Saxe Gotha. He'd slain Myoznitnirn and her behemoth golem. Stopped the elven army at Al Nafar. He had always come back to her... Except that one time.

That had been over a month ago.

She shook her head to keep from trailing back to those thoughts. She wasn't the insecure girl she used to be when she'd first summoned him on that fateful day. "I can handle this" she told herself.

Right now, she was stuck trying to return to Halkeginia. Her last two attempts at casting World Gate had failed, sending her flying straight back, literally, into Shirou's world. Worse still, the spell left her low on prana. She straightened her ruffled clothes and pondered her situation.

The last rays of sunlight were about to disappear over the horizon. Night was coming, she was low on money, and she still had no idea where she was or how to get back to Halkeginia. She gave a loud sigh before she picked up her travel pack and started walking down the nearby road.

"Eh, Louise, do you have any idea where you're heading off to?" inquired the sword.

"No idea, but I can see several large and tall buildings over there," she said as she pointed over yonder, even though Derflinger had no eyes. "I figure we might be able to find out where we are or at least where the closest inn is from there. Why? Do you have any better ideas?"

"Well, you could always sleep in that tent that broumurrp!" Louise violently clamped down on Derflinger.

"I said BETTER ideas."

=======

It only a few minutes before she encountered a couple walking towards her. Well, less walking and more like stumbling in her general direction. There was a blonde woman, clearly more than a little tipsy, being supported by her rather tall friend.

"This was perfect," thought Louise, "I can find out where I am and maybe a place to sleep for the night." Her arms glowed slightly as Louise quickly finished casting an illusion spell upon herself.

"Mcnaba-kun, I'm perfectly fine," said the female stranger as she teetered on the edges of her toes.

"Tell that to me after you've woken up tomorrow," he responded, trying in vain to keep the both of them walking in a straight line. He stopped when he saw the small blonde girl standing patiently in front of them.

"Oh, hello there, Miss. What are you doing out here so late? You should be careful, there's been violent murders around here recently. You should probably head home."

"Thank you for your concern," she said while bowing slightly. She may have looked vulnerable, but the years spent fighting in wars would make her more than a match for any street thug that might approach her. She continued talking, "I just arrived in this area after a long journey. I don't suppose you would know where a nearby inn is so I could sleep?"

"An inn?" pondered the raven haired stranger, trying to keep his companion from tilting over.

"What about the place next to the Ahnenerbe Cafe we passed?" mentioned the blonde stranger as she perked her head up towards Louise. From the glow surrounding her face, she was definitely more than just tipsy.

"Hmm, that is right. Its probably the closest You should be able to get there by following this road back to Homurabara High School. Keep following it and you'll eventually find the main road. Keep following that and you should see it before you cross Fuyuki Bridge." he said.

"Whaaaa..." Louise exclaimed, her eyes popping open, "this is Fuyuki City?"

"Of course. This is the Miyama residential area and over there," he said while pointing to the darkened skyline, "is Shinto, Fuyuki's urban area. Is there anything else you need, miss?"

"Uh, no, thank you. You've been more than helpful to me," she said. With that the couple began to turn away.

"Stay safe, Miss" said the drunk blond as she waved energetically past her tall friend.

She stood there, staring at the two as they both hobbled their way away. Fuyuki... This was Shirou's hometown. As she walked down the road she tried to remember what she could about the city. It was in this city that Shirou had fought in the Holy Grail War; where he had found Saber and eventually fallen in l...

She shook her head once again. Those thoughts were all of the past; they wouldn't help her current situation. She rummaged through her memory once more looking for something of use. A girl wearing a red long sleeve shirt with a white cross in the middle came into her mind. What was her name? Rain...? Rhyn? No... Rin. She was the supervisor of the Fuyuki area. She'd have to make sure she avoided any public displays of magic. While she might not attack her, Rin would certainly start asking questions on why a new magus had travelled here into her territory. Those were headaches she'd rather avoid.

And speaking of headaches, what was that annoying clanging noise?

