Fate/Redemption

Chapter 1: The Summoning of Heroes

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Zero or any of the characters depicted here. The former belongs to Gen Urobuchi, Type Moon, and Ufotable. The latter belongs to all of their respective creators and companies.

Every 60 years, there is a ritual competed between mages known as the Holy Grail War. Seven of them would summon a Heroic Spirit, legends renown throughout history. They would fight for the death in a battle royale all for a wish on the Holy Grail. In spite of its name, this is not the chalice that Christ and his disciples used during the Last Supper. But it was a device of such epic power and scope that it was an apt name for it. The 4thHoly Grail War was approaching fast, and it would all end in tragedy, despair, and heartbreak.

However, like grains of sand on a beach, there are an infinite number of possibilities within the multiverse. Little changes can domino into making a huge impact. Let us peak into one of these infinite possibilities and see how the war would go if the selection of servants had been changed.

[Abandoned Warehouse, Fuyuki City]

Kirei Kotomine stood impassively in front of a summoning circle, smoke coming from it and soon dissipating into the air. He was a highly skilled executor of the Church and was chosen as one of the masters of the Holy Grail War. For the life of him, he didn't know why he was selected, as he had no wish or desire for the Grail. Nevertheless, he had agreed to train under Tokiomi Tohsaka, the head of one of the three families who had conceived the Holy Grail War. He and his father Risei, the war's mediator, would aide Tohsaka and help him reach the Root, the source of all magic.

To this end, Tokiomi had provided him with a catalyst in the form of broken fragments of a bone mask. He would use it to summon Hassan-i-Sabbah, the Old Man of the Mountain, under the Assassin class. However, as he looked upon his servant, he soon realized he had gotten someone completely different.

Standing in the summoning circle was a man who appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s, judging by his white hair. He had a well-groomed mustache and beard that would put Tokiomi's goatee to shame. His left eye had some sort of futuristic eye patch covering it. He wore a padded blue jacket with a yellow inside, which had a prominent shoulder pad on the left shoulder. On his forearms and legs were outfitted with futuristic looking greaves and vambraces. Completing his outfit was a brown belt that had some sort of device on the left side and a leg holster on the right. In said holster was a blue pistol that had been customized various accessories such as a red dot sight and some sort of underbarrel device.

"Now this is a bit shabby lookin', ain't it," the servant said to himself before noticing Kirei, "Oi, man of the cloth, did you summon me?"

"Yes," Kirei said plainly as he showed his command seals, noting that his servant spoke with a prominent Irish accent.

"Ah, that means our little partnership is now official. I'm Assassin, by the way. Lookin' forward to workin' with you, boyo."

"Indeed," Kirei replied as he began thinking to himself.

"This is unexpected and could affect Tokiomi's plans to win the war. I should report this to him, immediately."

Assassin, meanwhile, took out his pistol, checked the load on the magazine, and then loaded it back up before pulling back on the slide. He then looked around the warehouse in disgust.

"Oi, priest, this place is a wee bit fookin' depressing. Mind getting a change of scenery?"

Kirei immediately broke out of his thoughts before looking at Assassin.

"Hm?"

"You have to have some sorta hide out or base of operations, dontcha?"

"Yes, I do. Follow me."

With that, the two left the warehouse. Kirei idly thought to himself as they left. If he had gotten a different Assassin, what did that mean for the rest of the war?

[Tohsaka Manor, Fuyuki City]

The Following Week…

Tokiomi Tohsaka was quite pleased with himself as he looked over the servant he had summoned. He had initially been worried when Kirei had reported that he had summoned a different Assassin other than Hassan-i-Sabbah. He feared that he had to change his entire plans for the war. However, the Assassin Kirei had summoned had reassured them that their plans would go smoothly with him in their service. In fact, he had a Noble Phantasm that would allow them to enact a ploy of theirs.

Tokiomi had selected the fossilized shedded skin of the first snake to be his catalyst. With it, he would summon Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and mankind's oldest hero, under the Archer class. With Gilgamesh as his servant, he would be unstoppable, and would easily win the Grail War.

