"Normal Talking"

"Thoughts"

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with Fate Stay Night or anything else created by Type-Moon.

Shirou won.

...

But at what cost?

He stumbled past the cold, dead body of Kotomine Kirei. His legs continue to screech horribly, the swords between his joints nearly ripped his arms and legs apart. He's in pain, all he wanted was to see Sakura again, to hold her in his arms. He could feel his mind breaking bit-by-bit down to the cellular level. His mind was only steel, everything was numb, every step felt like a mile, but nothing else seemed to matter at this moment.

It's all thanks to the white-haired girl standing before him.

"I—ya..." Shirou whispered out. He couldn't remember her, why was it so hard?

"You said an older brother protects his little sister, right?... I'm the older sister so I have to protect my younger brother." She said sadly.

Shirou's mind was in turmoil, he was digging through what was left of his mind until it hit him.

"I...llya...!" He remembered her name! Kiritsugu's real blood relative. The girl who was left alone because he came and stole him... a girl who has silver hair and red eyes, that's a bit older than him. Panic stuck Shirou so deeply, that he felt his very core shake with dread.

"Illya, Illya, Illya, Illya, ILLYA!" He screamed with the last of his breath, before falling to the unforgiving ground.

He couldn't reach her, he couldn't hear her voice anymore, he couldn't see anything in this light. But at that last moment it clears. He sees Illya turn and smile one last time goodbye, soon shutting the gate to the Great Holy Grail, ending this horrible nightmare, and giving her life to save the him and possibly the world...

That's how it should have happened.

Shirou grit his teeth, remembering his feeling of anger and regret. This is it?! This is how it ends?! No! Not for Emiya Shirou! With the last of his strength he mutters these last words. "I... I can't stop now, everyone still needs me!" His broken eyes, filled with a burning ember to keep pushing forward, look to the sky.

"I..." He raises his bloody arm and points it to the sky.

"I..." He clenches his hand into a strong fist.

"I will change FATE!" Darkness consumed his fading form.

Shirou was falling in a void, it was nothing but pure darkness, he couldn't feel, hear or see. It felt like an eternity until he finally hit something, it was cold and damp, eveything was silent, was he dead? He just wanted to drift off to sleep until he heard those familiar words.

"I am Servant... Saber." a voice declared in the darkness.

Shirou froze when he heard those words.

It's impossible! She was dead, he killed her.

Shirou slowly opened his eyes and he saw her again. The beautiful knight, her blue dress and shining armor, her emotionless face, her golden hair shaped into a perfect bun...

Arturia Pendragon, his Servant.

"Upon your summoning, I have come forth." She said calmly, he was actually happy hearing those words, he thought he was going crazy. "I ask of you: are you my Master?" She said.

Shirou is finally able to move again, he wordlessly nodded his head.

Saber looks down to the Command Seals on his left hand...wait his left hand? He finally noticed he has his arm! His own flesh and blood, not the tan and muscular arm wrapped with the Shroud of Martin to keep his influence away. But something was off. He still felt the constriction of the Shroud, yet it wasn't there. He still felt the slight pain and build-up of prana.

"Yes, you summoned me..." She said. "...and as a Saber, I answered your call. My sword will be at your side from here on forward. From now on, whatever fate you choose will be mine as well. The connection with us has now been set." As soon as she finished she stiffened and leaped out the door.

"Stop!" Shirou yells. Damn it! what the hell was going on?! He looks to the small red emblem on his hand and gives a small sigh.

"Heh... no rest for the weary, huh...?" He asked, knowing he would get no answer back, he moves to leave the shed.

Shirou runs out the door and witnessed the battle between two titans. There is a man in a blue skin tight suit with silver lines running through it, with large metal pauldrons He has short blue hair with a small pony tail, he also has piercing red eyes, the eyes of a powerful warrior.

But none of those mattered when he saw the crimson spear.

Its barbed tip.

Its unquenchable bloodlust.

Shirou didn't even notice he said. "Trace On..."

...

Judging the concept of creation.

Hypothesizing the basic structure.

Duplicating the composition material.