[BGM: Fate/Stay Night - Footsteps of Ruin] .com/watch?v=YoCmZgK02nw

As she approached the school she could hear the sound of metal hitting metal. It sounded similar to the clash of blades between armies, but that made no sense. It couldn't be school activities, not at this hour, and from what she had learned Earth had long ago replaced their swords and blades with guns like the ones used by Tristain's Musketeers.

"Kinda weird to hear this noise here, dont you think, Louise?" said Derflinger as he sounded out her own thoughts.

She crept along the wall surrounding Homurabara Gakuen before reaching the main entrance. Something in the back of her mind told her she should just leave. Go down the road to the inn and forget all about this. But she was drawn in. She didn't know why but she had to find out what it was. As she walked through the entrance she could feel something within the air.

"Ack," said the sword on her back, "did you feel that?" She nodded. It wasn't something normal humans could notice but as a magic user she could feel it. The best way to describe it was like the pinprick feeling you would get when your arm had fallen asleep. Something felt within your skin. Something that shouldn't normally exist here; especially not at a public school.

She hugged the side of one of the classroom buildings while moving towards the sound of battle.

"Derf?" she said barely above a whisper. His only response was a slight shrug of his quillon. He had no idea what was ahead either. As she carefully looked around the corner, she saw them.

Out in the courtyard there were two knights fighting. One wielded a crimson spear and was clad in deep ultramarine blue; its color blending into the night. The other wore bright red armor and wielded two swords.

Even as she reinforced her eyes, she could only grasp the barest glimpses of the two warriors. Sparks seems to appear from thin air as the two weapons would collide and disappear before her eyes could even register the hit. In the span of less than a second the lancer had thrust eight times and the swordsman had deflected all eight attacks. She watched from the shadows at this amazing display of skill; fascinated yet scared like having front row seats to a forest fire. Truly these knights were beyond the skill of humans.

The lancer pushes back and lands back several meters, finally ending his barrage of attacks. As they both stopped, she finally recognized the lancer in blue. Its someone she's never seen, yet knew. A memory not of her own. Cu Chulainn. Ireland's Man of Light. She drew her eyes to the man in red and drew in a deep breath at the realization.

"Whos there...!"

Her heart froze. It was impossible. She was completely across the field hiding behind this building and yet he was staring at her as clear as day.

"Louise, Run!" yelled Derflinger. And so she did.

Blowing straight through the school doors, she headed up the stairs.

"Louise, where are you going? Use a teleport and get us out of here," said Derflinger from the sheathe once more.

"Cant... no... mana...and no... time" said Louise as she took the stairs three at a time. Even with her legs reinforced, her heart still beat as fast as a drum from the exertion. Fear of death did terrible things for the heart. Reaching the third floor, she kept on running down the hallway. She had concluded that if she could reach the stairwell up to the roof, she might have time to cast her fly spell. There was no other option. Even with her reinforced legs, Lancer would outrun her 4 times over. She couldn't hide nor could she fight.

[ BGM: Pandora Hearts - Preparation ] .com/watch?v=1w3EUJngleQ

She was travelling so fast she couldn't stop in time to avoid colliding with the red haired student as she passed a corner.

"Ahhhh!"
"Oohh"

Bereft of their previous balance, they collided into the window before colliding onto the floor.

"Ack, ack, ack, you idi.. ot..." Louise stopped talking when she saw his face.

She was looking at Shirou again. Not her Shirou, though. He was different. His hardened featured were softer. Everything seemed lighter and gentler. All of the inner gooey and happy parts of Shirou without the cynical battle-hardened outer layer. His life before that long and hard journey. He was also considerably shorter than she last remembered. And cuter too.

She mentally smacked herself. They were seconds away from death and she was thinking about THAT?

She understood the situation. She had somehow travelled back in time and entered the Holy Grail War. If she remembered correctly, on this fateful Shirou would die tonight, and Rin would heal his wound. At the other end of the long hallway, Lancer stood watching with a slight grin on his face; maybe having been waiting all that while.

Her mind screamed at her to run. If she ran now everything would be set right. The Grail would be destroyed and Shirou would end up on that field. Saber would say goodbye to Shirou and all would be restored as it was.