Unlike with Kirei's summoning, his had hone just as planned. Standing in the summoning circle was a well-built man with a handsome face. He had wild, golden hair that stood up like a flame and crimson red eyes. He wore golden armor that looked Mesopotamian in its design. On top of his shoulders were golden pauldrons, with a piece of armor covering his stomach and midsection, and the lower half of his body in leg armor, topping it off with sandals. Around his waist was a red cape that was decorated with golden designs. He kept two weapons on his waist: a golden battle axe on the left and a golden, intricately made sword on his right. On his back was the weapon of his class: and intricately made golden bow with several carvings and designs etched into it. The servant had a look of arrogance on his face but gave off a kind of charisma that one could not be drawn to.

The servant let out a low chuckle as he addressed Tokiomi.

"I am the servant, Archer? Did you summon, mage?"

"I did, my king," Tokiomi said, as he bowed, knowing it best to get on his servant's good side.

"Then the contract is complete. I eagerly await the coming battles. Let me fight to my heart's content, and the Grail is good as yours, mage."

Tokiomi let out a small smile. Everything was going perfectly for him.

[Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel Penthouse Suite]

Meanwhile…

Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, head of the Archibald family, esteemed mage, lecturer of the Clocktower, and representative of the Mage's Association in the Holy Grail War, sat in his chair displeased, as indicated by the annoyed look on his face. His fiancé, Sola-Ui Nuada-Ri Sophia-Ri (called Sola-Ui for the sake of simplicity and brevity) stood by his side, with a look of confusion on his face. Kayneth had entered the war intending to summon the mighty Alexander the Great under the Rider class. However, the catalyst he had planned to use, a remnant of the man's cape, had reportedly been stolen. Having many rivals at the Clocktower, Kayneth had expected this to happen. He took the precaution of preparing a backup relic, the fragments of the swords Beagaltach and Moralltach, to summon the Irish knight Diarmuid ua Duibhne under the Lancer class.

However, the servant standing in front of him was far from what he was expecting.

The Lancer he had gotten was a Japanese teenage girl, roughly being around 14 and 17. She had red eyes and pale red hair that was kept in a high ponytail with a black bow. She wore a dark red dress with a mandarin collar and a jewel right in the chest area. The borders of the dress was decorated with thick white ruffles. She had on white arm sleeves that ended halfway up her biceps, completed with black buttoned cuffs. Underneath her dress was a pink pleated skirt and a black corset with white detailing. Completing off her outfit was a pair of tall red boots with white cuffs and white lines going down the sides vertically, along with a pair of black thigh high tights. Resting lazily across her shoulders was a spear. The shaft of the spear was a golden color, and the tip of the spear head was a broad triangle. The base of the triangle was red and the edges of it were a metallic silver.

Kayneth pressed his fingers together and thought to himself. Normally, he would have gotten angry and started yelling at the servant. However, only an idiot would have done that. There was no way for telling how the servant would react, and he could have easily ended up getting killed by her. He had to approach this carefully. He was incredibly frustrated, but he wouldn't let it show.

Lancer, with a bored expression on her face, finally broke the silence of the room.

"So… I'm guessin' you two summoned me?"

"We did," Sola-Ui replied as she answered Lancer's question. "My name is Sola-Ui. I'll be providing you with additional mana for the war."

"Tell me, little girl," Kayneth asked in a rather condescending tone, "where is Diarmuid and why were you summoned in his place?"

Lancer lifted her spear off of her shoulders and gave a nonchalant shrug in response.

"I have no idea who this Diarmuid you're talking about is. All I know is that you summoned me, and now you're stuck with me for the war."

Kayneth let out an irritated growl as he immediately got out of his chair.

"Great, that's just perfect! All of my plans have been shot to hell!"

"Kayneth…" Sola-Ui said sternly as the magus continued to rant.

"I did not enter the Holy Grail War to be constantly made a fool out of!"

He turned towards Lancer and sneered at her, as if she was something he had stepped on.

"And I certainly, didn't join this war so I could play babysitter to some brat!"

Lancer's eyes widened at that remark before she snarled and pointed her spear at the magus.

"Hey, I didn't ask to be partnered up with you, you stuck up, balding jackass!"

Kayneth was taken back by Lancer's insult before he glared at her. He wouldn't stand for being disrespected and insulted by his own servant. She needed to be reminded what the dynamic between master and servant was. With that, he pulled off his right glove, showing his command seals. They began to glow as he prepared to use one of them.

Sola-Ui, seeing how the situation was going south, decided to intervene before things could get worse.

"Both of you, stop this at once!"

The master and servant turned towards her, their little spat momentarily forgotten. Sola-Ui walked over to Kayneth and began to talk to him.

