As his first act in the Fifth Holy Grail War, Shirou took a taxi home. While he should've registered with the overseer, he felt drained in terms of emotion and Prana. He simply wanted to make dinner, talk with his family and newest additions to their alliance, and sleep for a good seven hours.

While he couldn't see her in her astralized form, the pure energy bouncing off Saber gave a sense of youthful awe. He couldn't blame her. For most of her life, the girl lived on a medieval farm. Instead of the occasional carriage, Fuyuki overflowed with bustling vehicles. Rather than the stench of manure and the earthy aroma of a fall harvest, the sharp tinge of the city lofted to her nose. In place of rolling hills, she saw towering buildings.

Since he summoned her without catalyst, did that make him this adorably naive?

She asked him question after question which he responded to by nodding his head a yes or no. It would confuse the cab driver if his passenger spoke to himself muttering words like "My favorite color is purple" and "I'm more of a morning person". She moved to this form of questions after he explained Illya and his alliance's overall strategy.

Still, Saber learned a great deal about him with things that mattered little. She asked the type of questions two young strangers would ask each other in order to become friends, and he enjoyed that fact. Unless Saber wished to remain in this world and ended up winning the Grail War, something he feared wouldn't occur due to her less than stellar abilities, he'd only know her for a couple of weeks at most before she died.

The cab stopped. Shirou paid the man in full and thanked him for his time. Then, he stepped out of the car and walked to his front door.

"I sense two Heroic Spirits, Shirou," she spoke. A moment later, the girl materialized next to him wearing a white dress that seemed intentionally reminiscent of a lily. From her sword's history, he knew Merlin suggested the feminine attire. Shirou decided to give the girl some more clothes to choose from along with some shoes. Sakura, Tohsaka, and even Taiga all mentioned how much heels could hurt the ankles. His new friend needed tennis shoes. "I can't wait to meet them!" she exclaimed, her smile glued to her face.

"Me too," Shirou noted as he opened the front door, then he let out a startled grunt. A warm body crashed into his own, and she seemed worried. After shifting his footing to keep from stumbling, he asked his girlfriend, "What can I do?"

Sakura held onto his form for several seconds, and he patted her back. Anything could happen during a Grail War, and he anticipated several instances where Sakura might want assurance through simple human contact. He'd expect Tohsaka to as well, but the girl proved too… Tohsaka-y to ask for such reassurance.

"You were gone for so long!" Oh, he caused the problem. "And when there were three summons today, I thought you might've been killed or captured or…" She backed away from him and wiped away her tears. Giving a smile, she said, "I'm just glad we're all safe."

He nodded. "I am too." Scratching the back of his head, the sword user noted, "But I was actually captured." He grimaced. "Sorry about that, but the Einzbern master wanted to know me a bit. On the bright side, I have a sister now."

Sakura merely stared at him, a certain look he found females could produce that terrified an aspect of the male subconscious.

Fortunately for him, Tohsaka came to his rescue by walking towards them. Her eyes had a haunted glint, like the rare moments where Sakura talked about her abuse. Was her servant terrifying? "Emiya, Sakura. Now that we're all together, let's talk with the whole team." Her shoulders slumped. "I think we all have a lot to discuss."

Saber liked the two girls. She met them seconds ago nor had they even had a proper introduction; however, both seemed like pleasant company. More importantly, both needed some help.

She followed after her master into the magus' house. While not a magus herself, the girl spent years under Merlin's tutelage. She could sense a warded building without even trying. Oh! Maybe Merlin could be summoned in this war too. That'd be fun, especially if she could whack him a few times with her sword, fists, or any nearby projectiles.

Nevertheless, she focused enough on the two other spirits to defend Shirou if needed. While she trusted the girls, heroes can be quite fickle, like Merlin!

They stopped at an odd table, one for eating in this country, because it didn't have any chairs. The other servants sat on their knees and sipped tea. One looked younger than herself when she pulled out Caliburn. The girl wore a black cloak that covered most of her body, but what little she could see appeared adorable. Plus, she had purple hair, which made her look like a little fairy.

The other hero choked on then spat out his tea the moment he laid eyes on her… Grey, beautiful eyes… Shaking her head to focus on the situation, she gave a true smile and courtsied for her two new fighting companions. "Hi! I'm Saber."

Wiping his mouth with a chiseled and manly arm, the male servant grumbled, "This damned war makes no sense." Waiting for the three masters to sit, he continued, "Since I have a sinking feeling that all of the other servants will be terrifying, I think we should ignore the normal secrecy and be perfectly upfront with each other. Any objections?"

No one did.

"Since my whole explanation and identity will lead to a few long tangents, I'll save that for last. For the next few minutes, just accept I have a Reality Marble and have used that to remember bits and pieces of similar alternate reality wars. Let's start with the enemies. What do we know about any other masters?"

A Reality Marble?! She never met someone with one of those before, not even Merlin had one! That was awesome.

The little girl servant set down her cup of tea and drew back her hood. Why was such a young child, even younger than herself, in a war? "I found Shinji and probably Zouken living in the Matou mansion today. Shinji is a master yet to summon a servant."