Her body told her to flee. Her heart hammered in her chest as fast as the clash of steel from before. Her arms tingled from the adrenaline in her blood. She could feel the mana in the air tickle her skin as the Servant leisurely walk his way down the long hall. She had fought in utterly desperate situations before but every time she had been with her Servant; with Shirou. Even then, that had been against mortals, not other Servants. If she fought against this being, she would die. She would definitely die. And yet, she stood her ground.

Even if there was a hundredth of a chance that Shirou might remain dead tonight, there was still a chance of it happening. Maybe Rin might arrive seconds too late. Maybe Lancer would make sure his prey was dead this time and end Shirou's life before it truly began. But more important than anything else, her heart told her it was wrong. It was wrong to leave someone innocent behind for slaughter.

"Whaaa?" moaned Shirou as he began to recover from the collision.

"Run you idiot. Run!" she said as she nearly threw him towards the exit, never taking her eyes from Lancer.

Standing up, Louise drew her wand and steeled herself.

"Tut, what a shame" said Lancer as he kicked off towards her direction.

It was after the Invasion of Gallia that Shirou had begun encouraging her to look into trying to manipulating the other elements. Shirou had been alone for most of his battles and as such had been forced to adapt to a wide variety of skills and abilities. An explosion may devastate armies and level airships but it wouldn't be able to put out a fire, hold up a collapsing cave or heal wounds. "Besides, I wont always be here to protect your pretty pink head." he'd said with a slight smirk.

She hoped all her training and practice would be enough. With the wave of her wand, she casted a spell.

Ice shards formed on the walls and ceiling of the hall before exploding outwards to block Lancers advance; each wall of ice was easily half a foot thick. Lancer blew straight through the first wall before it was even fully formed. The other two gave about as much trouble for the Servant of the Lance. As he shattered the last ice barrier, a dozen boulders of jagged ice flew at him. Even though Lancer could just as easily have swatted them aside, he decides instead to jump through them. Maneuvering his well toned body through the air, he jumps like a life long acrobat. Each move of his muscle and twist of his body is a well timed choreography as he avoided every projectile. He landed lightly without a scratch on his body.

The minor spells, however, had done their job. As Lancer looked up, Louise finished casting another spell. She said one word.

"Explosion"

The hallway was suddenly filled with light as an explosion ignited in right in front of Lancer. The detonation blew open a section of the schools wall and shattered a classroom door into splinters. The explosion had been close enough to throw herself back several feet. As she lifted herself up from the floor once again, all she saw was smoke and fire where Lancer had been. She had used a similarly quickened spell when she had panicked in an ambush. All that had been left of her attacker was a battered corpse. She coughed as she pushed herself from the floor. She noticed her illusion had disappeared, the exertion of the spell evidently having interrupted the mana supplying the spell. Grey smoke and dust obscured where Lancer had been.

"That ought to buy us some time," she figured.

As she stood, the smoke was blown away by a single slash of Lancers weapon. Louise stumbled back in surprise, drawing Derflinger.

Lancer walked calmly towards her with his armor torn and ashen in several places but alive.

"Not bad kid. I don't know what magic you pulled just there, but I'll say I'm impressed," he said, "but the game's over."

The grip on Derflinger wavered as Lancer continued forward until he was less than five meters away from her. Her hands wavered as fear overtook her; shaking so bad she thought she might drop was it.

She was going to die. No tricks, no hope, no help.

"Lower the sword, little Lady, I'm not here for you. After all, you're a magus," he said, "I'm here for the boy there."

Looking back, she saw Shirou was still behind her, watching her.

"You IDIOT! I told you to run," she yelled. She thought he would have at least gotten onto the main road by now. Instead, he was standing there, his eyes wide looking at her.

"I wont ask again, little Lady," said Lancer impatiently, his crimson spear still waiting on his shoulder.

It took everything from Louise to even speak the next word, "N..n...n...n..."

Warm hands grasped her shaking hands and slowly lowered her sword. Beside her stood Shirou. The warm smile on his face was all that stopped her from crying.

