Seras little snippet thread

I gasped as I awoke.

Life.

I was alive. I jerked as I looked around my heart pounding in my chest a sense of feeling I hadn't had in a while.

Dying sucked.

Living? Living was awesome. I had no idea where I was. I realized looking around. A… Room? A shed? Tools lay scattered around me, common modern tools and parts.

It struck me then, feeling as if something was drilling into my mind.

Shirou.

I bit back the scream, instinct from both of the minds keeping quiet through the pain helping me keep from screaming bloody murder as I bashed my head into the concrete, the pain causing me to spasm and bend over so fast.

A normal mind can not gain a Reality Marble.

A Reality Marble requires a distorted perspective, an understanding of the world that is so different from reality that it supersedes reality itself.

I was Shirou

I was… A name lost to me. Gone. Traded away for a second chance.

So I was Shirou. And Shirou was made of blades.

The thought sent my mind into a flurry, my body burned as blades reached out.

Magical Circuits activated, a feeling only Shirou had ever experienced if only for a moment. Did you know they weren't a physical thing? They actually existed within the soul of the magus.

I had just gone from two people to one.

Shirou Emiya. 27 average power magical circuits.

Shirou Emiya unknown number of magical Circuits… But at least 27.

I fought the heat that burned through me. Shirou had the experience here, his knowledge helped me slow the tide of power that ran through my body. Heat and pain and cutting steel.

Slowly it faded.

What came out of the fire within our soul was us.

Shirou, but not.

Me, but Shirou.

As I lay panting onto the cool concrete thankful for the almost icy stone the only thing I could think of was that at least I wasn't EMIYA.

—--

"Shiiiirooooou!" The sound of a hungry beast called out to me minutes, or hours later. I sighed. Even if I wasn't hurting so much, I was still processing and hadn't gotten up yet. But at the call of an angry animal I rose up wiping my face down with the sleeve of my shirt, as I stood.

"Coming Fuji-nee." I called out. The voice both familiar and utterly foreign. The language familiar yet foreign.

The body familiar. Yet foreign.

I shook it off. Rising up and heading for the main house. I had been sleeping in my shed, working on making another magical circuit…

Only Shirou was an idiot and wasn't actually doing it right, I was fucking it up every time…

"Fuck." I muttered in english as the thought entered me. The few years of trying to be a magus and failing all realized in a moment that I had literally been fucking up the whole time.

"I'm gonna have to talk to Rin, huh?" I muttered realizing that the brunette was definitely going to be a dangerous conversation.

As much as I loved Rin the character. I still remember her being more than willing to murder Shirou at times during the war because that was just the kind of Magus she was.

Hopefully I could unlock her dere dere side, and become her apprentice or something instead. Maybe entice her with my Reality Marble?

The thought of UBW within me actually caused the Magus part of me to come out. I might not have learned even the basics correctly, but I did know how to self hypnotize. And unlike Shirou, my knowledge of the Reality Marble was pretty broad.

With a thought I opened my eyes not on the porch heading into the Emiya manor, but to a dusty world. Nothing moved. A few old rusted weapons lay scattered, massive gears in the muddy sky looked broken, unable to move.

But a golden light existed.

Hope.

I blinked and I was back stepping into the manor.

Reality Marble later.

Hungry Taiga now.

"Shirou! Were you sleeping in the shed again?" She roared at me.

I blinked.

She glared.

It struck me then a dichotomy in the image before me from two different minds.

Taiga was younger than I remembered her. Her clothes were different.

"Yes." I said truthfully after a few moments as I watched her glare turn into a ugly look.

"Shiiiirou!" She roared as she attacked me quickly locking me into a headlock and grinding her knuckles into the top of my head. "What have I told you! It's getting cold you're gonna get sick if you keep that up!" She roared once more before I was finally released.

"Ow! That hurt!" I snapped at her, but refrained from cussing.

I might have a potty mouth, but Shirou was a 'good boy' and Taiga would absolutely beat my ass if she caught me cursing.

"Well?"

"I'll try not to fall asleep in the shed again." I offered and she nodded hands on her hips as she huffed out a breath of air like she was granting me absolution for my sins.