"Kayneth, you're acting like a complete child. We may not have received Diarmuid, but we at least have a servant. We don't know how strong she is, but whatever she did in life must have been impressive enough for her to ascend to the Throne of Heroes."

Kayneth pondered on his fiancée's words as the glow on his command seals began to fade away.

"Hm, I suppose you have a point," he said as he placed his glove back on. He then placed his hands behind his back as he addressed the two women.

"I shall retire for the night. Tomorrow we have the war ahead of us and have much planning to do. You better prove yourself in battle, Lancer."

With that, Kayneth went to his bedroom of the penthouse, closing the door behind him.

"What a dickhead," Lancer said as she scowled at the floor. Sola-Ui, on the other hand, let out a breath of relied, glad to have dodged a bullet. She then sat down in a chair and looked at Lancer.

"I apologize for my fiancée's behavior. We just weren't expecting you to be summoned," she explained, knowing that it would probably be best to get on Lancer's good side.

"Eh, it's alright. Just because I have to work with him doesn't mean that I have to like him."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Lancer?"

The Servant of the Spear then eyed the telephone next to Sola-Ui, and have off a smirk that showed a prominent fang.

"I'm kinda hungry. Mind if I order some room service?"

[Woods near Fuyuki City]

Waver Velvet fell flat to the ground, having completed the summoning ritual and summoned his servant. He came from a third generation magus family, and was looked down and mocked by his teachers and peers because of this. He had written a thesis that had stated that the newer generations of mage families could be just as powerful as the older ones. They could achieve it through hard work and perseverance rather than diligence. However, his teacher, Kayneth Archibald, had not only dismissed it but had publicly humiliated him by denouncing the thesis in front of his class.

However, his mood had changed when he was chosen to be one of the masters of the Fourth Holy Grail War. It was a contest where the power and skill of a mage mattered, not lineage, nobility, or meaningless fancy titles. Waver finally had a chance to prove Kayneth and those at the Clocktower wrong and show his worth. He stole Kayneth's catalyst, and immediately chartered a flight to Japan. When he arrived to the Land of the Rising Sun, he had hypnotized an elderly English couple into thinking he was their visiting grandson.

Waver went off to the middle of the night to summon his servant, using the blood of chickens to make a summoning circle. As he looked up through the clearing smoke, he was surprised at the servant he received.

Standing in the circle was a tall, statuesque woman who had a deadly, otherworldly beauty to her. She had pale white eyes, and long, magenta colored hair that seemed to float and flow. She wore steel gray armor, complete with a torn, magenta colored loincloth. Overall, her outfit reminded Waver of an armored version of a horse rider's gear. Kept on the right side of her waist was what liked the hilt of a weapon like a sword or mace. The hilt was wrapped in brown leather and had spikes at one end and a red jewel of another.

"So this was the world before the fall," the servant commented in a sultry sounding voice that had a hint of arrogance to hit. She then looked down at her master.

"You, there, boy. Are you the master who summoned me?"

"I-I am," Waver squeaked out as he showed the command seals on his hand. The servant gave a curt nod in response as she crossed her arms.

"Very well, our contract has been completed. I am servant Rider. I was not expecting to be summoned by someone like you, but I suppose beggers can't be choosers."

Waver narrowed his brow at the Servant of the Mount's comment, trying to discern if it was an insult. However, as thoughts were interrupted as Rider spoke again.

"We have a few days before the war officially begins. Take us back to your dwelling, boy. We have preparations to make."

"R-right," Waver said quickly as he led Rider along. He tried to look at the positives of his situation. While he didn't get Alexander the Great, he still got a servant, and, from the looks of her, she was rather powerful.

He began to wonder if he was the only master who got a different servant.

[Matou Manor, Fuyuki City]

Every single part of Kariya Matou's body was in excruciating pain. His hair had turned white and the crest worms scurrying under his skin aggravated him. He had undergone all of this to receive the Matou Family Crest to participate in the Holy Grail War. However, all of this pain and suffering would be worth it, if it meant he could save a little girl named Sakura.

She was one of the two daughters of Tokiomi Tohsaka, along with her sister Rin. However, this was a problem, as per Magud tradition, only one of them could receive the family crest and would have fight over it in order to receive it. The head of Tohsaka family had decided to give Sakura away to the Matou family, so her potential as a magus would not be squandered. Both of his daughters' future were secured, and he could go to bed at night with a clean conscience.

