Okay, so this is my first fanfiction I'm ever writing, so please bear with me. I've been reading fanfiction for a long time now, so now it's my turn to make something. I have like 20 different stories going on at once in my head, so I'm going to start with one that I am the most confidant people will like (and my ability to write something good).

Without further ado… let the story commence!

A New Fate

It was a normal day in the city of Fuyuki. The citizens are finally starting to relax after the strange happenings that occurred last year. It was not the first time this city has been the epicenter for major disasters. Some believed that the land was cursed, seeing how these events have occurred once every sixty years. Most people dismissed that as superstition, and pointing out that the most recent events occurred ten years after the last major disaster that plagued the city.

The Fuyuki Fire.

A fire that consumed a large part of the city, taking the lives of hundreds of people. Within the fire was a boy, no older than five, but younger than ten. He had to throw away everything in order to keep himself alive. With every step he took, he threw away another memory. With every burning corpse he passed, another emotion died within him. He kept walking through the cursed flames until nothing left was within him. His heart. Before his heart finally gave in to the fire, a miracle occurred. A man, whose very heart was filled with darkness from the deeds he has committed in his life, came across the boy. The tiny speck of light in his heart that was almost extinguished, shone brightly once again when he laid his eyes upon the boy. Acting quickly, he took out the sheath that he put inside his body and put it inside the boy. That sheath's name was called Avalon; the sheath used by King Arthur and was said to have made the king immortal when he possessed it. Now the sheath is inside the boy, and healing him. The man was happy, he truly saved a life. He started smiling and crying tears of joy when he was looking down upon the boy. Before the boy lost consciousness, he looked up at the man and thought to himself,

'I wish I can smile like that.'

Little did the boy know, he would someday smile like that, only after learning the truth about the fire he died and was reborn in.

The Holy Grail War.

A battle royal between magi for the ultimate prize, the Holy Grail. A magical device connected to the Akasha Records, being able to grant one omniscient wish. It was this war that caused the disasters that happened in the city. It was this war in which Emiya Shirou learned the truth about many things. He learned more about the moonlit world thanks to the Second Owner, Tohsaka Rin. She also helped him by teaching (screaming at) him how to use the twenty-seven magic circuits he had instead of turning his spinal cord into one. He learned about how the Fuyuki Fire was the aftermath of the last war, and that his father was the cause of it. However, the two most startling things he learned involved the girl whom he realized that he loved.

Matou Sakura.

A very sweet girl who came by every morning to have breakfast with him and Fuji-nee. A girl who looked up to him not only because he was her sempai, but because she has feelings for him. Feelings that can be manipulated by her "grandfather". A monster that was once a man who wishes for immortality. He used Sakura as a way to further his craft by having her violated by worm familiars. Even her step-brother abused her almost every day. When Shirou found this out, as well as learning that Sakura and Rin are actually biological sisters, he wanted nothing more than to kill his "best friend" and that walking corpse. However, someone beat him to it; Sakura herself. Yet, it was not Sakura who did this. It was the darkness that corrupted the grail. Some of the worms that were implanted in her were infused with pieces of the corrupted grail. A shadow was unleashed in the city, devouring the summoned servants so that the grail can be manifested.

When Shirou finally encountered Sakura, she was almost barely recognizable. In the end Shirou had a choice; to kill Sakura and keep his ideal, or abandon his ideal in order to save the girl he loves.

The answer was obvious.

Using the grafted arm of his future counterpart who was summoned as Archer, he saved Sakura before the strain of using the arm killed him. Before his soul moved on to the next world, Illyasviel von Einzbern came in to save Shirou by sacrificing herself so that her "onii-chan" can live. In the end, the only survivors were Shirou, Rin, Sakura, and Rider.