"Thank you. For everything you did," he said. As Louise watched paralysed as Shirou moved past her and faced his death.

"Tut, now you've made me feel bad for doing this. Dont worry, kid, I'll make it quick." In one smooth motion, Lancer impaled Shirou in the heart. His body collapsed unceremoniously onto the floor and so did Louise.

"Idiot... idiot..."

She stared at him as his eyes slowly lowered and shut. She wasn't sure how long she sat there looking at Shirou's still form. Lancer had disappeared into the night long ago. She knew this would happen... She knew he had to die... So why did she feel like it was her heart that was stabbed.

"Louise, we have to go" spoke Derflinger quietly.

She heard quick footsteps in the distance. It could only be a certain raven haired twin-tailed magus. Moving with energy she didn't feel, she jumped through the destroyed wall. Reinforcing her legs, she landed on the dirt before disappearing into the darkness.

=====

[BGM: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia - Stranger] .com/watch?v=_zJBSNM77rQ

"Uhhh... Louise, are you ok?" asked Derflinger.

They, well... rather, she, had ran all the way to the main road before stopping, out of breath. (Derflinger normally just cracked dirty jokes and commented on the passing scenery when they travelled["You know, those hills look a lot like Kirche's Mrmphh!"]) Trying to wrack her brain over what was happening, she had wandered along the main road before stopping in front of the inn the couple had suggested.

At first she had been tired and limply collapsed on the bed. However, she then bolted up and quickly rushed to the window. Spending long moments, she had stared outside the window waiting, and hoping. Finally, a bright light pierced the darkness and answered her prayers, Servant Saber had been summoned.

Having sighed with relief, Louise teetering back towards the bed and collapsed; bury her face into the pillow. That was almost an hour ago and she hadn't made a sound or moved a muscle since. Derflinger was starting to get worried she might be dead.

"So what should we do now Louise?" asked Derflinger.

Silence.

Derflinger tried a little louder and this time Louise mumbled something unintelligible through the pillow. His other attempts at communication were met with similar replies of "lemrealone" and "mremeaway".

"What was that, Chibi Louise, I cant hear you. Speak a little louder" said Derflinger mockingly.

Louise's entire body twitched at the statement. Unseen winds tossed her pink hair and black cloak as she rose from the bed, her left eye eerily twitched in anger.

"So the big toy sword thinks he's ready to take on the Master, eh," said Louise as she stepped towards Derflinger. If Derflinger could shiver, he'd have fallen flat on the ground right then. She took one step and then another before she collapsed back onto the plush bed.

"Ugh, I'm too tired to even bother beating you."

She lay there, exhausted, for long moments. Sighing, she sat up and hugged her knees before saying, "We cant stay here. Its too dangerous to simply wait and rest here. We cant afford it right now. Besides that, we can't even do anything. You saw that servant Lancer. Not even the best mages of Helkegania could match him. We'd need a servant in order to do anything here."

"Well, we could always summon a new famil..." the sword stopped as he saw the cold eyes she gave him.

An image of a beautiful girl with golden hair appeared in Louise's mind. The sun rising on the horizon as she stood in the fields of green helped to frame the serene picture. But what made the picture was her smile. Not a smile made from protecting others but one where she was finally smiling for herself; smiling because she was genuinely happy. She had no right to take that away from Shirou and Saber.

"No, We're the ones that dont belong here. All we need to do is leave and everything will be as it was," said the pink haired girl as she whipped several strands of hair behind her shoulder.

"So what now then?" asked the sword.

"Now..." she said as she pulled out a map from her bag and started searching, "we head away and get as far from Fuyuki as possible. Maybe to one of the adjacent prefectures. I figure we'll be able to hide ourselves there until I'm ready for another World Gate attempt. Worse come worse, I could always look for work like a normal person."

"That sounds like a plan," said Derflinger. He wondered if her attempts to find work this time around would be anything like the Charming Fairy Inn. Maybe there was a parallel version of Scarron, the Charming Fairy's manager, on Earth!

