PROLOGUE
-:-
A CERTAIN DAY IN THE CLOCK TOWER
" 10 years... Its been that long since the true end of the Holy Grail War ..." Emiya Shiro thought as he meditates "A lot has happened huh?"
20 years ago, Emiya Shiro helped Tohsaka Rin win the 5th and final Holy Grail War. It was in that war that Shiro took his very first steps to the path that he has longed to walk.
Shiro fought and defeated his future self with sheer will power alone. He fought against the King of Heroes on equal footing. But most importantly, he gained the power that would both grant the salvation of others, and drag him to ruin
Unlimited Blade Works
After the 5th Fuyuki Grail War, he joined Rin through her misadventures through the Clock Tower. During that time, Shiro has experienced many many things and even went as far as becoming a Freelance Enforcer.
He traveled the world for a few years and performed many deeds. Some were heroic, yet some were vile. Never the less, he saved many lives at the cost of a few. Frustrating as it might be, Shiro has no choice but to accept that he cant save everyone. This is why he must get stronger in order to reduce the sacrifices to zero.
10 years after the 5th Grail War, Shiro joined his good friend Lord El-Melloi II and Tohsaka Rin in their quest to permanently disable the Grate Grail of Fuyuki. Naturally, they met resistance from the Clock Tower mages who wanted to use the Grail for their own purposes. However, after a conflict of the same scale as the Fuyuki Grail Wars, the Grail was permanently decommissioned.
That was 10 years ago.
Now adays, Shiro is still a freelancer with the mission to save as many people as he can.
Nothing has changed, yet everything no longer remains the same. While he still constantly chase the dream that Kiritsugu has left him, he is no longer the kid he once was. He only needs to look at a mirror to see how much he has changed.
"Man... I look like ARCHER. He did say that excessive use of Projection caused his skin and hair color to change."
His skin is excessively tanned. His hair is pure white. Even his height drastically increased over the past few years. But the greatest change lies within him. While he still holds his ideals close to his heart, he pulls through all the suffering and frustration with the support of his friends.
"Heh... A lot has happened huh?" Shiro thought amusingly
He continues his meditation until the worst possible person enters the meditation hall... The Wizard Marshal Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg.
Zelretch walks silently through the meditation hall, careful not to disturbed the others in their meditation. Zelretch stops in front of of Shiro, takes a seat then meditates. A couple of peaceful seconds later...
" *sigh* I'm Bored" said Zelretch in a small voice, as if making sure that only Shiro could hear it.
.
.
.
.
"ZELRETCH IS BORED! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" a random woman screams from pure terror
All hell breaks loose as every last person makes a mad scramble for the nearest exit. Naturally, Shiro does the same.
He has two choices
The door, which unfortunately, makes him have to go through Zelretch.
The window, which unfortunately, leads to a 500 foot drop down the clock tower.
"I dont even need to chose!"
Shiro jumps out the window. He would rather plummet to solid ground and break every bone, muscle and fiber of his body than be anywhere near Zelretch!
However, as he begins his long way down, a bunch of ethereal threads wraps him like a mummy and pulls him back into the building. It seems that Zelretch specifically wants Shiro... and Shiro is not happy.
"NOOOOO! HAVE MERCY ZELRETCH!" Shiro throws away all of his manly pride and begs like its no tomorrow. He has seen too many of Zelretch's mentally broken pupils to give 2 cents about his pride.
"Hey... Thats rude you know?" Zelretch sighs " Im not going to kill you"
"THATS EXACTLY WHAT IM AFRAID OF!"
"Cheeky little brat arent you?" said Zelretch as he sinks his foot into Shiros gut."Calm down for a bit will you? We need your help."
"... We?" Shiro asks. " What do you mean by We?"
" If you calm down, I'll take you to the others"
Shiro slows his breathing and eventually calms down. The binding spell releases him and Zelretch helps him up.
"Lead the way... And try not to cripple me okay?" said Shiro
"Hehehehe. No guarantees "
-:-
The two heads higher up the Clock Tower and enters the office of Lord El-Melloi II. In that room lies 2 people, the owner of the room himself, and Shiro's long time friend and comrade, Tohsaka Rin
"Well this is an interesting reunion." says Shiro as he reaches his hands out to Rin. "Long time no see Rin"
"Its been really a long time, hasnt it." Rin replies with a handshake. "3-4 years maybe?"