He dreamt that he was falling. Not falling like, "Oh My God! I'm Going To Die!", but more like gently floating down. As he looked down he saw he was standing on some sort of pillar. Decorated in some sort of stain glass representation of him and the people he knows. The background was an endless hill of swords stuck in the ground with smog and rusted gears in the sky. In circles that are going around the circumference of the pillar are circles depicting his father Kiritsugu, Illya, Tiaga, Issei, Rin, and Sakura. Those six make-up the top half of the portraits. The bottom half depicts the servants that were summoned for the war; including both Assassins and Gilgamesh. The only Servant not depicted was Archer.

That is because Archer is taking up a large portion of the picture in the center of the pillar. His eyes are closed and his back is against another person. The other person being himself, in the same position as Archer. Both of them are holding Kanshou and Bakuya respectively.

Before Shirou can ponder more about the picture in front of him, three bright flashes of light obscure his vision. When the light subsides, he looks to see three pillars; each holding an item. The one on the left is a black shield with a red outline on it. It also bears a strange insignia consisting of three circles. Two small and one large, giving it the illusion of a head with large ears. The middle one has a sword with a golden hilt with blue wrappings on the grip. It too has the same insignia of the shield on the hilt. Finally on the right is a staff. The base reminds him of a leek due to its coloration. It has a brown divider between the actual staff and the crystal on top of it. The crystal is a pale blue in the shape of the strange insignia he seen on the sword and shield.

"What the heck is going on?" Shirou said out-loud, not understanding what is happening to him. "I remember falling asleep after having dinner with everybody, so this must mean…"

"Hello there."

Shirou then jumps and looks around to find the source of the voice he just heard.

"Do not be afraid. I am here to get you started on your journey."

The "voice" speaking to Shirou did seem to calm him down after that last sentence. But what's weird is how it is "speaking" to him. He cannot hear an actual voice, but it's if he can "hear" the words it is saying. Not even his own reasoning is helping him to understand what is going on.

With a headache that he started to give himself, he asks again on what is happening. "Who are you? Where are you? Where am I? What is going on?" Shirou asks, with each question starting to sound more desperate.

"You do know who I am, but you never met me before, you also have a vague idea as to where I am. But those are not important now. What is important is you."

"Me? What is so important about me?"

"Do not sell yourself short, you have accomplished many things that would be too much for most people. You have a strong Heart, which is where you are right now."

"This… is my Heart? Then why am I here?"

"As I said before, you are about to start another journey. One that affects both you and the ones you care about." Before Shirou questions the voice again, it continues. "I must also let you know that I wanted to start this earlier with you, but there was a part of your Heart that I needed to fix." Shirou than tilts his head towards the side, not understanding what the voice just said. "Now that we can begin, I ask of you to choose one of the three items in front of you."

Giving up on getting answers he can understand, Shirou then decides to go along with this pretty strange dream. Looking over the items in front of him, he starts thinking. 'A sword, something that I would have no doubt have picked if I still kept my ideals. A staff, that thing might be a powerful Mystic Code that Rin would do almost anything just to get her hands on it. I'm not a powerful magus like Rin, so that would be little use for me. Finally, a shield. Something used to protect. Protect things like your friends, family, and lovers…' With his mind set, Shirou walks towards the shield and picks it up.

When he grabs the shield, the others disappeared in flashes of light. Now armed with the shield, Shirou does one of the two spells he can use without the fear of Archer's arm hurting him; or the wrath of Sakura.

Trace On

Using Structural Analysis, Shirou can tell that the shield in his hands is extremely powerful. While he cannot determine most of the materials used to craft the shield, he knows that the thing will not break under normal circumstances. It also seems to be imbued with light, and not holy light like what the Church uses, but pure light. Shirou sees no need to Reinforce the shield due to its extreme durability, besides since he does not understand most of the materials; so he might accidently damage it.

Now, why would he think that he might have to use Reinforcement on the shield, because-

"Watch out!"