"Breakfast might be late." I offered as I managed to get my hair in order only to see my words had their effect.

Fuji-nee was crushed. As if a weight had smashed into her, her knees buckled.
"B-b-but! No Breakfast!?"

I rolled my eyes at her overreaction. "Late, not none… I'm not feeling great Fuji-nee… Sorry." I offered as I headed into the kitchen. My mind was scrambled, my body felt heavy, and honestly I was ready to go take a nap or something.

Instead I walked into the kitchen, despite how I stunk of sweat, and my head still felt like my brain was oozing out of my ears.

And I started cooking. Slowly at first but picking up speed.

I didn't have any particular interest in cooking in one life.

In another, it wasn't a like or dislike. Shirou saw a task that needed doing, and he did it.

So we cooked.

It was almost autopilot, as I finished the simple meal that had Taiga drooling as I dropped it off infront of her and watched her dig in.

I sat and started eating my own.

It was good. Objectively good.

I blinked. Something that Shirou didn't have sparked in my chest.

Pride.

I smiled. It was good.

—-

In the end Taiga had classes… Yeah Taiga was still in college. Finishing up her English and Teaching degree.

I though stayed home. Even if there was school today. I was too out of sorts to deal with that.

So I first took a bath to clean the sweat away and then settled in to think.

What was I supposed to do now?

Sure I had made a deal with… Whatever that was when I died to have another life.

The thought made the Shirou part of me happy for some reason, and it took a moment before I realized that in a way Shirou had saved me.

I died. But I was alive because of Shirou.

Shirou had saved me.

Now it was my turn to save Shirou.

I could feel my mind stutter to a horrid screech when I started thinking about… Everything.

Heavens Feel. The Grail. Kiritsugu. Tohsaka the Magus. Kirei.

Gilgamesh.

But it was Sakura that caused his mind to implode.

He hadn't even met her yet, but there was a fire in my mind.

I had to save her.

I had to.

I had to.

I had to!

I will.

I blinked, exhaling. I was Emiya Shirou. I was a hero in a modern age where heroes no longer should exist.

EMIYA had been born by becoming a Counter Guardian. But that single act told me the truth.

Shirou wanted to become a Hero of Justice.

So Shirou would become a Hero.

I just needed training. I had a perfect way to save Sakura… Even if I couldn't do it yet. But all I needed was to meet Caster in the next War.

Three years.

I nodded. I was fourteen currently. I had three years to become something that the Heavens Feel Ritual wasn't ready for.

I realized then I couldn't go to Rin. Not because I didn't trust her…

Kotomine Kirei.

That bastard. Him and Gilgamesh needed to be stopped… I felt sick.

I knew what was under the temple on the hill.

The barely living bodies of all the orphans from the fire. My… Siblings in a spiritual sense. Their bodies were being used as living mana batteries to empower Gilgamesh.

If you could call that living.

Rin was so utterly entrapped by Kirei as well. He would know not long after I told her no matter how sneaky I tried to be.

He was also ruining her family wealth.

God Kirei you are such a piece of shit.

So I needed something else.

Someone else.

Options ran through my head. Sakura? Zouken? I could inform him about Gilgamesh, maybe get some basic stuff? But the very thought of speaking to that bag of worms disgusted me.

No. I would try to help Sakura until I could save her, but I couldn't use her or Zouken.

Shinji was out for the same reason.

I could… Travel? No, I was fourteen. Even if this was Japan, and I was fairly independent. Taiga would never let me leave the city limits.

Plus who would I even speak with?

Who could I ask for help with magic?

Who could I have train me to become a hero?

Who?

Who existed in this world that could help me?

No one.

Not…

Not in this world.

I opened my eyes to the living room. My living room but I rose up and hurried to the shed.

I quickly pushed everything away from the center of the shed, cleaning it up as best I could.

A bit of sweeping and mopping revealed what I wanted.

Silver.

A beautiful magical circle inlaid into the floor with silver. The circle irisviel had created for the Fourth Grail War.

I didn't know how to use it.

I didn't know how to do any magic besides three. Reinforcement. Structural Analysis. And Projection.