Saber noted the varying looks of rage, fear, and disgust rolling around the room at the mention of those names. Even the male servant had a hardening of his demeanor. That master must be a bad person of some sort.

The girl continued, "Shinji seemed to suggest that Sakura won't be killed if we kill him." Saber definitely had a few things to learn about her new allies. This situation seemed confusing and tragic. "That is all."

Shirou cleared his throat. "The Einzbern master confronted me on my way home. I'm fairly certain her Od dwarfs all of us combined due to what she displayed. She's the daughter of the fourth war's lesser grail and my father." With that revelation, Tohsaka, who Saber concluded to be based off Shirou's description, made a choking noise. Sakura seemed confused.

"She's about eighteen but looks eight. The reason for the Einzerbern family slaughter seemed to be from a mixture between experimentation and torture to create the perfect master and lesser grail. I never saw her servant, but she had several more than the two homunculi I saw with her. I think her personality is… an angry Sakura but with a magus' perspective? She captured me because she wanted to know if I was a bad person who stole her father. She let me go after I summoned Saber." He shrugged. "I don't think she'll kill any of us unless she has to. She wants the Grail since her body is dying from all the modifications. I'd like to save her."

Tohsaka pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "Only you would want to save your kidnapper."

Saber raised her hand. "Um…" The handsome servant motioned for her to go on. "Illya knows my name."

The man nodded. "The Einzbern master summoned the King of Knights during the last war, Princess."

She huffed and most certainly did not blush. "I'm not a princess! I'm a knight in training, Artoria Pendragon and Saber. My parameters are also horrible for a Saber." She dropped her gaze. "Sorry."

"Avenger," said the adorable ally. Also, they had a special class on their team? Neat! "Like an assassin-rider hybrid. Gorgon. Call me Ana." A flood of knowledge from the Grail entered her mind, all of which pertained to the anti-hero in question. Saber quickly concluded that staying on Ana's good side will significantly increase her chances of survival. She also concluded that Ana needed many hugs.

"I'm almost certain the Einzbern master summoned an Archer Heracles," spoke the still unnamed hero. Also, holy shit. That was terrifying. "Though, in the other wars, she summoned him as a Berserker, which hindered her. Heracles won his battles more through cunning than his overwhelming strength. I'm Caster this time, so I expect Medea to not be summoned. The witch summoned her own Assassin as well, so I'm assuming that was the class Ana replaced. Cu Chulainn will probably be summoned as well. I'm uncertain about the final servant."

Saber scratched her head. "And who are you?"

"EMIYA," muttered Ana.

"Yes?" her master replied.

Caster chuckled, a dry and sarcastic droll. "I come from a reality where I never made personal connections to those around me, something you've already accomplished, Emiya." He sounded like a lonely knight… like what I will become.

"I'm Counter Guardian EMIYA."

Mirrors were illusions masked under the guise of truth. Right was left and left was right. It failed to even show how one currently looked, instead showing how a person looked milliseconds before. Emiya gazed into a reversed mirror, one that showed him in the future. He saw a future of death and fire, a full circle from his past.

Sakura was the first to speak. "And my Emiya isn't you?" she asked. Her eyes shifted from one Shirou to the other.

He nodded. "I can't say the idiot won't become a Counter Guardian, but we don't share the same fate."

Ana cleared her throat. "Battlefield intelligence."

EMIYA smirked. "Yeah, I can recall the three other wars I was in. Oh, and one other thing. Kirie Kotomine still has Archer from the previous war. Gilgamesh is kept alive by the bodies of all the other children orphaned from the Great Fire."

It was at that point Saber broke into tears, Sakura almost seemed to glow with a dark hatred, Ana closed her eyes, Shirou resolved to free the orphans, and Rin held back vomiting on the floor.

The fake priest was a fake priest.

EMIYA decided the children needed the rest of the day off. After all, dull sword was nothing but a long mettle stick.

Ana sensed the magic around her like a snake's tongue. Prana ebbed and flowed. Her years of hunting heightened her sense beyond that of a normal magus or even the minor gods. She knew the exact time her master and her boyfriend stopped their… nightly dalliance in the bedroom. Rin's soft signature meandered from the girl's procured bedroom in the rapidly glowing household. The astral Saber existed meters from their masters, most likely red-faced but unwilling to stop guarding the door due to a knight's honor. Ironic. Most servants would attack from any direction but the door.

Lastly, she entered the physical plane in the kitchen, where Castor toiled. Shirou used cooking as an outlet, living around the boy for months taught her that much, so she suspected EMIYA kept that habit over millennia. Or, maybe the Counter Force didn't grace him with a kitchen, and he just wanted to indulge an old pastime. In the end, it didn't matter. Words needed to be spoken, and the food smelled good.

He didn't bother to look up. In fact, he stirred without hiccup, but his words held a resigned passivity. "And that was six."

She remained motionless. No use gestured when the other had his back turned. "In Europe."

His shoulders rolled with a shrug. "Too far away to be Shinji with everyone else accounted for. Probably the idiot who got killed by Medea in my timeline. Since I took her only class, he must've spent the past hours scrambling for another catalyst. The one we felt earlier must've been Cu. His master did the ritual in Japan last time, got her arm chopped off because of it."