With a quick spin, Shirou essentially back-handed his would-be assailant with his shield. Looking at his attacker, Shirou raises an eyebrow at the creature's appearance. It was completely black, save for its beady yellow eyes. It has two antenna on the top of its head, and stands as tall as his shins. It could almost pass-off as some kind of cutesy ant-like creature if it did not have sharp claws, and currently trying to kill him. "What the heck is that thing?" Immediately more of these… Shadows, started forming from the ground and all of them were looking at him. "All-right, bring it on! I bet you can't hit harder than Fuji-nee!" As if the taunt actually worked, all the creatures starting rushing Shirou. They were, in Shirou's opinion, easy to handle. The Shadows were pretty mindless, did not hurt that hard, and the only advantage they have is their numbers.

It took Shirou no time at all to finish them off, especially since he faced off against much stronger opponents in the past. Even though he was using only a shield to dispose of them, it did do some decent damage to them. Maybe it had to do with the shield's Light affinity. It would make sense considering that even he can determine that these were creatures of Darkness due to their "smell". "Now, how do I get out of here?" As if answering his question, a double door flashed into existence. "Well, that answers that question." Opening the door and stepping through, Shirou finds himself on the same stain glass pillar again; the only difference is the main color scheme of it. In the distance are a few other pillars, connected by floating pathways of stain glass panels. Unsurprisingly, each pillar had a handful of the Shadows that needed to be dispatched of, but what was surprising was what he found on the last two pillars. Each had a treasure chest on them that opened when he tapped them with his shield. Inside each was what appeared to be a potion of some sorts. They were both the exact same, most likely made by the same person, maybe he should save at least one for Rin to study. Wait a second, this is a dream, or was this his Heart? It does not matter in the end, he will use them if he needs to. Even if he had one left, there would be no way of him to suddenly wake up with a potion in his pocket.

With that last train of thought, Shirou walked through the double doors at the top of the last pillar to see that, once again, he is on a pillar similar to the first one he found himself on. "Seriously? Dream, Heart, whatever. Can't I have something else to stand on?" Looking around to see if there is an exit, Shirou notices that his shadow looks elongated. And coming off the ground. And changing its shape to a giant with a heart-shaped hole in his torso. At this moment, Shirou can only say one thing, "Curse my E-Ranked Luck." Dodging a punch that he saw coming a mile away, Shirou focused and was looking for any vulnerable spots to strike. 'I'm not going to do much damage with this shield, maybe I should take a risk… NO! YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT KILLING YOURSELF!' As he was going through his internal debate, Shirou almost missed the hand swipe coming towards him, almost. 'Okay, it mainly uses its hands to attack me. They also look like they can hit hard, but not take a hit themselve's. My other best option to target is the head.' With his game plan in his head, or what he counts as a decent plan, Shirou continuously dodges and attacks the hands of the giant in front of him. The giant was not a one-trick poney, and surprised Shirou by slamming its fist into the ground in order to summon the Shadows again. Shirou ignored them because it left the giant wide open for its head to be attacked. Running up its arm, Shirou put all his weight into a powerful shield-bash. With the Reinforcement Shirou did to himself before the battle started, the bash actually toppled the giant over. Even though he was falling, Shirou took advantage of his free-fall in order to perform another shield-bash to the giant. However, before he could recover in time, the Shadows that he left alone swarmed him and got a decent number of shots on him.

Biting back the pain all the Shadows are causing him, Shirou does a full swing with his shield to bat away all of them; killing all of them in the process. He quickly runs as far as he can from the giant in order to catch his breath. Pulling out one of the potions, he opens it up and downs the liquid in the bottle. To his surprise, the potion tasted really good. Rin always told him that a majority of magical potions were the most awful tasting things in the world, and that it was impossible to alter the taste without ruining the actual effect of the potion. Shirou broke out of his musings when he noticed that the giant was getting back up, but stopped when it was on its knees. The giant then crossed its arms across its chest, and appeared to be charging up an attack. Preparing himself, Shirou positioned his shield for what appeared to be what looked like the giant's most powerful attack.