Derflinger was snapped from his imagination when Louise began to start packing her bags again.

"Eh? Are we leaving already? But didn't we just get here? Whats the rush," asked Derflinger.

"I don't want to stay one extra second here," explained Louise as she hoisted Derflinger onto her shoulder, "each second here is another chance for something to skew the timeline. And I can't risk that."

As she turned off the lights and closed the door to the room, the sword spoke quietly behind her,
"be careful, Louise, you might meet your fate on the same road you took to avoid it."

=====

The cold night air was the first thing that hit her face. She wrapped her cloak tighter around her body, wishing once more she had brought warmer clothing with her. The skirt she was wearing was really inadequate against this late winter cold. Looking around the streets, she saw the city was dark now with only the streetlights and the moon to guide the way.

The night was unnaturally quiet. Only the sound of her light footsteps echoed across the pavement as she walked along these empty streets. She followed the main road trying to figure out what the next step to her plan was.

Derflinger broke the silence by speaking over her shoulder. "I don't suppose we could just teleport to the next prefect, could we? These long walks do get so boring ever since you sent those other mages' back home."

Louise sighed, once again wondering if there was a foundry nearby to melt him down. Then again, knowing her luck, he'd probably come back as a ghost. Then she'd NEVER be able to shut that mouth of his.

As she continued walking towards the outskirts of town, she saw a lone figure approaching her direction; small, maybe a child. As she drew closer, she noted the person was wearing heavy purple winter clothes and had hair as white as snow.

"Hey, you're walking out here awfully late. You aren't lost are you?" asked Louise as she knelt down slightly to look at the girl.

"Nope," she replied with an adorable smile, "I'm going to visit my onii-chan." Her voice was akin to a true child without a care in the world.

She seemed familiar... Wracking her brain, Louise tried to remember where she had seen her before. In the back of her head, a little bell was ringing in alarm.

"I thought I met all the magus' here already. I guess I'm lucky to have met you tonight. Let me properly introduce myself."

The girl of winter lifted up the side of her coat and bowed.

And then, Louise remembered. A moonlit night. In fact, this exact night. Shirou would meet this girl.

"Illya?" said Louise in recognition as she drew back. She realised too late that she had said that out loud.

"Eh? How do you know my name?" said the red-eyed girl. She squinted her eyes at Louise.

"I... Uhh..." her face turned red as she tried to come up with a suitable lie. She cursed the Root for her horrible luck. She'd been so caught up with what had happened that she completely forgot about what would happen later tonight. Well, actually right now... Gah, she was confusing herself now.

"Are you working for one of the other masters? Maybe for Mages Association?" Illya leaned towards her slightly with both hands behind her back. Her once carefree demeanor had been replaced with distrust and suspicion.

Looking into her eyes, she tried to come up with any suitable reason other than "I enacted the 5th magic and travelled back in time from another world all by accident." Unable to come up with anything, she settled with several half stuttered "uh..."s.

Finally making up her mind, Louise took one step back and then fled with all the strength she had.

"Hmph, fine then, it doesn't matter anyways," said Illya.

Pirouetting in her boots, she called for her unseen servant in that sing-song voice of hers.

"Ber-ser-ker"

[BGM: Fate/Stay Night - Nightmare] .com/watch?v=D1c1UXyYiTI

Greece's demi-god Hero appeared behind Illya. In his over sized hands was a worked sword made of jagged rocked. The bronzed giant stood over two times as tall as the small Illya with rock shattering muscles. But Louise doesn't even need to look back to know that. She could feel the air seemingly chill across her skin as this behemoth servant materialized.

"Stop her, Berserker," said Illya calmly, "and try to leave her in one piece when you're done."

▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!

======

She couldn't believe Illya called forth Berserker. It was like summoning a fireball to swat a gnat. To say she and Berserker were mismatched was like saying the sun was slightly hot. Her lungs burned as she put everything into reinforcing her body to increase her speed. The previous fatigue she had been feeling had vaporised the instant she heard its guttural scream. Even as she ran she could hear the sound of its rampaging charge closing the little distance she had gained. Cresting the rise of a hill, she stopped.

