A Primer for Fate/Stay Night

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 30: Expectations

The next morning, Sakura helps Shirou make breakfast as usual. But something disturbs her.


"GAH! Senpai! What happened to your hand?"


"Eh?"

Shirou seems to have developed a large bruise on the back of his left hand.


"Huh... that's odd. I don't remember injuring myself during training or anything. Well, it doesn't really hurt or anything. I guess it's nothing."


"I see..."

Sakura then seems to become very quiet and depressed for the rest of the day, Shirou worries that she's gotten sick. He has to work after school, so she makes dinner alone before going home with Taiga. But Shirou decides to pop over to her house once he's off to make sure she's all right.

Before he can get to the door, however, he's stopped by a voice from behind.


"Well, well. Are you the stranger Sakura mentioned, then?"


"GYAH!"


"Is that a 'yes'? Sorry, friend, but I just can't say no to my granddaughter. Looks like I'm going to have to rough you up some."


"Wha--bu--no! I'm Emiya Shirou! I'm in Shinji's year at school. Sakura's my friend! I was just coming to check on them."


"Oh I see. My mistake, Emiya Shirou. I am Matou Zouken, Shinji and Sakura are my grandchildren."


"Wow... I never even knew you lived here."

And Shirou's been in the Matou house enough times that you'd think he'd have noticed.


"Oh I mostly stay in the back. Bad knees, you know."


"Right..."


"So, Emiya Shirou, tell me. How is the little Einzbern girl doing these days?"


"Huh?"


"The daughter of the Einzberns. I'm sure she's come to visit the Emiya household?"


"I'm sorry... I have no idea what you're talking about."


"Hmm, never mind then. Well, do you want me to get my grandchildren?"


"Oh... no, that's all right. I was just dropping by to check up on them."


"I see. Well they're well, and apparently lucky to have a friend like you. Goodnight, then, Emiya Shirou."


"Bye."

The old man creeps back into his house.


"And there go those bugs again, strange."

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 31: Oh Wait, The High-Jump Story

I swear I didn't just forget to include this bit in the last update. I meant to cover it out of order. Yeah. Completely intentional.

Anyway, this last day, before Shirou went to work, he stopped by after school to check on Sakura, since she'd been acting kind of strange while making breakfast.

To his consternation, she still seems a little ill. So Shirou suggests she skip her Archery club meeting to sit down and rest for a while. He steals some tea from the student council room, and they both just sit in a classroom and relax for a while. Shirou watches the sun setting outside, and thinks about how he first met Sakura after Shinji introduced them 4 years ago.


"Hey... do you remember, Senpai?"


"Remember what?"


"Right after I entered the school four years ago, before we met..."


"I was wandering about the grounds after school, I still didn't know my way around. I saw someone on the track doing high jumps, after the track team had gone home."


"He couldn't make it. The bar was way too high. But he just kept going at it for hours and hours."


"Poor guy. Maybe he had a test or something the next day and was desperate to practice."


"...I wanted him to fail. I wasn't a good person back then. I was unhappy and I wanted to take it out on someone. I wanted that kid to fail and give up in despair."


"..."


"He didn't, though. He just kept trying, even though it was clearly impossible for him. But he never complained, never got angry."


"And then when the sun finally went down, he just packed everything up and went home calmly, like nothing was wrong... and that made me feel bad for him. And lonely."


"But he never made the jump?"


"Nope."


"Well that's... some ending to the story, Sakura."


"..."


"...and I just figured it out. This kid was me, wasn't it?"


"Yep. You were so small back then, I thought you were my age."


"Ouch... yeah, four years ago was right after my father died. I guess I was kinda reckless, looking to take on the world back then."


"I guess it was just an ordinary day for you, then. But that's how I first met you."

And before Shirou can say anything else, the school bell rings again. Sakura's missed Archery club practice. She excuses herself to go home and make dinner while Shirou heads off to work.

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 32: Glitch In The Matrix

Shirou wakes up late the next morning after having a nightmare about the old fire. He eats breakfast with Sakura and Taiga like usual before leaving for school. Sakura seems distressed, however, and once again asks Shirou about the bruise on his hand.


"It's really just a welt. Did you step on my hand while I was asleep or something?"


"..."


"I forgive you, Sakura. Really, don't worry about it."


"...Senpai, will you do me a favor?"


"What's that?"


"I won't be able to help you out again until tomorrow. Can you stay home after school until then?"


"Um... I guess I could skip work and take tomorrow off."


"Thanks. Just stay in your house and I'll come visit again once I'm done."

Shirou, apparently figuring Sakura just wants him to rest, decides he'll use the impromptu vacation to do some spring cleaning. The two go to school, and part ways when Sakura heads off to the archery club. Shirou gets some weird vibes upon entering the school building, but puts it down to being tired.