When the giant finished, a bunch of spheres of darkness launched out of its chest and started homing in on Shirou. Steeling himself, Shirou tightened his hold on the shield and felt each blast push him back a bit. 'I need a way to stop this onslaught. Wait a minute, maybe I can deflect the shot back at it!' Waiting for the most opportune time to test this out, Shirou bashed one of the shots towards the giant's head. Shirou did not look to see if the shot hit its mark, or actually hurt the giant. Once he knew that he could redirect the shots, he kept doing so until his arms started to burn. Speaking of burning, so did his circuits. He kept them activated the entire time once he started fighting the first Shadow, and now he is feeling the strain. 'Damn ,I guess that potion was only good for healing wounds, not easing the strain of using magic circuits.' Luckily, it seemed that the giant was finished off by its own attack. Unluckily, the giant started to fall on top of Shirou. "Aw crap!" Shouting out his curse and ducking behind his shield, Shirou awaited for the giant to crush him.

Darkness. That is the only thing coming both to his body, mind, and Heart. Desperately hoping for some sort of Light to find him. The last thing he saw in his mind's eye was her smile…

"Shirou, wake up please…"

He was hearing a soft, kind voice from the darkness drawing him from unconsciousness. Opening his eyes, he sees a beautiful girl smiling fondly at him. She has shoulder-length purple hair that seemed to have dark brown hair coming from the roots. Her eyes were also purple and starting to look like they were gradually shifting to an ocean blue. She was wearing a pink long-sleeved shirt over top of a white shirt. She was also wearing a long cream colored skirt. She also had a red ribbon tied on the left side of her hair.

"Good morning Sakura." Shirou greeted his girlfriend. "Did I sleep in again?"

Giving another soft smile at him, she replied, "Yes you did. I made breakfast while you were sleeping."

Some guys may feel touched that their girlfriend made them breakfast while they were asleep, they were not like Emiya Shirou. "Sakura, you didn't have to do that. You know how much I like cooking for you guys." You guys, meaning Sakura, Rin, Rider, and of course Taiga. Speaking of which, "I don't hear the rapid clacking of chopsticks. Is Fuji-nee not here?"

"No, she said she was going to be a little late. Something about an old rival challenging her to a duel." The couple then looked at each other and gave a quick prayer to whoever the wielder of that cursed shinai was facing.

"Well anyway, you should have woken me up sooner." It was already getting close to nine-thirty in the morning, and Shirou hated sleeping in.

"I was going to, but you seemed like you were having a bad dream. I was not sure whether to wake you up or not." A dream, he didn't dream last night- wait! Last night he did dream of fighting shadow monsters and a giant with just a shield! It all felt so real. The voice, the monsters and how they hurt him, the po-

Suddenly becoming stiff as he was gathering his clothes to change into after his bath, Shirou felt something in his pants pocket. He slowly pulled it out, ignoring Sakura's concerned look for the moment to see the object in his hand. It was the same potion he obtained in his dream. He remembered getting two of them, but only using the one.

"Shirou, what's wrong? What is that?" Softening his face, he looks towards Sakura and tries to ease her.

"Sorry if I'm worrying you. I have a faint idea what this is, and I will tell you, Rin, and Rider about this. Just let me get ready first." While still looking concerned, Sakura gives a short nod. Leaving the room in order to tell her sister and Servant about what might be a problem. Quickly doing his morning rituals, Shirou enters the dining room dressed in a pair of jeans, and a white V-neck shirt with the neckline black. He is wearing his jacket, that has the shoulders and sleeves black while the rest is white, over the shirt and unzipped. He looks around to make sure that the excitable tiger isn't around due to the possible magical situation that is happening.

Sitting down next to Sakura, Rin is the first one to break the silence. "What seems to be the problem Shirou?" Rin is dressed in her red sweater with the white embroider cross on the chest, and wearing a black skirt and stockings.

