Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Fate series.

Thanks to BlindSeer0 for editing this chapter. And thank you to the amazing DailyArturiaFGO for drawing the icon to this story as a commission. Check them out on tumblr, their art is great. Link available on my profile page.

Author's Note: This chapter has been re-uploaded with minor corrections to spelling and grammar. And Kirei's name spelled right.

Fate/Zero: Heroes of Justice

Chapter 1: A New Hero of Justice Appears!

Tokiomi Tohsaka stood in his workshop, a new report writing itself on the device next to him. When it was done he cut off a piece of the scroll of paper with a knife and read the contents. Behind him stood his apprentice and fellow master in the Holy Grail War, Kirei Kotomine. Kirei was young and impatient but knew enough to allow his master a chance to read before he spoke. Only once Tokiomi's posture shifted in a manner indicating he was done reading, did Kirei speak.

"More news about the war, Master?" he asked politely. Tokiomi turned to him, a neutral expression on his face.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Caster has been summoned. The war can now officially begin."

"That is good news," said Kirei neutrally. His master didn't sound pleased though.

"It is. But I'm also concerned that we don't yet know who Caster's master is. It's another unknown in this war."

"Whoever they are, they must be talented to be able to hide their command seals and summoning of a heroic spirit from all of our spies and familiars," commented Kirei.

"Or utterly unimportant," said Tokiomi. "I hope it is the latter and not the former. Either way, we should be careful. Even the bite of an insect can hurt or distract. Stay vigilant."

Kirei nodded. "Yes Master."

"Leave me now," said Tokiomi. "We have a lot of preparation still ahead of us. Everyone will be gathering in Fuyuki now. The war has finally begun."

"Caster's been summoned?" asked Saber, walking alongside Irisviel as they traveled the streets of Fuyuki. The pair stood out. Two foreigners, one an albino with long snow-white hair and red eyes; the other a blonde-haired woman with piercing green eyes. Irisviel wore a large, white coat that seemed to be more than enough to handle the Fuyuki winter. Saber had her blonde hair held back in a tail and wore a well-fitted black suit and pants. They looked very much like the rich foreigner and her serious bodyguard, which they were.

Irisviel nodded in response to Saber's question, putting away the mobile phone she'd been given by Kiritsugu. "Yes. That has been confirmed by the mediator from the church."

"Do we know who they are?"

Irisviel shook her head. "No one seems to know. Or they aren't telling. It's not unusual, but Caster has been summoned in secrecy."

"We will need to be weary then," stated Saber simply, nodding as she took stock of the situation. "Caster is known to be a clever, crafty class. We would not want to be caught unawares by either them or the type of master who could stay hidden this long. They must be a clever foe indeed."

In a room occupied by only one, a chorus of voices rang out together. "Silver and iron to the origin. The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate. In accordance to with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, then answer. Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all of the evil of the world of the dead. You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deference, O keeper of the balance!"

A red glow filled the room, radiating out from a tattoo of two crescent moons, back to back. The glow spread out across the floor of the room, turning into a summoning circle. The circle glowed brightly, and a figure appeared in the circle. They were covered from head to toe in a heavy black cloak with a hood over their head. The only ornament was a simple necklace around their neck that held four gems, three clear gems with a single red gem second from the left.

A feminine voice came from the figure. "O thee who has summoned me, are you my Mas-," the voice stopped, and the figure reached up to remove their hood. A woman with snow white skin and long coal black hair was revealed. A simple black cloth blindfold covered the woman's eyes, but there was still a visible look of surprise on her face as she looked down at the smiling boy before her.

"Whoa," said the child in awe. Behind him, the television flashed with images of a group of colorful heroes fighting evil monsters. "Who are you?"

The cloaked woman shook her head and coughed into a gloved hand. "I am a Servant of the Caster Class," she said. "A Heroic Spirit summoned by the Holy Grail to fight."