But what was magic in Nasu but a Mystery!

I was one of the few people in the entire world that had a Noble Phantasm at my disposal… Of sorts.

I settled into the circle. Closed my eyes and when I opened them I wasn't in the shed.

I was once more on a dirty hill. The ground I stepped on wasn't dirt but rust. The air was dirty. Like old smog. But I moved towards the one spot of light in the world.

Avalon. The Ever Distant Utopia. A promise. A vow.

A piece of me.

A piece of Arturia.

But here? In this place? A place that wasn't overwriting reality, but only existed in my soul? A place where the rules were mine to make?

I placed a hand on Avalon once I finally reached the peak of that hill. Overlooking my entire soul. I placed my hand against the only real object here.

And I pushed my soul into that sheath. Into that piece of me that was the only reason I was alive. That I had a connection to thrice over.

It had in a way taken part in my birth.

It had skewed my soul towards blades. Creating the very setting needed for my Reality Marble to form.

And it belonged to my once and future lover.

The Throne of heroes existed outside of time. The past, the present and future were all one. Known.

So Avalon which had been used to summon Saber from the past, and would again? It must have connected to the root at some point. Avalon which existed in the past, and was promised in the future must know Arturia's touch on me.

Why else would it slowly heal me even when she didn't exist? When her Prana didn't even exist in the modern time?

It wasn't like the Fourth Grail War, when it healed Irisviel because Arturia was right there to feed it Prana.

Her prana didn't exist, and yet it was still active. Still healing. Still working.

Just slowly. Barely. But it was there. A tiny flow of its effects working on my body.

Yet I couldn't activate it.

I didn't have prana.

I didn't know how to activate my circuits…

But I knew how to fake it. I was a Faker after all.

No.

I was THE Faker.

I couldn't make Real Noble Phantasms. So I would fake them.

I couldn't be a real Magus. So I would fake my Mysteries.

I couldn't activate my real Circuits? I would just Fake them.

It was so easy. A habit. Even as I prepared for the pain I activated the mantra that I had created to create an artificial circuit.

It was the only way Shirou knew how to use Prana. Anything he wanted to do he had to do this. A fake circuit providing just a single instant's worth of Prana.

But it was all I needed.

The pain of a molten hot rod shoved into my spine was ignored.

It was nothing.

Not for Shirou. And it was worse than anything I had experienced… Except my death.

But pain to become a Hero? To learn magic? To do something amazing?

It didn't stop me.

Couldn't stop me.

"AVALON!" I screamed as I pumped the Prana into the artifact. Normally it wouldn't activate.

Normally it would refuse a foreign prana.

Normally.

Normally, it wasn't being used by a Faker.

Normally it wasn't someone in a Reality Marble. Touching upon the Everdistant Utopia that Arturia had already, or not yet invited him to.

Shirou was destined to reach Avalon to lay beside the Kingthat had fallen in love with him.

And in a moment. As everything shifted. As a young boy sat in a magical circle in his shed, his hands squeezed so tight blood dripped down his hands onto the magical circle. A circle created by a woman created for a singular purpose. To activate Heaven's Feel. A place that already had a link to beyond the world.

Shirou.

I.

Fell from the world.

Into the Reverse World.

Then nothing was there. An empty shed.

—--

Grass.

I was cool, but warm. A warm sun and a cool breeze. The grass was soft.

I didn't want to wake up, but slowly. My eyes slipped open and I blinked.

Beautiful.

Perfect.

A utopia.

I sat up and to my shock something heavy was on my chest.

Avalon. The sheath was fully materialized sitting beside me. Waiting.

But Avalon the place stole my breath. I spent minutes, and hours just sitting there, staring into the perfect world I now resided in.

A utopia. Everdistant… But no longer.

I stood up. Pulling Avalon into my arms.

I had done it. I had actually done something so insane it was considered impossible.

I had forced myself, a modern human, into the reverse world. I breathed in, and out, and already I felt better than I ever had before in either life.

The mana in the air. The safety of the realm I now existed in protecting me from anything negative.