"I am not too sure what is going on myself, so I best start from the beginning." Going over a brief summary of his dream last night to the three girls while they ate, each gives him a different look. Rin, being the expert magus she is, is thinking over what he said to her. However, for some reason when he mentioned the Mystic Code staff to her, he could not help but hear her mumble something about rubies. She was also currently looking over the potion that somehow materialized in the real world. Sakura was looking both frightened and relieved at the same time. Frightened, most likely due to the creatures he had fought, but relieved because he did not use that. Even if it was a dream in the end, Sakura did not like Shirou using it. Rider was giving him an even stare, but did hold some concern for him due to his relationship with her Master. Rider is a striking beauty with long, flowing purple hair. She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and blue-jeans. She had a pair of glasses on her face. A fact only known in the room is that she is the Gorgon Queen herself, Medusa. But to everyone else, she is the sexy librarian from Greece who has a thing for motorcycles.

"I would not believe what your telling me, but the proof is right in my hands." Rin was still giving the potion a look over. "You said that this thing instantly healed all your wounds?"

"Yeah, it even tasted pretty good. Not like what you told me."

"Well, I did say most potions Emiya, but this one looks like it was made of some pretty complex materials. I need to take this home for further study." Rin said as she pocketed it without asking Shirou's permission to do so. Sakura being the only one to notice this.

"Nee-san, you should have asked Shirou first before you take something." Giving a small pout to her older sister. Giving Rin a slight flinch at such a stare.

"It's okay Sakura, I was going to give it to Rin anyways." Earning a small, triumphant smile from Rin. Rider, meanwhile giving a slight chuckle at the sisters little argument. Shirou then grabbed the remote to the television to see what was on the news.

"-ust in. Appearances of strange, shadow like creatures have been spotted all over the world!" The room suddenly fell into complete silence as they looked over to the increasingly distressed anchor. "Nobody knows what they are and where they came from. All we know is that they can appear from absolutely nowhere and attack people on sight. We go live to one of the scenes with one of our reporters." It then cuts to a woman in a helicopter over some highway. "Thank you, we are now live at one of the highways outside the city of Fuyuki .Below, you can see the creatures attacking whoever they see. The creatures seem to come in all shapes and sizes, and some appear to be wearing some sort of emblem- WATCH OUT!" As the reporter shouted the camera turned to see one of the shadow creatures, one that look like a large tower, shoot lightning at the helicopter. The camera goes to static before cutting back to the news room. The anchor now has a shocked look on his face and was not snapped out of it until he was handed a piece of paper from a stage-hand. In the top right corner of the screen is the supposed emblem of the creatures. The emblem is a black heart with three spikes forming the bottom. It was a red outline and crisscross in the center of it. "In- in other news, unconfirmed reports of people displaying magical powers have been spotted all over the world as well-"

Shirou shut off the television and quickly ran outside. Ignoring the screams of the girls. He had to find Fuiji-nee. Making it around the corner, he saw one of the Shadows of his dreams. Next to it was one of the emblemed ones. Its appearance looked like a knight, and was only a centimeter or two larger than the shadow. Both charged at him before they were hit by something that killed them in one shot. Just before he processed what happened, he was tackled by, "Fuiji-nee!"

"SHIROU! WHATS HAPPENING! IT'S LIKE IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! AND I DID NOT EAT BREAKFAST YET!" Yep, it's his guardian alright…

"Listen, Fuiji-nee, we have to get back to the house right now!" Taiga was about to say something else, but the look she saw in Shirou was something she saw him wear that couple of weeks last year.

Nodding she tightened her grip on Tora-Shinai and ran with him back to his place. Outside the door were more of the creatures, about to storm the estate, when suddenly a series of shots took care of them. Skidding to a halt, Taiga saw something that she was not prepared to see. Tohsaka shooting at the creatures with her own kind of attack from her finger, like she was using, "Mmmagic!?" The English teacher almost got hit during her brief shutdown, when a nail and chain flew past her head and punctured several Shadows behind her. She followed the chain back to its owner, seeing Rider there. Who, for some reason is wearing what looks like a BDSM outfit, she is also wearing a blindfold for crying out loud!