After school, Shirou runs into Shinji, surrounded by a gaggle of groupies he recruited into the archery club.


"Hey, Shirou. Clean the archery dojo for me, would you?"

The groupies point out that Shirou is no longer a member of the club, and Taiga told Shinji to do this.


"That's okay, he's good at cleaning and he's a complete putz who'll do anything anyone asks of him, won't you Shirou?"


"Yup!"


"kthxbye!!"

Shinji runs off with his groupies, and Shirou spends the next few hours on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor of the school dojo. When he finally leaves, night has long since fallen, and the cloudy sky obscures the moon to make it particularly dark.

Before he can leave the school grounds, he hears a strange noise. Walking around to investigate, he comes across an odd scene.




"Huh... why do I feel like I've seen this before?"

Cautiously, Shirou moves closer to investigate what these two strangely colored men are doing.


"And why does it feel like my rib cage is screaming at me?"

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 33: Third Time's The Charm

So, events play out again just as they have before. Shirou stumbles into the fight between Lancer and Archer. They notice him, and he runs away, but gets caught and stabbed through the heart by Lancer. As he lays dying in the hall of the school, someone (Rin) stops by to magically save him. Shirou goes home pretending that he hallucinated the whole thing, but gets attacked by Lancer again. He flees to the old shed, activates Emiya's old magic circle, and summons Saber.


"Yo."

She fights Lancer, barely survives his Gae Bolg attack. Lancer flees, Shirou is too confuzzled to heal Saber even if he could. Saber senses someone else outside the mansion and hops over the wall to attack Archer and Rin.


"On the whole, I think preferred the route where you were in love with Rin and didn't let Saber stab me."

Shirou does stop Saber before she can eviscerate Rin.


"Thanks."

In return she introduces him to the Holy Grail War.


"Ancient invincible warrior spirits are going to hunt you down to kill you in the most excruciating possible manner."

She tells him to throw a raincoat on Saber so they can visit Kotomine Church.


"You're my true Noble Phatasm, poncho."

Once there, Kotomine fills in all the salient details and backstory that Rin hinted at.


"Ruthless mages with powers far beyond your ken are going to hunt you down to kill you in the most excruciating possible manner in order to summon the most contrived deus ex machina ever. And I totally knew your dad when he did this same thing ten years ago."

Shirou, Saber, and Rin leave the church. But before they can split up and become enemies, they're attacked Ilya and Berserker.


"Kill them in the most excruciating possible manner and then desecrate their bodies while I giggle inappropriately."

Saber gets stabbed, Shirou gets splattered, and then Ilya walks away in a huff. And just like last time, Shirou blacks out.

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 34: Interlude From Hell



Everything rots in this crypt.

The corpses of unloved, forgotten members of a cruel family.

The crumbling stone of the vaults in which they rest.

The air, suffocated by the smell of decay.

The light, fading its struggle against darkness.

Even time itself rots here, consumed by the endless patience of the master.

That person stands in the middle of the writhing floor. A solid mat of wormlike creatures chew and burrow into his flesh. Any other man, they would destroy in a moment. His body, they sustain.

The master ponders his role in the Holy Grail War. The conditions of this War are poor, too many schemers bending the rules. The master would prefer to remain aloof, to merely observe. After all, his patience is absolute. Eternal.

But the thing he created, his experiment, is so very nearly perfect. And it, alas, will not last until the next War. It would be such a waste not to use it.

The only question is how to motivate it. If even a tiny opening could be created, then it would doubtless reach the Grail. The thing it carries will inevitably seek to rejoin the whole. All that is needed is one small opportunity to be set free. A single easing of its shackles, even for the barest instant.

Footsteps intrude upon the crypt and pass through the slithering worms.

Must I kill them all? a small voice asks.

The answer is obvious, but the master waits. Sounds wither and die in the crypt and the silence lingers for a time. He does not speak until his opportunity is ripe. And when it is,

If you wish otherwise, then I will merely observe this time.

The great sigh of relief rises above even the power of the crypt to subdue. And then,

A shame, though. In that case, I think the daughter of Tohsaka will surely win. She is obviously the most capable of these Masters.

...

...

...

...tch.

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 35: Go Team No Team!

Shirou dreams about his memories of his adoptive father.


"You know, when I was your age, I wanted to be a Hero of Justice."


"Wait, 'wanted to be'? You mean you gave up?"

Kiritsugu told Shirou that it's easy to imagine being a Hero of Justice as a kid, but it's much harder once you've actually grown up.


"Hmph. Well in that case, I'll become a Hero of Justice and fulfill your dream for you. So you don't have to worry."