Standing there, she began to cast a spell. She didn't have the speed to outrun Berserker nor the strength to fight him. Therefore, she'd have to change the rules.

As Berserker rounded the crest of the hill, he saw the tiny magus . His target had finally had stopped. With one jump he flew over 20 feet into the air and impacted onto Louise's still form. When the dust from the explosion settled, there were over a dozen identical bodies of the tiny pink haired mage scattered on the road.

Berserker being Berserker didn't notice or didnt care that his target had split into twelve duplicates. All that mattered to him was that he to follow his masters orders. Nothing else could stand in the way..

▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!

And with that, Berserker charged at the nearest target.

Louise coughed as the dust from Berserker's impact settled. Even though she had managed to avoid the blow by a good distance, the force of the impact had sent her hurling into the air and into hedges. Looking at where Berserker had landed was an impact crater filled with cracked asphalt and dust. That might have been her... Disentangling herself from the hedge she had landed in, she saw Beserker had already taken down two of her illusions. She hastily fled down an alley, feeling the ground shake as the her illusions were slowly hunted down.

She ran until her chest like it would burst and then ran some more. The roar of that beast and the sounds of destruction slowly began to soften behind her. The Einzeberns had wanted the strongest servant possible and their wish had been granted. Root be damned, not even the army at Saxe Gotha would have lain low this Servant. Looking behind her, she made sure the monster hadn't been secretly following her before collapsing. Her legs burned from the marathon of running she had done. And yet... she couldn't rest. Those illusions wouldn't last anymore than several seconds against that hulk. She spoke the words to a spell before jumping into the air... and then careening rapidly skyward.

"Kyaa!" screamed Louise.

She landed hard on one of the western tiled roofs. She muttered something about the Root before pushing herself up.

"You could use some more work on those wind spells," muttered Derflinger.

Ignoring the sword, she cast the spell again. This time when she leapt into the air she gracefully flew across the street onto the adjacent rooftop. She was a little surprised it had even worked. Despite her best practice her elemental spells were still basic and unreliable.

Continuing to propel herself from rooftop to rooftop she made her way as far from Berserker as possible. As she made the jump across a particularly long distance, she missed seeing the fast grey shadow as it jumped up into the air for her.

Louise had time to mutter one "eep" before the bronzed hand grasping her by the leg and threw her into the side of a building. The wooden walling cracking as her body slammed into it.

Recovering her senses the pain hit her.

[End BGM]

"-Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The pain blanked her mind and made thoughts of anything else impossible. Looking down she saw one of her legs was bent at an impossible angle. It would be more accurate to describe it as a crushed puppet than a leg anymore. At her knee, bones were sticking out from all the wrong places. Her wail echoed across the empty streets and into the night sky.

Trying to move even her body a little she let out a whimper as a new wave of searing pain hit her. Through her tear stained eyes, a shadow eclipsed her view. The tiny Illya leaned town toward her and filled her vision.

"Oh, are you done running?" said Illya. "You ran so far I was afraid I would never find you." The girl's innocent voice was a stark contrast to the grim situation around her.

Each of her breaths was a labored whimper, her mind too overcome with pain to even speak. Darkness threatened the edges of her vision as she slowly strayed toward unconsciousness. She lowered her head onto the grass in defeat.

"This was it. I'm out of magic and tricks. There would be no Hero of Justice to save me this time" she thought.

"Its a shame. You would have made a good Master with that magic of yours" said Illya. Placing one of her hands on her hip she gave off a menacing smirk on her face.

"Beserker, go kill her."

"Stop!"

She could hear more voices speaking now; Illya and someone else. But it didn't matter now. The darkness closed around her vision, and as the last of her consciousness faded from her mind she thought she heard a familiar voice. The voice of a hero and a lost friend.

*****

Well, that's it. Tell me what you thought about it in the reviews please. Also, regarding the BGM, tell me what you thought about it. Was the music change too often, or too soon? Should I remove it? Once again, any constructive comments are welcome.