However, Kariya saw this as Tokiomi throwing his youngest to the wolves. He knew that Sakura was being tortured and violated by the Matou crest worms on a daily basis as a part of her "training". All under the eye of the decrepit, ancient head of the Matou family, Zouken. In the end, Kariya had agreed to be the Matou's representative in the Holy Grail War. He would give Zouken the Grail he desired so much, and in turn, Sakura would be set free and go back to his family.

He had spent an entire year going through hell. But it would be all worth it to see Sakura happy again. To see her smile.

To compensate for his skils as a mage, and to increase his slim chances of winning, Kariya had been selected to be the master of Berserker. The class was utterly powerful at the cost of its sanity and reasoning being taken away. Zouken had even provided Kariya with a catalyst, a piece of armor. With it, he would summon Lancelot of the Lake, one of the greatest knights in Arthurian legend.

However, the servant Kariya had summoned was not the Knight of the Lake.

Standing in the circle was a man who, from the looks of his attire, was obviously a warrior. He stood at 6'3", and appeared to be in his early 20's. However, it was honestly hard to tell, as he had an older, withered look that made him look older. He had a very muscular build, with short black hair that was in constant short spikes, and a patch of his hair was pure white. A scar ran across the bridge of his nose, and his right eye was gone, now being permanently lost. His remaining eye was brown and had a steely gaze to it. He gave off the aura that he had been fighting for most of his life.

He wore a black cape and hood, and underneath that was a set of black, fearsome looking armor. Across the armor's chestplate was a strap of throwing knives, and around his waist was a belt with various bags and pouches on it. Kariya assumed that they hold various items and supplies in them.

But there were two prominent things that stood out about the servant. The first was that the lower half of his left arm was missing, and in its place was a prosthetic arm that was made out of a knight's gauntlet. It honestly looked way too advanced for someone from the Medieval era.

However, the most noticeable thing on the man was his large sword kept on his back. However, to say that it was large was underselling it. The thing was massive. It was too large to be called a sword. It was massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. It was more akin to a heap of raw iron. The sword also have off an odd aura, as if it were in two worlds at once.

"I am the servant Berserker. I ask of you, are you my master," Berserker said in a low, dark tone.

"I am," Kariya said as he showed the command seals off the back of his hand.

"I'm impressed that a failure such as yourself managed to summon a servant, Kariya," Zouken cruelly commented, catching the attention of Berserker. The servant narrowed his eyes at the ancient magus, a look of disgust on his face.

"What the hell is that," the Servant of Madness commented, his good hand idly going for the handle of his sword. However, Kariya raised his hand to stop his servant.

"Don't even bother, Berserker. Let's just get the hell out of here."

Berserker grunted in response as he went into spirit form. As Kariya made his way up the steps, he heard his servants' thoughts through their link.

"Whatever the hell that thing with you was, I don't like him or trust him one bit."

Well, at least he and his servant could agree on one thing. Still, he wondered what this meant for the war to come.

A/N: And welcome to my latest fic, Fate/Redemption!

First off, I should explain my incredibly long absence when it has come to my fics. I do have plans to continue them, and have plans for them. However, while my creative drive is at its fullest, my urge to write has been rather low. I've spent most of my time with ideas in my head for the fics that I'm writing. However, I would usually spend most of the time staring at a blank word document.

But the main inspiration for this fic came from a Discord server that I run. Many of the writers there, including Rocker1600, King of Beasts, CleverPervertedPriest, and Evowizard25 are currently doing their own Fate multi-crossovers where a majority of the servants are replaced by characters from different anime, games, or other pieces of entertainment. A lot of these got their start or inspiration from The Infamous Man's Fate/Zero Sense. But the amount of these fics have died down in recent years, probably due to the hype of Zero Sense dying down (and everyone realizing that it was not a good fanfic). However, all of my friends were having fun with their's and I decided to get in on a piece of the action.

The next chapter will be featuring the summoning of Caster as well as a surprise servant. The next chapter won't be for awhile, because I have to get caught up on schoolwork, as well as work on my other fics such as White Wolf and Red Hood and Into the Great Wide Open. I'm also taking a trip to Vegas through the 5th to the 8th of October, so that'll also potentially delay the next chapter.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this beginning chapter, please favorite and follow in order to find out what happens next. And please leave a review telling me your thoughts, as well as guessing the identities of the new servants.

Until then, take care!