"Like in my show," said the boy in awe. He pointed to the television. "Heroic Spirits-"

"Of the Holy Grail," finished the woman absently.

"You know of it?" asked the boy.

"Uh, yes. I'm familiar with it, Shirou."

"You know my name," said Shirou excitedly. "This is so cool!"

"Uh, yes. May I see your hand?"

"This hand?" asked Shirou, holding it up. His eyes widened at what he saw. "I have a tattoo!"

The woman nodded slowly. "Yes, you do. That confirms it, you are my master. Although, there seems to be something weird with the summoning and with your Command Seals. I will need to look into all of this before we can proceed to battle in the War."

"Battle?" asked Shirou. "War?"

"Yes, the War for the Holy Grail," replied the woman. "Seven Heroic Spirits are summoned as the Servants of seven chosen Masters who have seals like those on your hand to fight for the honor of obtaining the Holy Grail and getting their wish granted."

"So cool…"

Before anything else could be said, the front door opened. "Shirou," said his mother. "I'm home."

"Mom!" said Shirou excitedly, turning to the front of the apartment. "Come look!"

"What is it?" asked his mother, taking off her shoes in the hallway and walking into the living room of the apartment. She looked around and then down at her son. "Something to show me?"

"Yeah," said Shirou. He turned back around but saw only an empty room. No woman or magical circle. Strangely, the window was open, a light breeze coming through. "Huh."

"Something wrong?" asked his mother.

Shirou scratched his head. "She left."

"Who left?" she asked. Her eyes were drawn to Shirou's hand. "Where did you get that cute temporary tattoo?"

"From the Holy Grail!" replied Shirou happily, unsure what 'temporary' meant.

"It looks really cool," she whispered conspiratorially. "Maybe if I was still getting tattooed I would get that design to join the dragon on my back."

"Your tattoo is really cool," agreed Shirou.

She gave a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. Can't go swimming or to the public bath…" After a moment lost in thought she seemed to remember that Shirou was there. She reached out and ruffled his hair, causing him to laugh. "Don't grow up into a delinquent like your mother now. You need to be strong and true if you want to be a hero of justice like on television."

"Yes mom!"

Ryunosuke cackled madly as he finished the lines of the chant from the old book he'd found in a family storage shed. On his hand glowed a pair of crescent moons, back to back. Next to him, a young boy screamed into his gag and fought at his bonds, unable to escape. Ryunosuke cackled at that too. The boy's parents lay on the ground, gutted, and drained of blood. Sacrifices. He was summoning a demon after all, he'd needed a good offering.

"You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deference, O keeper of the balance!" he yelled the last word as loudly as he could. The crescents on his hand glowed brightly, and so did the bloody circle he'd drawn on the ground. Excitement swelled in him. A sudden fog filled the whole house, obscuring his vision.

The circle and the crescents dimmed to nothing and Ryunosuke was left in dark fog. He looked around for the shape of a demon, listening for a sound to indicate whether the ritual had worked. "Demon?" asked Ryunosuke. "Are you there, demon?"

No one answered. He gave out a heavy sigh. "Did I do something wrong?" he asked, scratching his head. He strained to read the words in the book again. "I thought I got it right this time."

He turned to the still terrified child and gave a shrug. "I guess it's not working. Well, I'll just kill you then move on to the next house. Maybe the demon will like them more?"

"Your sacrifice was fine," came a whisper from everywhere around Ryunosuke. He looked around, but the fog around him was still formless and empty. "I can tell, you are my Master."

"Are you the demon?" asked Ryunosuke, starting to get excited once more. "Where are you?"

"I'm all around you," said the voice. "I am your Servant, summoned by your ritual. I was to be a Servant of the Caster Class, but something went wrong, I've only been partially summoned in this immaterial form."

"Was it something I did wrong?" asked Ryunosuke, worried.

"Oh no, you were fine," assured the voice. "Someone beat you to the summoning by seconds, properly summoning another Caster."