Imitating the skill of its making.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.

Reproducing the accumulated years.

Excelling every manufacturing process.

...

Shirou suddenly felt a weight in his hand he saw the same spear that man, no Cú Chulainn has.

The spear of the Irish Hero.

Gáe Bolg.

While Shirou was distracted with his new discovery, Saber and Lancer were clashing, Lancer with his lighting fast strikes and Saber blocking and parrying each tremendous strike. The ground cracked, the air shook. Everything else would have been obliterated if caught in their fight. Each swing her blade easily matched Lancer's, even if he were to attack at an impossible angle, she would calmly block and counter. He could barely see them, their movements were too fast for a normal human, they moved so fast that they created afterimages. Soon enough Lancer was forced to leap back with each of Saber's swings, quickly running forward, she gets close enough for a sideways slash aimed for his head, Lancer blocked with the shaft of his spear but from the strength of the hit, it causes him to be slowly pushed back. With a battle cry he pushes back Saber, causing her feet to slide against the floor. The two warriors stare each other down, ready to strike again.

"Tch!" Lancer growled. "Stop cheating! Using that invisible weapon!"

Saber responded by leaping toward Lancer and releasing sword swing, after sword swing, forcing him to continusly block each bladed strike and he once again leaps back. Lancer grimaced, each strike was strong, too strong for someone with such a small body, he had to finish this quickly.

"Tell me something Saber... that weapon, it's a sword right?" Lancer asked with a small grin.

Saber calmly stares at him. "It doesn't matter what it is, but it could be anything, an axe, a mace, or even a spear. But all that matters is that I will defeat you right here and now." Saber said.

Lancer was silent for a moment until he started to chuckle, his chuckles then turned into full blown laughter. The laughter grew louder and louder until he calmed down. "HA! HA! Ha! Ha, heh, heh, You? Defeat me? Don't make me laugh!" Lancer said.

Saber's calm eyes continue to stare at him. "You talk too much, if you are a Servant let your lance do the talking." Saber said coldly.

Lancer started to grin, a madman's grin. "Fine! If you want my lance, you can have IT!" The spear began to warp, and glow crimson red. Incredible power oozing off the barbed tip.

"Huh?!" Saber felt the build up of prana and stood ready, waiting for the attack. She didn't notice, but her movments were currently restricted by the spear, one of its abilities is able to constrict the mana in the air, and because she is a being comprised of mana... the situation is not going in Saber's favor.

Meanwhile Shirou finally noticed the build up of prana. "What amazing magical power!" Shirou said, he knew that much power could only mean one thing, Lancer's Noble Phantasm.

"What do I do?" Shirou mumbled. He definitely couldn't block that move, if he were to say, try running stupidly infront of Saber, Gáe Bolg's ability to "reverse the nature of casuality" wouldn't allow him to block the spear. Also, if Lancer were to turn his attention to Shirou in the slightest... he would be dead before he even moved.

Shirou was running out of ideas until what he needed was right there in his hands, Gáe Bolg. Shirou needed to be ready, he needed to have absolute concentration for this.

"Goodbye, Saber! It's been fun!" Lancer said. A bloodthirsty grin plastered on his face.

"GÁE!" Lancer shouted. This is it!

"GÁE!" Shirou said. Almost!

"BOLG!" Lancer threw the spear aimed for Saber's heart.

"BOLG!" Shirou roared, two crimson spears, one aimed to kill, the other to protect.

Just as Lancer's spear was in Saber's range, Shirou's own spear slammed into Lancer's. Usually, Lancer's very will is used to, "Throw the spear, or thrust the spear." Quickly leading to, "The heart being pierced." If he were to put his will to stop the ability of, "The lance was thrust, so the heart must have been pierced." He should be able to stop atleast the second part of the curse, since the spear has already been thrown.

But... the ability of "cause and effect" is a fickle thing to mess with. Shirou wasn't able to reverse the entirety of the curse. The twin spears met with one another. Shirou's spear soon shattered into tiny shards, then into dust, unable to withstand the force of meeting a real Noble Phantasm.