"2 years, 4 months 3 days, 7 hours but who's counting?" replied Shiro.
"Hahaha. When did you get so cynical? " asked Rin
"Life tends to do that to you. Dont worry about it. Anyways, what's this all about?"
"Take a seat Emiya Shiro" said Lord El- Melloi in a serious voice. "This may take a while"
Lord El-Melloi takes out a thick envelope and hands it over to Shiro. This is actually the same type of envelope that Shiro receives when someone has a job for him. This made him fairly nervous.
"Emiya Shiro, I assume that you know about the existence of the Multiverse, correct?" Lord El-Melloi asks.
"Ofcourse. No one who is familiar with the world of magic doesnt know about it."
Multiverse AKA Parallel worlds. In layman terms, the Multiverse are worlds that answers the WHAT IFs that we have come to ask.
What if Hitler won the WW2?
What if Asia dominated the world instead of America?
What if Lindsay Lohan didnt have a chronic need to crash her car?
What if Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield in the nipples instead of the ears?
Those types of what-if scenarios exists in other realities that runs parallel to this world. Naturally, the number of Parallel World are as many as there are possibilities. Limitless.
"Good, good. Then let me show you something." Lord El-Melloi pulls out a painting, surprising Shiro in the process. "Well? What do you think?"
"Well... I have my fair share of stalkers, so this isnt really new." replied Shiro.
Due to Shiro's line of work, he has garnered a hefty number of supporters and haters alike. Truth be told, Shiro finds it easier to deal with his enemies than his supporters. All his enemies ever needed was to be at the receiving end of a pointy stick.
While he does appreciate his supporters ... er... support, there are a few of them that becomes overly obsessed with him. Some try to copy him (which normally leads them to their early grave), while others try to marry him into their family (by force if needed be). Either way, when these types of people are around, his work load increases exponentially.
Anyways, the painting seemed to be made by one of those overly obsessive fan of his. It depicted Shiro, with his signature Kanshou and Byakuya Overedge, standing at the center of a snowy forest with atleast 10 corpses.
The first thing he realized is how young he was in the painting. While he still retains his tanned skin and white hair, the Shiro in the painting was about 18-20 years old. Weird... He could have sworn that he had red hair during his youth.
The next thing was the corpses themselves. Each of them have different nationalities. Just by looking, he could spot someone wearing a chinesse armor, british full plate, african tribal mask and a pirate.
"Well? What do you think?" asked Lord El-Melloi.
"... I think someone just wasted a lot of time making that" Shiro replied with a fair bit of annoyance. "Please cut the melodramatics and get to the point."
"Shiro, this painting was made by a powerful seer." Zelretch steps forward and explains.
Based on what Zelretch said, the said seer has a reputation of being 100% accurate in all of his predictions. Just like the rest of the can-see-the-future hipies, they have no memory of what they have predicted, and more annoyingly, they can only express it on some sort of confusing art form (poems, painting, etc.)
"I dont get the point Zelretch. So what if I'm in that prediction?" Shiro asks cynically. " There are tons of world shattering predictions on people who are much stronger than I am. I could have sworn Rin had one of those. What makes me so special? "
Zelretch stares at Shiro for a couple of seconds then sighs.
"This prediction came from an alternate world where the entity known as Emiya Shiro has yet to exist. Do you understand?" said Zelretch
"No... I dont really understand" Shiro replied.
Mind you, this isnt sarcasm. He truly has no idea what relevance does his still non-existent alternate self have to do with... Oh...
Shiro was suddenly reminded of ARCHER.
"In order to stop his suffering, he tried to eliminate me before I could become him..." Shiro thought.
"From the looks of it, you understand what we're trying to get at." Rin said. "What we want you to do is to stop the prediction from ever happening"
"... Seriously? You dont need my help for that you know?" Shiro replied. "Zelretch alone can level an entire city block in 2 seconds flat. An unborn child isnt even a warm up to him."
"Trust me Emiya Shiro, I would have done that if I could" Zelretch massages his head in rare frustration. " Unfortunately, in that world, bloody conflicts so rare that it's almost non existent."
Shiro is taken aback by that statement. A world without war? Preposterous! It is in the nature of men to achieve their goals even if they have to step on many to do it. It is an unchallengeable fact!
"I know what you're thinking Shiro, but its true." Zelretch said. " That entire world where magic is common place, has nearly zero fatalities due to warfare. Mind you, there is still murder and violence in that world, but the occurrence is not even 0.001% of this world."