I looked, and there it was. A tower floating above. A tower holding one of the most powerful wizards of all time. A tower that wasn't a tower.

But a prison.

I stood on the greenest grass I could imagine, but below the tower was a field of infinite pink flowers.

It was beautiful.

I started walking. One foot in front of the other. I had no idea how I was going to reach Merlin.

I had no idea how I was going to save him, if I even could.

But it didn't matter.

I was Emiya Shirou.

I saved people. It's what I existed for… Hah. Even with the memories of a normal human Shirou's mind was not so easily washed away.

Now despite knowing that I was a pretty selfish person. I knew if anyone needed help I would help them. I was going to be a hero.

So I walked. The grass didn't resist me, it wasn't like walking up a hill in the real world. It was as easy as if the world pushed me along. I never got tired. I never started to sweat. I never felt thirsty. Or hungry.

I walked, and eventually I was there. At the top of the hill…

This was it. The hill that Shirou and Saber had promised to meet atop in the Fate Route.

I was here…

"I'm here." I whispered aloud, closing my eyes and breathing. "But it's not time yet… But I'll meet you here someday. Arturia." I said aloud but then I looked up.

The tower that was a trap. It was hundreds of feet above my head. And I couldn't fly.

I sighed realizing that I was going to be in for a pain in the ass trying to reach Merlin.

—--

I was laying back, in the valley of flowers staring up at the bottom of the tower.

Well I had no idea how to get up there.

I had no Noble Phantasm inside me. Only Avalon at my side.

Avalon was a Sheath, not a weapon. I couldn't even try to damage the tower to help Merlin escape.

I might have maybe, potentially, probably made a mistake.

I had no idea how to leave either.

At least I couldn't age, get hungry or thirsty in here.

It was a Utopia after all.

No. I shook myself. I wasn't one to just give up. Not here. I couldn't use magic… So what else did I have?

Well… I could project stuff. I was unable to be injured here within Avalon… Could I project enough stuff to make like a glider or something? The wind here was pretty nice…

Well that was option two. I didn't really want to find out what that would feel like.

So instead I decided on option two.

With a bit of work and a surprisingly painless magical circuit creation, I projected my new tool.

I took a deep breath, even reinforcing my lungs and throat so I could do this.

"MMMMMMMMMEEEEERLLIIIIIN!!" I roared into the twenty foot long megaphone I had projected. It wasn't a modern electrical one or anything. Just a big piece of metal aimed up that should help amplify my voice.

It did.

Then I waited. Looking up into the sky my hand covering my golden eyes.

And I waited.

And I waited.

"MMMMMMEEEEEEERRRRRLLIIIIIIIN!" I tried again after a few minutes of no response.

That time I noticed something. Up above something was being done. Magic!? It was magic I was seeing Merlin cas-

A massive ball of water slammed onto my head smashing me into the ground. Painlessly…

But it still surprised me!

Once it was over I puffed out the mouthful of water I had as I lay face into the ground.

At least there was no mud or anything. I guess someone *Arturia* had decided that mud wasn't allowed in a Utopia.

She was pretty smart.

I looked over at my megaphone.

Yeah that was gonna need to be projected back out. It was already disappearing into sparkles.

"C'mon Merlin. I know you know I'm here… I need your help." I spoke to the sky in a normal voice. "Please… I want to save Arturia. I want to save Sakura! And Rin! Hell I want to save the world and keep the Fifth Grail War from causing a catastrophe… I can't do it without help."

Then to my surprise I saw it. Something was coming down.

A rope. It unrolled at the bottom, swaying lightly in the breeze and I looked from it. Up to the tower.

"I couldn't get a ladder?" I couldn't help but ask. Then I saw it and hurriedly rushed for the rope to start climbing as another massive ball of water slammed into the ground where I was standing.

"Yeah yeah. I'm coming. I'm ugh. Coming." I grunted. I took a moment to project a bit of my own rope to tie Avalon onto me. Then I started climbing. At least I wasn't getting tired.

I looked down.

Good thing I wasn't scared of heights.