Lancer's spear was sent into the cloudless sky, spinning a couple of times in the air... until it returned to it's course and once again became a red streak in the sky. But, its trajectory was not aimed at Saber.

It was flying toward Shirou.

Now, Shirou was painfully reminded that he couldn't entirely rewrite the curse that Lancer sent out. He already took enough of a gamble with connecting the two spears hoping that when they connect, it would rewrite the "cause and effect" ability, and thankfully, it paid off.

Now the hard part came next. He certainly couldn't send the spear to pierce Saber, and he didn't think that inanimate objects, like the ground, or his house, would be strong enough to change it. So... he reworded it to, "The spear has been thrust, so Shirou must be stabbed." Or something, things got really fuzzy with the spear after that, so he had to hope for the best.

...Yes. Yes he knew it was stupid, very stupid. But it had to be done, he couldn't redirect the spear to attack Lancer, he would probably just dismiss the spear, and/or just rewritten the curse and attack Saber again. If he didn't do such a stupid tactic, Saber would have been critically injured, or worse, dead.

So, he just stood there, waiting for the damage to be dealt. He didn't move, he was probably already pierced by the crimson spear.

He didn't notice the spear pierce into his stomach. It was a strange thing really, he saw the crimson spear stab him in the gut, he saw the blood within his body spill out of the large wound.

But... he didn't feel any pain, it felt numb to say the least.

That's until he felt the horrible pain that came next. It felt like a thousand sharp needles were traveling along, and seemingly destroying his body. He didn't scream, the pain made him forget how to express it.

He fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, the only thing holding him up was the cursed spear, acting like a demented crutch. Saber was immediately shooken out of her stupor, and finally noticed the condition of her Master.

"Master!" She quickly ran to his side and quickly, but gently removed the jagged spear with a quick yank. Saber grimaced as she felt the jagged tips of the spear damage her Master more. She quickly helped him up and turned a lone eye to glare at Lancer's surprised face. "The name of that spear! He must be..." Saber concluded.

There was dead silence, the only thing that could be heard was Shirou's heavy, labored breathing.

"You..." Lancer is shaking in anger, until he abruptly stops. "You still alive, kid?" He asked out of curiosity. "Heh, not bad kid, not bad at all." Lancer looks at Saber. "You have a pretty good Master, he could be quite the challenge, if he had better training". Lancer turn's around and starts to walk away. Saber was about to charge forward, but remembered her Master's condition.

"You're running away?! Stop being a coward and fight!" Saber said, Lancer turns and smirks.

"Sorry, my cowardly Master told me to only observe, but I did get a good fight, your Master can be a scary guy with that high end projection magic..." Lancer frowns slightly, the brat was able to replicate his spear, granted it was not perfect but it was damn close. He felt his blood rush with excitement, so many Servants and so little time! He only hoped that his Master would let him fight in this damn war...

That reminded him, the bastard Archer, no matter how much he could crawl under his skin, was still such a great fighter. He looked at the red-haired boy. "Perhaps I misjudged the brat, I can only hope he lives long enough so I can fight him again..."

"See Ya!" He turns around and is about to leap away.

"Stop!" A different voice is heard, one that is still strong, only sounding slightly winded. He turned back to look at the red-haired boy, and is actually surprised to see his golden-brown eyes burning with such intensity, he felt that he should immediately respect him as a fellow warrior.

"When we meet again, Lancer. I would like to fight you again, no cheap tricks, no special abilities. We will only use raw, physical strength to see who comes out first!" Shirou declared. He didn't know why he said this, but it felt... right, it felt like what he was supposed to say to the Irish Hero of legend.

A different expression found its way of Lancer's face. His bloodthirsty grin, and murderous eyes softened. For an instant, he felt... complete admiration for his enemy. This era had proven quite disappointing, but the boy has proven himself to be a worthy huma-, no a fellow warrior.

"Heh, I like the way you think, kid! Remember, this is only a temporary retreat for now. Try to stay alive, until we can fight again!" He wordlessly leaps away with an excited grin on his face.