"So, what should we do?"

"I need to feed," said the voice. "I need to regain my energy so that we may properly fight this false Caster and regain my full existence as a Heroic Spirit."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," said Ryunosuke. "But I like the sound of it. Would you like to eat this kid?"

The kid was starting to scream even louder now, blood being drawn by the force he strained against his bonds with. "I would," said the voice. "Normally, I would like to draw things out. Bring out a gem of hope before crushing it in true fear, but I do not even have a physical form currently, and thus cannot be as fussy."

"Every word you say makes me love you more," said Ryunosuke. "What should I call you?"

A moment of silence. "You can call me Caster." Then, the fog condensed around the screaming child getting thicker and thicker around him until he went from a dark form to completely covered. Then blood splattered everywhere in the room. Some of it splattered on Ryunosuke's face and clothes.

"Cooooool!"

Shirou and his mother were finishing breakfast the next day when there came a knock on their door. His mother stood up, a curious expression on her face. "I wonder who that could be?" she asked.

Together, they walked to the door and she opened it. Standing on the other side was a young woman with pale white skin and long black hair. She was shorter than his mother, who was pretty tall, and was thin. She was wearing a pair of jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a pair of long gloves covering her hands and up into her sleeves. She had on a pair of glasses covering two mismatched eyes, one orange and the other purple. The woman looked completely differently than she had the night before, but Shirou still knew that this was the Heroic Spirit he'd summoned. The young woman smiled at him and his mother. "Hello there," she said. "I'm moving into the building and I just wanted to say hello to my new neighbors." Her expression turned worried. "I hope I didn't disturb you at a bad time."

Shirou's mother returned the smile. "No, not at all. Welcome to the building. I'm Akira Manjome and this is my son Shirou. Say hello Shirou."

"Hello again," said Shirou, waving.

His mother frowned. "Again?"

"Hello again," said the young woman. "We met before when I was getting a tour of the building. It's nice to see you again. Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Iris Edelburg, it's nice to meet you."

"That's a pretty name. Are you a foreigner?"

"Half, actually," replied Iris. "Well, a little less than half, but I spent a lot of time overseas. I've come to Japan for university and I'll be staying by myself."

"I didn't know there were any apartments free on this floor," said Shirou's mother. "Which one are you moving into?"

"Oh, the apartment right next door actually," said Iris, pointing. Behind her Shirou saw the Yasuda family and the landlords who owned the building working quickly to carry boxes of belongings from the apartment downstairs. "The Yasuda's happened to be moving and I was able to get a good deal from the landlord."

"That's great timing," said his mother. "I didn't realize they were moving so suddenly though. I guess that's what I get for not spending enough time talking to my neighbors."

"Are you very busy?" asked Iris. Shirou noted that Iris had on a necklace like before, but this time there was no red gem, but a purple gem third from the left. The gem also seemed to be glowing slightly.

"Yes. Work keeps me busy much more than I'd like," replied his mother. "Sometimes I'm worried that I'm missing so much. Or that I'm not there enough for Shirou during the day…"

"That's so sad," said Iris. Her expression suddenly lit up, as if she'd had an idea. Strangely, her eyes also seemed to glow along with her expression. "Oh, I know! I'm on break right now, but what if I watched over Shirou during the day. Kept him company and kept you updated?"

"That would be a great idea!" said his mother. "Would you be able to start today?"

"If you don't mind me taking him with me to go shopping for clothes, furniture and other home supplies. I moved here a little suddenly and didn't bring much. Just this pair of clothes."

Shirou's mother shook her head. "Of course, I don't mind. It'll get Shirou out of the house."

Iris nodded. "Then it's settled. I just need to finish supervising this move, but I'll be over for Shirou once you leave for work in thirty minutes. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great!" His mother reached down and ruffled his hair. "Doesn't it sound great Shirou?"

"It does," said Shirou excitedly, kind of unsure what exactly was going on. It seemed interesting though.