Shiro is thunderstruck. The utopia that he always dreamed of actually exists. All of his suffering, all of his sins, all of his strife may not be all for naught. Unfortunately, there is one question that plagues his mind.
"How in gods name am I suppose to eliminate the target in that peaceful setting?"
The 3 makes a difficult face. An obvious sign that Shiro isnt going to like what he's about to hear. After a short period of silence, Rin speaks up
"... Have you ever heard of the ability called OVERWRITE?" said Rin with a grave expression.
Shiro could already fill the color of his face draining away.
OVERWRITE. Yes, he has heard of it before. It is the act of forcing a living soul into a living being by completely crushing the soul existing within the body. It's something similar to those computer games that Lord El Melloi enjoy so much. By overwriting the previous saved game by another one, the old data is forever lost.
Naturally, it has some fairly harsh restrictions.
The main restriction is the abnormally high compatibility requirement between the soul and the receiving body. Anything short of 100% compatibility will result in the death of both.
Naturally, a 100% compatibility is impossible unless the 2 are the exact same person, which brings up the 2nd and most terrifying restriction. The only way to find the exact same person is, unfortunately, by traveling through the multiverse into another world.
Want to know the worst thing about it? You have to put your faith on the only person capable of traveling through the multiverse. Zelretch!
Its not the act of Overwriting that bothers Shiro (well in all honest it does bother him a fair bit). Its the fact that his life is in Zelretch's hands that scares the hell out of him.
Swallowing his fears, Shiro asks Rin.
"Rin... are you telling me to do what I think you want me to do?"
"No Shiro... I am asking you to do what you think I want you to do" Rin massages her forehead in frustration. "These people who needs saving are not from this world. They are of no concern to you what so ever and you have no obligation to save them."
That is true... but now that Shiro knows about it, he cant just simply turn a blind eye from it. Before he could even voice out his decision, Rin throws a very painful truth at him.
"Remember this Shiro. If you agree to help those people, you will cease to exist in this world." Rin said in a cold manner.
Zelretch speaks up. "For your information Emiya Shiro, OVERWRITE requires your soul to be transferred to the other vessel... leaving your body soulless"
In short, if Shiro agrees to help, his body will die. If he goes to the other world, he can never come back. Its a one way ticket so to speak.
Shiro puts his face in the palm of his hands and ponders like he has never pondered before. Lord El Melloi pats him in the shoulder, forcing him back to reality.
"I understand that this is not decision you can make on the spot." Lord El Melloi said with a very rare sad expression. "I'll send you what little info Zelretch could compile. Learn what you can for now, then give us an answer. Remember, you dont have to do this."
-:-
2 days later
The last 40+ hours has not been kind to Shiro. He constantly weighted the pros and cons in his mind, for his decision may end up in regret. Its a simple moral dilemma really.
If he goes through with the Overwrite, he'll end up killing an innocent life whom future could is still not set in stone. What if the seer was wrong? What if he end up a person of great benefit to the world? Is Shiro cruel enough to sentence the unborn child to death for a crime he may not commit?
On the other hand, if the unborn child DOES go through with the prophecy, his failure to do anything about it will cost a lot of innocent people their lives. It's as ARCHER once said: Kill one to save hundreds.
Either way, Shiro must dirty his hands irregardless of choice.
"Well then. After nearly 2 days of sleepless nights, I might as well make the choice with the least amount of sacrifices." Shiro sighed.
Truth be told, its been excruciatingly hard to stay true to his ideals of being a hero of justice. Through all the years of chasing his ideals, he has been bitch slapped by a simple truth: there will always be sacrifices. A scenario where everyone is happy is pure lunacy.
Mind you, the fact that he wont be able to return is weighing on his mind a fair bit. However, his ideals compels him to take action irregardless of what sacrifice he has to make.
"Well then... Lets do this."
Shiro reaches for his cell and makes the call.
"El Melloi? This is Shiro-"
"Thats LORD El Melloi to you brat!" LORD El Melloi rudely cuts in before Shiro could even talk.
"Wow... touchy..." Shiro replies. "Anyways, I'll do it."
Lord El Melloi remains silent for a couple of seconds before speaking.
"...Are you sure about this Emiya Shiro? I know you already thought about this, but once you go through with the Overwrite, there's no turning back"
Once again, the faint nudge of uncertainty makes Shiro a bit hesitant, but he pushes it all out of his mind.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I wouldnt be a hero of justice if I just turned my back on this, right?"