"I-I'm counting on it, Lancer..." Shirou thought to himself. He painfully shut his eyes, and nearly collapsed to the ground, until small, but strong hands grabbed him, and gently lowered him to the ground. He blinked his eyes and they slowly made their way up to Saber's.

There's an uncomfortable silence, both just staring at each other until Shirou breaks the silence... with the dumbest thing anyone could say, "So... how are you?"

Saber is looking at the strange boy with auburn hair and large golden-brown eyes. "That was incredibly stupid of you!" Saber scolded. "Don't you know what that spear does! More importantly, why did you interfere?! This was completely suicide, Master!"

She was this close to smacking him across the head with her metal gauntlet. She saw him flinch a couple of times. Good. It seemed that he atleast understood the stupidity of his action.

He pauses for a moment and carefully sat up, grunting a little from the pain.

Shirou speaks up moments later. "...I couldn't help it, you needed help and if I didn't step in you would have been injured, or worse!" Shirou yelled back.

Saber frowns, he didn't learn at all. "Be that as it may, you are Human and humans can't stand up to Servants. You would more of a hindrance than help, Master".

"Master? Servants? What is that anyway?" Shirou hopes he sounded convincing enough.

That seemed to curb her attention, Saber gained a look of surprise, and confusion. "You don't know of the Holy Grail War?" She waited for any clarification, but got none.

"...I see you really don't know anything do you?... Very well The Holy Grail War, it is a competition between 7 Masters, each searching for the Holy Grail, for their one true wish. Where their Servants humbly serve, protect and fight for their Master." She pointed her armored finger at Shirou's fallen form.

"You Master! You were chosen as one of the Masters to fight!" Shirou was silent, not by the information, but for something else. "Something's off, I don't remember this occurring before... what the hell is going on?"

Saber sees his silence as a way to continue. "Well Master?"

"Shirou." He finally said.

"What?"

"It's Shirou, call me Shirou."

Saber contemplates his words, she then smiles. "Shirou then, yes it sounds better that way." She said.

He sees her still waiting for his answer. "I won't stand on the sidelines, while you fight Saber." He sees her try to protest. "I know that there will be very strong opponents, some that might even be stronger than you, but I can't stand to see my new friend hurt protecting someone like me. I will run away and let you take over if the opponent is too strong."

She pauses for a moment and a small smile graces her face. "Yes I agree to these rules, but if the opponent is too strong you run, okay?"

Shirou smiles. "Okay."

Shirou notices her smile and he sees how beautiful she is, her features soften, her stance relaxes and her eyes are no longer cold and strict, but warm and kind. He shakes his head. "Why am I thinking of things like that...?"

Saber pauses and her stance soon turns rigid. "It seems that another Servant is approaching, stay here and recover, Master." She runs off at speed he could barely see.

"Wait! Saber!" Damn it, again?! Shirou needed to catch up. He needed to stop her, Shirou looks at his left arm, he didn't use the arm for 2 reasons. One, his own circuits were enough for the Noble Phantasm, if only barely, and Two, he didn't know how to get the 'Shroud' off his arm.

Shirou hears the sounds of clashing weaponry a distance away. Damn! He needed to do this now! He did what he was best at, Shirou used Structural Grasp on his arm and was startled at what he saw. He saw that the Shroud was still there and the same with that guy's arm. They were in a form of pure prana, his real arm was like a second skin, like a glove to a hand. Well that was a lot simpler than he thought. Shirou closed his eyes and visualized the Shroud as he 'Loosened the Cloth'.

Pain.

He felt the familiar pain start again, how it gives him a great boost of power. How it was killing him and helping him at the same time. How his influence was trying to rewrite and destroy his very soul.

Shirou grits his teeth he felt the swords under his skin digging out of his body. Slowly killing him from the inside out.

He would have to push on.

Shirou lifted himself off the ground, and used Reinforcement to strengthen his body to the max. The ground cracked when he took off, he was speeding along and finally saw Saber slash him across the chest, he then saw Rin call him back, but what surprised Shirou is that Saber charged at Rin, he saw her backpedal to try to get away. He only hoped that he could make it in time.