Shirou then turns to his older-sister figure. "Yes, magic. Yes it is real. Yes I can use it too. But all we need to focus on right now is surviving." He hastily explains, not wanting to deal with this at the moment. In one of the few moments of maturity, Tiaga stayed silent and raised her shinai for an assault. "I don't understand? Why are these things here? What are they? And why did I dream of them last night?" Nobody was able not answer, whether out of not coming up with one or being too focused on the fight. 'Sorry Sakura, I'm going to have to use this. Maybe I should try to trace that sword I saw in the dream.'

Looking into his left arm, Shirou- notices that he can't find the sword. Any sword in that arm. Wide eyed, he quickly casts Structural Analyses on the arm to find out that it is his REAL arm! Not the one Archer gave him! "What the… I can't Trace anymore!"

Hearing his exclamation Rin turns towards him. "What! You can't?"

"No! I… That voice! It said it had to fix something about me! I guess it meant my arm!" Now with only whatever he can get his hands on Shirou-

"Ahhhhhh!"

Ran straight to the scream coming from his house.

"SAKURA!" Shouted everybody. They all ran into the house to see that the creatures have surrounded her. Shirou grabbed her hand and took her into the dojo. Both to protect her, and to get himself a weapon. When he got there, he was about to grab something to defend him and Sakura with when a Shadow popped in front of and slashed him away. Making sure to keep himself between it and Sakura, Shirou tried desperately to trace something.

"Trace-" Before he finished his aria, a flash of light appeared in his hands. At first glance, it was a sword. But he didn't Trace it. Nor have he have ever seen it in his life. As he was going over that last part, he could not help but think that it was somewhat wrong of him to say that. As he looked over it more carefully, he noticed something about its appearance. "A key?" Yes what he was holding was a large key. He figured that once he saw the "teeth" at the top of the blade. "No, a Key-blade?" Keyblade. Yeah that sounds right for a weapon like this. The blade was silver with gold in the middle. It had a box guard surrounding the hilt. The guard and hilt wear both primarily a royal blue with gold running around it in different places. Hanging at the bottom of the hilt is a keychain, and what appears to be a small charm. The charm itself was a sword that looked like his Keyblade. The sword was attached to the chain by its hilt as well, and the sword was in a stone… 'Wait a second. Caliburn!?' Yes, in his hands is some sort of replica of The Sword Who Chooses. The Sword from the Stone. The sword that his Servant once used in her life.

The appearance of the Keyblade made all of the Shadows stop, before they all resumed attacking. This time, however, they were more aggressive; and only targeting Shirou. With quick reactions, Shirou struck at each of the creatures leaping at him. In his mind's eye, he saw one of the Soldiers about to perform an axe-kick at Sakura. Sakura did not notice this, keeping her eyes on Shirou. Not wanting to see her hurt he makes a fast-dash to the Soldier, counter-attacking it with a cyclone strike. Looking around, Shirou notices that all the creatures are gone. The others are in the room now, and are looking at him. Taiga from the maneuver he just did. Rin is looking more at the Keyblade in his hands. Rider is looking relieved that he protected her Master, as well as Sakura due to him saving her. Rin opened her mouth, most likely about to question were did he get that weapon and what it is.

"SHIROU!" At least she was, but the Tiger of Fuyuki beat her to the punch. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SWORD! HOW DID YOU DO THAT LAST THING!" Each question Taiga got closer to Shirou, and Shirou shrunk more and more as she approached.

"Fuijimura-sensei, please settle down. We still don't know what's going on." Sakura timidly told the school teacher. Taking a deep breath through her mouth and exhaling through her nose, Taiga looked to the teens and Servant and was about to ask another question.

"The end of the world." A voice from the doorway said. Everyone paused and looked to where the voice came from. Leaning in the doorframe was a tall man with tan skin and white hair. Those who know the identity of this man looked at him with wide eyes and said one word.

"Archer!"

Next Time:

The End of a World

Well then. How was it? Was my writing okay, or bad? Like what I did? Don't like it? Want me to add things for the future? Let me know by leaving a review.