Before anything else could be said, Iris suddenly moved forward and drew Shirou's mother into a tight hug. His mother let out a cry of surprise but didn't fight the embrace. It was only a brief moment before Iris let go, her face turning red.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," she said. "I forgot that in Japan you don't hug strangers. I got used to that overseas. I hope you can forgive me."

"It's okay," said Shirou's mother with a smile. "Have a good day."

"See you later Shirou," said Iris.

"See you later," Shirou replied absently. As the door closed, he was still busy thinking about the necklace around Iris's neck. For a brief moment, he thought it had shifted from a purple gem, to the one on the end flashing orange.

Right after his mother left for work, a knock came at the apartment door. Shirou had gotten dressed and answered the door. Iris was there, smiling at him. "Good morning Shirou, are you ready to go shopping?"

"I just need to get my shoes on," he said, sitting down and doing so. When he was done, he stood up. "Ready now."

"Then let's go," said Iris. The necklace around her neck flashed, the purple gem dimming and another glowing red again. Her expression changed, becoming more serious. "We have a lot to talk about."

Together they walked down the hall, and into the elevator. Shirou looked up at her. "What are we going to talk about? When you appeared in my house last night?"

Iris nodded. "Yes. Like I said last night, I'm one of seven Heroic Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail to fight to claim it. You summoned me somehow, and with those tattoos, the Command Seals, you are now my Master."

The elevator arrived at the bottom and the pair walked out of it. They walked side by side down the street. "What's a Master?"

"A Master is usually a mage or magic user who summons a spirit like me as a sort of familiar to fight for them. In return, you supply me with mana."

"Mage? Familiar? Mana?" asked Shirou, confused by all of the big, unfamiliar words.

Iris shook her head. "It's not much to worry about. You allow me to fight for you, that's all that matter. Together, Master and Servant take on the other servants and the winners get their wish granted by the Grail."

"Other Servants?"

"Yes. There's seven of us in total," replied Iris. "We're each of a different type, with different abilities. I'm a Caster Class servant. In addition, there's Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Assassin and Berserker. We're all heroic spirits."

"Like heroes of past?" asked Shirou, thinking about his favorite television show. "Like King Arthur?"

Iris looked surprised for a minute before bursting into laughter. "Yes, exactly like that. We could possibly meet King Arthur. That would be a big coincidence though."

"It would be so cool if we could meet him," said Shirou wistfully. A thought occurred to him. "What heroic spirit are you?"

"Me? My name is Iris, although I don't think it's a name you'll recognize," she said, averting her gaze. "It is better if during this war no one finds out who I am. Each servant has a special skill, a trump card called a Noble Phantasm that is based off our life or legend. If we can find out who someone truly is, then we can defeat them easier. Similarly, we can't let other masters or servants discover who I am or risk defeat. I don't mean to be rude to you master, but you are not a trained mage, which means you don't have the same magical defenses other masters would. It would be simple for someone to read your mind and discover my identity."

As they had been talking they made it to the mall. The crowd was thick in the mall, so Shirou did what his mom told him to do in crowds and took Iris's hand. She seemed surprised by the contact but held on to his hand.

It's so loud here, thought Shirou. I guess we can't talk in this crowd. I want to hear more about the Holy Grail war.

'Then we can talk in our thoughts', came the voice of Iris. Shiro looked up at her and saw that her mouth wasn't moving, but he could clearly hear her voice. 'Servants and Masters can talk through a mental link. It took physical contact to establish it, but I just managed to do so. Just think about talking to me and it will happen.'

'That's so cool,' thought Shirou, focusing on Iris.

'Yes, like that,' thought back Iris.

'Do we need to hold hands to do this?'

'No. I only needed to hold hands for the initial contact. The link between us is a little weaker than it should be. You're just a child and not a trained mage. Your magical circuits are underdeveloped and the amount of mana you're able to provide is low. For some reason, the link between us isn't quite complete. I analyzed it last night between other preparations and found that there seems to be an anomaly interfering. Until we deal with this anomaly, I may be able to give ten percent of my full power, at most.'