Shirou charged forward again, 'Loosening the Cloth' a little more. Calling upon more power. He was soon in front of Rin, ready to defend her. He traces a sword and pumped more prana into his arms and blocked Saber's swing.

He felt his arms groan under the pressure, the power behind that attack caused the ground to indent from the tremendous force. He felt his wound painfully, and uncomfortably grating together. To his annoyance, just from that slightly distracting thought, his arms bent even more, almost completely breaking his guard.

The nameless sword, no matter how ancient and powerful it was, started to chip and crack, just one more push and the sword would break. As suddenly as the attack happened it stopped as well. It seems that Saber didn't fully comprehend what happened, one second she was dealing with the other Master and the next she saw the blur of auburn hair and the clash of steel against steel.

"Master! Why would you defend her?! She's the enemy!" Saber shouted, how could her Master be so stupid!

Shirou didn't here anything, right now all he felt was pain, horrible pain, he felt his existence fading away. He dropped the nameless sword, it clattered uselessly on the ground until it shatters into dust.

Pain. Pain. Pain!

Rip it off!

Stop now!

Pull it back on!

You will die!

Shirou ignored the small voice and visualizes the Shroud and 'Tightens the Cloth'. Shirou breathing slowly calmed and he feels the swords recede back into his soul, back to him. The horrible pain now a dull ache. Shirou feels a warm hand touch his face, he opened his eyes and sees the worried face of Saber.

"Are you alright, Shirou?" She asks calmly, she could have sworn she saw something coming out of his neck.

Shirou smiles. "Yes I'm alright, the projection of Lancer's spear took a lot out of me, as well as blocking your sword, man you're really strong Saber!" He said with a smile.

He saw a slight blush on her face for the complement. "That was still reckless of you Master, but besides that, she is the enemy! Why would you protect her! She needs to be eliminated!"

"She's not... never mind that reminds me Saber... I want to add to the rules that we made before, I don't want you to kill any of the Masters in the war Saber, only if it's the last option. I want there to be little to no casualties, I don't want there to be meaningless death." Especially if she gets involved...

Saber looks at him for a moment and nods her head. He smiles even more, he felt a huge weigh lift off of him.

"By the way, Shirou. How is your wound?" She asked with slight worry.

"Hmm...? Don't worry about it, Saber. It doesn't hurt anymore." She didn't look convinced in the slightest.

"If it is fine, will you let me look at it, Shirou?" She asked.

"What? But I said it's fine, Saber." Shirou said stubbornly.

She grit her teeth in annoyance. "Let me see it, Shirou!" She yelled.

"No, Saber! I said it was fine!" He yelled back, really! If she was going to yell about something as unimportant as this, then he wasn't going to be quiet about it.

"Tch! Stubborn man!" Using her superior strength and speed she lifted his shirt, almost ripping it off in the process.

"Hey! Saber!" She ignored him as she watched his wound closely. It was... surprising to say the least. The large and jagged wound she expected to see, was only a small gash, a complete contrast to the deadly wound before. But why...?

She soon felt her hands quickly being pushed away.

"What the hell, Saber?! You don't do stuff like that!" She only looked away and huffed in response.

"How am I being unreasonable, Shirou? If you weren't so stubborn, I wouldn't have to go through such drastic measures."

"Well I-" He stops when he hears laughter behind him.

"Man, you two look like an old married couple." The voice said.

The third presence finally makes herself known. Saber immediately puts herself in-front of Shirou.

"Good evening Emiya-kun, I'll have to repay you for that." She said with a deathly calm voice.

He began to smile. "Hello... Tohsaka."

Author's Notes:

Hello! My name is G4MEFRE4K and I'm new here, well not new to this site, but new to writing, also sorry if the characters sound odd or weird but writing a story is new to me and I hope that you can help me out with this. If any of this sounds familiar I'm using references from the anime, manga, the visual novel and another great author named James D. Fawkes.

Shirou's Harem:

Arturia

Rider

Sakura

Rin

Illya

(Who knows? Maybe more will come!)

Well hope to see you in the next chapter, Bye!