"Thoughts?"

"Probably a British servant because he summoned there last time. Probably an asshole to match the master's personality. I don't see him going for a Berserker, so I'm guessing Rider or Assassin, whichever slot you didn't take."

He poured the battered eggs on a frying pan. Sizzling bacon already lied there, but the eggs will add a decent touch. She had no idea why he had a milk carton sitting out without a glass to pour it in.

"Shirou doesn't cook that way."

This time, EMIYA paused. Shirou specialized in Japanese cuisine. Rin, Chinese. Sakura, European. "I never saved her." His words came out like a murmuring stream, but it failed to hide the jagged rocks below. "I said goodbye and went off to the Clock Tower with Rin. She was happy for me. I sent her a card while I was in the Amazon, offering condolences for her grandfather's untimely death. The old man has just a couple years before his soul shatters under the strain. She said not to worry because her brother was taking care of her. They both outlived me."

Ana tilted her head, processing the personal information. She decided on truth rather than a pretty lie. "In a hero's legend, most women fall into three categories. Monster. Wife. Victim."

He flipped over the eggs as fluid became solid. "Reality doesn't fit into nice boxes or conceptual dreams. It simply does what it pleases and disregards our preconceived notions. Your Sakura is already wife and victim, and innocence is too common a casualty in war."

"I'm already a monster, and I'll do so again to let a blossom produce unblemished fruit."

EMIYA turned off the heat and scooped the eggs and bacon onto two plates, perfectly portioned as if planned. "Milk added to eggs helps their fluff," he mumbled before giving a small smirk. "Care for a midnight snack, little monster?"

She crossed her arms in anger. "I'm the only real adult." Her stomach growled. "But eating food alleviates Sakura's strain."

Heracles read while his master slept. Every day, he learned more about this future era and their constant improvements on warcraft. How easy would it have been to slay Hydra with a Tomahawk missile? After the Age of Gods, mankind still strove for power, just as technological wizards instead of the normal kind. He chuckled.

Truly, the girl's father had the right idea during the Forth War. Battles were meant to be won, not tales of shiny knights. Despite the irony of arguably the most famous of legendary heroes, he didn't agree with the principle. Killing and murder disgusted him, as it should to any warrior. To enjoy bloodshed… to lose oneself to bloodlust…

He set his book down and shut his eyes tightly. Illya wouldn't want to see him cry.

He lost himself to madness in his life, with both himself and others to blame. Either war, the cause mattered less than the result. People died. He killed his wife, son, and daughter. His legend personified battle, both the cunning hero and the berserk killer.

How grateful he felt to be an Archer rather than a Berserker.

Reopening his eyes, a calming wave washed over him at the sight of his tiny Master. She rolled onto her side, her hair a tangled mess covering her face. Away were her feelings of loss and fury in her moments of rest. Here, Illya was a sleeping girl, nothing more or less.

A certain girl stepped off a certain plane into a certain city. The city went by the title London. The plane existed outside public knowledge but had the highest privilege, for it ferried important Church members from one place to another when shit hit the fan. The girl was born under one name yet went by Caren Hortensia these days.

She sighed, for she wanted to finish the sixth chapter. Upon hearing her newest mission, even though the evil spirit was still at large, she left Greece immediately. At this point, shouldn't the Church just re-title her as "All Things Heroic Spirit"? While she trusted the Lord in all His ways, humanity was a fallen creature, so even the most pious could be blasted idiots. Tucking a worn bookmark into Revelation, she tucked her pocket-sized Bible in her left pocket. Ahead of her, she saw a Magus Lord with long, flowing hair scrambling towards her. He looked genuinely worried and understandably terrified.

"Lord," she prayed in the final moments before her newest duty called her to action, "Give me the strength to follow your will." Tilting her head back and forth, she decided a confession might be in order too. "Also, forgive me of my arrogance. I took Rin's friendship for granted. Clearly, she must be a wise woman indeed, because how else could Atrum Galliasta not only lose his tongue, but also get kidnapped by his own Heroic Spirit?"

Author's Notes: This is neither abandoned nor forgotten. Instead, I've been almost entirely without internet for almost two months now. I live in quite a rural area, so I rely on my phone for hot-spotting my internet. Unfortunately, my phone sorta... stabbed itself in the heart like Lancers often do. Why not get a new phone? I have an unfortunate combination of being poor and too lazy to pester my service provider into giving me a free one. I'll try to get onto my old publishing schedule now that I fired up an old computer that never seems to loose its Word07.

And sorry for all the different POVs here. This chapter was very much a bridge, and I don't think anyone wanted to read about EMIYA saying what happened in the previous alt-Fifth Wars. Archer Heracles, regardless of his physical abilities, knows the best weapon in these kinds of wars is the mind. Saber Lily is a little girl doing her best to wear a knight's shoes but also knows she's the weakest by far. Caren knows she's about to reenact Daniel and the Lion's Den.

Up next, registering with Kirei and an actual fight.

Thanks for all of your favs, follows, and reviews!