Shirou struggled to keep up with the flood of information as they walked through the crowd and into a clothing store. Iris greeted an employee and started to pick out clothes, humming as she did. Shirou gathered his thoughts while she did so. "If we find this ano-thing you can fight at full power?" he said.

Iris shook her head. "Anomaly," she replied absently, holding up a blouse to her chest, then putting it down to pick up another. "That will only stabilize our link. I'll be at maybe thirty percent then. You're still untrained, and if I don't find another source of mana, anything past that could drain you and kill you. Even that much power for too long could kill you. We may need to take time to magically develop your circuits and body just so I don't accidentally drain you. We'll have to be very careful while fighting."

Iris picked up a third blouse, held it up for a moment then looked at Shirou, her expression worried. "You don't have to fight in this war. It's dangerous and you summoned me by accident. You could be killed."

"Can't you be killed also?" asked Shirou. "Why are you fighting?"

"I've already died," replied Iris. "I'm fighting because I was summoned. Everyone else in this war will have a reason for fighting. They have a wish they want to obtain at any cost. Something that can only be granted by the Grail."

"You don't have a wish?"

Iris shook her head. "No, I do not. All I have is a swirl of emotions and unfinished business. I'm nothing more than that."

Shirou thought she sounded sad as she spoke. She wasn't crying, but he felt like she should be. He reached out and took her hand, like his mother did for him when he was sad. She looked surprised but squeezed his hand lightly in response. Picking up the chosen blouses, she threw them in a shopping cart and they moved on to another rack. As Iris started sifting through more clothes, Shirou spoke up.

"Do people get hurt in these Wars?" he asked.

"They do," replied Iris.

"Are these other people in the War unhappy?"

Iris paused for a moment before answering. "Usually."

"That's so sad," replied Shirou, thinking. "Could I use my wish to make them happy?"

Iris stared at him for a moment, looking shocked. Then she smiled and laughed. "Yes, I suppose you could."

Shirou nodded. "Then I would like to fight for the Grail." He looked up Iris, feeling unsure. "Is that okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, it is." Her expression saddened, and she focused on picking out clothes. A silence descended on them as Iris went through the whole store, picking out clothes of every variety. She then tried them on, coming out to ask Shirou what he thought. He thought that she was very good at picking out clothes. He did find it interesting that she only picked out long clothes. Long pants, long shirts, long socks, and a few pairs of some arm sock things to cover them.

When she was done shopping, they rolled the cart of clothes up to the front.

"That's a lot of clothes," said the woman at the counter.

"I just moved here and had to leave most of my clothes behind," replied Iris in a friendly tone.

"And here's your total," said the woman, indicating the screen. Shirou looked at it, and while he was bad at numbers, recognized that it was a very big number.

Iris reached into a pocket, pulled out a wallet and pulled out several large yen bills. "Here you go," she said.

"Wow, are you a rich girl?" asked the clerk, counting the money.

Iris laughed lightly. "Something like that. Can these clothes be sent to a specific address?"

"I'm sorry, we don't do deliveries," said the woman behind the counter.

"Do you have a car?" asked Iris. Her eyes glowed.

"I do," said the woman dully.

"Then could you deliver them for me after your work?"

The woman nodded. "I can."

"Then please do so," said Iris.

"Yes, ma'am," replied the woman, all emotion gone from her voice. "Have a good day."

"You too," said Iris. Her eyes dimmed.

They walked out of the store back into the mall. 'She was really nice,' said Shirou as they walked through the crowd again.

'She was,' replied Iris. 'We have a few more stores to visit.'