Yes... There is no other way. This is the only path.
"I see... Head to my office in 12 hours. My preparations would be complete by then." said Lord El Melloi. "Oh, by the way, get some sleep will you?"
"Hold on... How in gods name did you know I couldn' sleep?"
"I didnt, but your friend Tohsaka Rin knows you well enough to predict how you'll react." replied Lord El Melloi. "You have good friends."
"Yeah... I know."
-:-
12 hours later
Emiya Shiro stands in the middle of a very, very, VERY large magic circle. In fact, its so large that they had to draw it on the walls and ceiling due to the lack of space.
"Man... I had a feeling it was a large ritual, but THIS is BIG" said Shiro as he marveled at the complexity of the magic circle.
"Well yeah. We're trying to force a soul into another body in another dimension" Rin replied while doing one final check on the circle. " This spell forces your soul out of your body and turn it into something that the Wizard Marshal can bring to the other world."
Naturally, Shiro cant help but be squeamish after hearing Rin's explanation. He forces his discomfort down and relaxes.
"So, what now?" Shiro asks.
Zelretch steps forward.
"... This is your last chance to back out Emiya Shiro." Zelretch said with a sad face. "Recall all of your past experience. Remember all that you have done and what you have planned to do. Are you truly fine with just leaving it all behind? Think slowly and carefully before-"
"I already said I'd do it, didnt I?" Shiro answered almost instantly, causing Zelretch to sigh in resignation.
"You really are a justice nut just like Rin said" Lord El Melloi chuckles.
"Thats just how I am I guess"
Suddenly, the magic circle emits a light blue glow.
"I guess its time..." Rin said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Yeah... I guess so." Shiro replied in kind. "Take care of yourself Rin"
"That's my line." said Rin as she fights back her tears.
Rin, Zelretch and Lord El Melloi chants a fairly long and unfamiliar spell. Without warning, Shiro's consciousness fades to black.
-:-
Rin silently wept as she looks down at Shiro's lifeless body.
"What an idiot *sniff*. Even to the very end, he still thought *sniff* of others before himself" Rin knelt down and let the tears flow. "What a grade A idiot."
"This is Shiro's soul." Zelretch approaches Rin with a red sphere in his hand. " Are you really fine about this Rin? Did you really have to lie that much just to save Shiro?"
Yes... A very important part of information they divulged to Shiro was a lie. For one, there was no such thing as a prediction of an alternate Shiro killing anyone. In the other world where magic is common place, combat tournaments called THE GRAIL WARS is a popular sporting event. Even if they swung real live weapons, the highly advanced magic made sure that no one dies.
More importantly, the prediction was not about the alternate Shiro, but the Shiro of this world. It was already predicted that this world's Shiro will go to that world and make a legend of himself in the Grail Wars.
However, Rin's motive of doing what she did had nothing to do with the prediction.
"I once promised ARCHER that I would keep Shiro from turning into him. I failed. " said the melancholic Rin. " I dont know if Shiro noticed, but he has already strayed away from the ideal path that he set himself. As a friend, it is my duty to make good on my promise."
"I see... So that's why you sent him to a world where bloodshed is nearly nonexistent." Lord El Melloi mused. "This is to make sure that he no longer needs to suffer."
"But to sacrifice an innocent life for his sake. Are you really alright with that?" Zelretch asks.
Rin makes a painful face. "It's fine. This is my sin to carry."
"Very well. Im heading out then." With a nod of satisfaction, Zelretch exits the room with Shiro's soul in hand.
"I hope you live a happy new life Emiya Shiro."
-:-
AUTHORS NOTES
I dislike making Authors Notes, thus dont expect to see one any times soon.
Anyways, I would like to make a short note on what to expect in this fanfic.
1. This Shiro is from the UBW route who didnt end up with Rin and is already on his way to becoming the miserable Counter Guardian Emiya
2. OOC & slightly OP Shiro. Will be explained in the coming chapters
3. Indiscriminate gender bending
4. Many OC characters
5. Heroes and Gods will be used indiscriminately
6. Mythical beasts will be used (ex. Tamae-no-Mae)
7. Highschool setting
8. My first attempt at slice of life-ish, romcom-ish fanfic. Not my forte but i seriously want to try writing one.
9. Still has tons of action.