Kiritsugu laughs at this, and says that sounds just fine.

Then he keels over and dies. Shirou isn't bothered by this, possibly because he's seen so many people die already. Instead he's mostly just amused at how much it looks like Kiritsugu is simply sleeping. And that's the story of how Emiya Shirou was orphaned a second time after swearing to become a Hero of Justice.

He wakes up from his dream, back in the present day. At first he's too befuddled to remember anything of what happened before.


"Huh. I wonder why my entire abdomen is wrapped in bandages. Oh well, better get breakfast."

Today, however, neither Taiga nor Sakura are waiting at the table for him. Instead, he's greeted by this friendly face.


"Why hello there, idiot."


"Oh... oh right. Ritual murder tournament. I remember now. How are you, Tohsaka?"

Rin is pissed at Shirou...


"I'm pissed at you!"

...because he managed to nearly die 3 times in a single night. Including by stupidly standing in front of his much-more-capable servant to get himself disemboweled by Berserker, in the process insulting the incredibly complex and generous healing magic which she had done to save him the first time.


"Awww, that was you with the heart pendant? You like me!"

Rin blows right past this to try to explain just how serious the Grail War is to Shirou. She shares some background on how Servants work, and her theory that Shirou's miraculous ability to heal his mortal wounds is due to Saber's botched summoning, so that he's draining healing magic from her. And she mentions the notion of ordering Servants to feed on the magic energy (souls and emotions) of living humans as a way to restore their power for incompetent Masters like Shirou. Above all, she tries to hammer home just how much danger Shirou is in. That the other Masters and Servants are going to stop at nothing to get the Holy Grail, which means they will kill Shirou if he doesn't kill them first.


"I dunno. I'd still like to find a peaceful solution to all this. I just can't bring myself to care about getting the Grail."


"Don't let Saber hear you say that, she'd probably kill you on the spot."

The Servants summoned to the War all have their own wish to acquire the Holy Grail, so they would not be pleased with a Master who did not share their goal. Shirou's reaction is simply to wonder why Saber wants the Grail.


"Anyway, at least consider Ilya and Berserker for the moment. You can agree that those fiends need to be stopped at all costs, right?"


"I like Ilya, though! She's cute!"


"She told Berserker to tear off Saber's head and rape the corpse."


"She just needs a little structure in her life. I'm sure that I can turn her around by setting a good example."


"..."


"I almost don't want to ask anymore, but would you like to join forces for a while? Between Archer's wounds and your incompetence neither of us is at full strength. Together we could still have a fighting chance."


"Sorry, Tohsaka. I don't want to fight you, but I don't think I can agree to an alliance without Saber's permission."


"Fine!"

Rin gets up to leave.


"The next time we meet, Emiya Shirou, we shall be enemies. Remember that."

And she storms out of the house.


"Huh. I wonder why I didn't just go ask Saber for permission to team up."

So do we, Shirou. So do we.

[Lorpius Prime]

Part 36: Backtracking

Shirou goes looking for Saber and finds her in the mansion's dojo. Saber gives him a follow-up to Rin's earful about risking his life to protect hers.

They talk a little more about the Holy Grail War (still mostly going over stuff that was covered in previous routes), with Saber explaining the seven classes, the noble phantasms, and showing Shirou how to sense her magic aura. They also agree that Shirou should not know Saber's true identity, lest it be wrested from him by another Master using magic or torture. Shirou will keep calling her "Saber".

They flail around for a little bit trying to think of a plan for how to proceed with the War. Mostly this is hampered by Shirou not having a clue what he's doing when it comes to magic. He wasn't even able to figure out that Rin was a magus despite going to the same school with her for two years. He's not going to have much luck finding other Masters before they arrive to kill him.

Eventually Shirou begins to wonder about Ilya. She seemed unusually interested in him, and he suddenly recalls that he's heard her name mentioned before. Saber gives a start when Shirou says Ilya's surname "Einzbern".


"Saber? Do you know something?"


"Yes... do you not know that name?"


"Not really. But I was just thinking that Shinji's and Sakura's grandfather asked me about her before we even met. What do you know about her?"


"Hmm. I think you should go back to the church. The priest can tell you about Einzbern family."


"I don't know... that guy gave me a weird vibe. I'd rather not see him again if I don't have to."


"I would prefer to avoid dealing with him, as well."


"Okay, wait, hold on. What's your problem with Kirei?"


"I was the Servant of Emiya Kiritsugu in the last Holy Grail War. Kotomine Kirei was also a Master. I didn't know his Servant, but Kiritsugu always feared Kirei most among all the Masters."


"..."


"Saber?"


"Yes, Shirou?"


"Get your poncho."


"Sweet, back to the church."