They went all around the mall, buying furniture and other supplies Iris needed. She didn't need to eat but insisted on buying some supplies. She mentioned something about "keeping up appearances". At every store they found helpful employees who helped them quickly find what they need. At several points, strangers would come over and pay for their purchases or agree to take them to Iris's apartment. Shirou wanted to strive to be as nice and generous as they were when he grew up.

When they were done shopping, they stopped for food at the food court. Hamburgers. They were delicious. When they finished eating, they were throwing away their trash when Shirou noticed something interesting. Among the crowded mall he saw two women walking together. Both were tall and stuck out in fancy clothes. One was wearing all white and the other all black. What really interested him was their hair, white and golden respectively.

"Look," he said excitedly, grabbing Iris's sleeve to get her attention and point. "Gaijin."

"Don't call people gaijin," Iris said absently putting the food tray on top of the trashcan. "It's rude. Call them foreigners." As she said this she turned to look where he was pointing. Looking at her, Shirou saw her eyes widen. The red gem around her neck turned clear, the gem next to it turning pearly white. A smile broke onto her face and she raised her free hand into the air and waved as she suddenly yelled loudly at the foreigners. "Hallo! Hallo!"

The foreigners turned to look at them, surprised. Shirou noticed the pearly white gem going clear, with the red gem lighting up again. Iris's expression darkened, and she bit her lip. "Sheiss…" she muttered. She forced a smile quickly back onto her face.

The two women walked over to them, a bright smile on the white-haired woman's face. Shirou was surprised to see that she had red eyes. "Hallo," said the white-haired woman. "Did you call out to us?" The golden-haired woman had intense green eyes and was studying them.

"I did," said Iris in a friendly tone. "You're German, right?"

"I am," replied the woman. "You have a good eye."

"One of my parents was German," replied Iris.

"Oh, so you're half then?"

Iris nodded. "Something like that. Sorry for calling out to you so suddenly. I was just excited to see other foreigners here." She looked at the golden-haired woman. "You're British, aren't you?"

"You are correct, my lady," said the British woman politely. "You are very clever."

Iris blushed at the compliment. "Thanks." She smiled slyly. "I get that a lot."

The German woman looked down at Shirou and he waved politely to her. "Hello there," he said.

"Hello," replied the woman, waving back. "Are you her brother?"

"I'm his babysitter actually," replied Iris. "I watch him while his mother is busy. I'm Iris, and this is Shirou."

"Oh, what nice names," said the German woman. "I'm Maria Thompson, and this is Elise Watson."

"It is nice to meet you both," said Elise, smiling.

"How old are you Shirou?" asked Maria, bending down so that she was eye to eye with him. He counted on his fingers, trying to remember how old he was. He wasn't very good at math.

"I'm seven years old," replied Shirou.

"Oh, you're a little older than my daughter," said Maria. "Little Illiya is five."

"Does she have hair like yours?" asked Shirou.

Maria nodded. "She does."

"And eyes?"

"Yes."

"Can I meet her?" he asked excitedly.

Maria shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring her with us on this trip. She's still in Germany."

"I wish she was here so that I could meet her," said Shirou.

"I wish she was here too," replied Maria. "I'm sure you two could be good friends."

"They would be," said Iris suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Just a feeling I have. Shirou's a good kid."

"I can tell. Just like Illiya," said Elise. She glanced at Maria. "Lady Maria, this has been fun, but Kiritsugu is waiting for us. We should get going and leave these two to their day."

Maria nodded. "You're right." She smiled and waved one last time at Shirou. "Have a nice day."

Shirou waved back. "You too!"

Maria glanced at Iris. "Tschüss!"

"Tschüss!" replied Iris.

Maria and Elise walked away. Iris took Shirou's hand and led him through the crowd.

'What did she say to you?' asked Shirou with his mind.

'It's German for goodbye,' replied Iris.

'Do you know German?'

'I do,' said Iris. 'I'm fluent in it. I grew up speaking it and Japanese as a child. I'm also fluent in English.'

'I wish I knew German or English,' said Shirou.

'You will,' replied Iris absently. 'One day.'

'That would be so cool," thought Shirou.

'It would be,' agreed Iris.

The pair walked back home to find the woman from the first store parking. They assisted her in carrying the clothes up to Iris's apartment and she thanked the woman. Inside they found that the landlord had let several deliveries in while they were gone. Counting everything they found that everything had been delivered properly. Shirou helped Iris to put away clothes while Iris moved the furniture by herself. He was surprised to find that she could move a whole couch by herself.

"You're so strong," he said, amazed.

She placed the couch where she wanted and then smiled at him. "I'm stronger than I look. That's part of what it means to be a Heroic Spirit." She looked around. "Everything is in place now. We should get you home."

"Do you want to come over and watch television with me?" asked Shirou.

Iris looked surprised by the question for a moment. Then she smiled and nodded. "Sure. I can cook dinner for you and your mother while we do so."

The pair moved next door and Iris started to rummage through the refrigerator, freezer and pantry for food that could be cooked into a proper meal. Shirou noticed that as she moved to do so her necklace switched from the red gem to the orange gem. Turning away from the kitchen he went and turned on the television. The channel had been set to the news by his mother that morning.

"- dead bodies have been found," said the newscaster. The television showed an apartment surrounded by yellow tape. A reporter and a detective could be seen talking in the doorway of the apartment.

"You shouldn't watch that sort of thing," said Iris from the kitchen.

Shirou looked over his shoulder at her. "Why would someone do something like this?" asked Shirou.

Iris shrugged. "Any number of reasons. Humans are trash like that."

The newscaster continued speaking, drawing Shirou's attention again. "At all four murder scenes officials tell us that a mysterious pentagram was found, drawn in the victim's blood."

"Is this done by a mage?" asked Shirou, looking once more at Iris. He noticed that her necklace's red gem was once again lit. She had a carton of milk in hand, her fingers gripping it tightly and warping the container.

"It could be," Iris replied, loosening her grip on the carton. She put it down on the counter, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She let it out, then opened her eyes again. She still looked very angry. "Whether it's someone imitating a mage, or a mage gone rogue, I'm not going to let this slander go unpunished."

Shirou smiled, not entirely sure what she meant, but understanding enough to know that they were about to stop a bad guy. "Yay," he yelled excitedly. "We're going to be heroes of justice!"

Author's Notes: Some notes of lore I've made up/changed for this story. I didn't find any information on Shirou's parents, so I gave him a single mother and made her name by combining the names of characters from a manga on my shelf. Fun fact: his father existed up until the point that I wrote the comment about the mother's tattoo and I realized I really liked her and the flow that was going. I went back, changed the one comment about 'we' to just her, and now we get Shirou's amazing delinquent mother. She MIGHT be a member of the Yakuza…

I also aged Illya down to five from eight because her being eight is super weird and creepy (especially since I have plans for a sequel). No one (not even canon) treats her as older than the other characters, so I'm just moving her age to what it feels like it should be.

Irisviel and Saber are going by the names on their passports (although Saber's last name was changed to Watson from Watoson because that name was bugging me). Researching the information on the passports was mindboggling in how much sense they didn't make in the dates on the passport and the ages of the characters. Irisviel being thirty is fine, but Saber being twelve years younger than her is baffling. Why are they trying to pass Saber off as eighteen? She doesn't look it and you'd think they'd have a tactical advantage to making her older on her passport. Like she could legally have a driver's license. And that's assuming the timeline is wrong and this is taking place in 97' and not 94'. Although the war is 10 years before the next war, which was in 2004, so there's some weird sliding time scale going on... The passports were also issued in 95', so it HAS to be sometime past 94'. If it IS somehow 94, Saber could be being passed off as young as 15…Which not only makes no tactical sense, but she definitely doesn't come across as 15. But really, what is a solid timeline that makes sense anyways? Crazy talk, that's what.