—--

It took me a long while to make it all the way up the rope, and if it wasn't for Avalon I would be sweating, exhausted, and ready to pass out. Instead I simply rolled over the edge of the stone barriers and exhaled as I finally reached the top. The top was wrapped around the stone barrier I just climbed over showing how little Merlin was willing to help out.

He couldn't even pull me up?

I blinked as a white fur and blue eyes looked down at me.

"Well hello Fou." I said recognizing the creature instantly.

"Who is Fou?" It asked back. Its voice surprised me deeply.

"Arturia?" I couldn't help but ask, because that was her voice!

"No I am-"

"It reminds me of her. A little personal thing I did to give me a sense of home." Another voice popped out I looked over.

There he was. Merlin.

"Hi Merlin."

"Hello Emiya Shirou… Or at least that is who I assume you are, even though I know Emiya Shirou never comes here. Not at this time."

"I need your help. To save Arturia during the Fifth Grail War." I said simply and he raised his eyebrow at me.

"Now how do you know anything about something that hasn't even happened yet?"

"It hasn't happened yet… In this timeline." I answered bluntly. "But it has in others… Merl-"

"No. Honestly you should leave. This isn't a place for a modern human. I'm honestly surprised you are even able to breath with the mana so dense… Then again you are carrying the sheath." He muttered a bit to himself.

"Merlin. I need your help. Please. I can't save Arturia like the timeline says. I know too much now and I'll definitely mess it up if I don't have any preparation. I can't go to Rin. That will put her in danger. I can't go to Sakura she is monitored by the worms. I don't have any other magus I can trust to help me… Please. Help me become a Hero."

His eyes never shifted from the bored look. The smile on his face was fake. I knew it. He knew it. And he knew I knew it.

"No. The world will go on, even without you. Go home child. Your path is your own."

I sat there staring up at Merlin, at a man that honestly was a power for good, but he also had a tendency to sit on the sidelines and watch.

"The Sheath." I said finally. The only thing I could think of.

"Yes?"

"You once asked Arturia which was greater. The Sword, or the Sheath. The answer is the Sheath." I told him as I stood up. Holding that Sheath in my arms. "I'm a sword. My soul is a sword… but the Sheath is greater. It holds the capacity for peace. A sword can't find peace without one."

"That's dumb. A sword is better." Fou called out as he looked on. "You should throw this kid off the tower Merlin. I just know he is going to be loud."

"Now Cath, no need for irritation. The boy is right." He said smiling a little more real than before. "Besides… I suppose he is right. If he is going to save little Arturia he'll need a little push."

"Merlin! Thank you! I need to learn how to activate my Magi-"

"First task."

"First task?" I repeated back after a moment as he reached forward and pushed me.

"Just a little push!"

"MEEEEEeeeerliiiin!" I screamed as the fucker pushed me right off the tower, but when I hit the ground instead of the bed of flowers I slammed into concrete knocking the air out of me.

"O-ow." I wheezed as I caught my breath I didn't have Avalon in my arms! I looked around realizing it was gone, before realizing I was in the shed. I was…

Back in the normal world. The mana in the air was almost… Acrid.

Like going from fresh mountain air, to being stuck on a plane with a bad air recycler. It was bad.

I quickly searched my Reality Marble. Just a second to hypnotize myself to glance inside and be assured Avalon was still there before I relaxed. Catching my breath.

"Dammit. He pushed me!"

Of course it wasn't long after that I realized that while I had been gone a long time in Avalon, time did still pass in the real world.

Taiga was pissed that I had disappeared for the entire afternoon after staying home from school.

I cooked her a feast to calm the wild beast.

I wondered which was more dangerous, Cath Palug: Primate Murder, or a hungry Taiga?

—--

That night after feeding my wild Taiga I sat out on the veranda letting the cool air calm my head.

I had done it. I had traveled to the Reverse World! A place where gods and phantasmal beasts still roamed!

I had been to Avalon. A Utopia.

But Merlin was a dick.

"I guess I'll try again on the weekend?" I asked the sky, I wasn't going to give up. Even if Merlin had pushed me out of Avalon I had made it there once. I could do it again.

I stood and headed to bed, enjoying the very traditional Japanese home that was so very foreign to a part of me, and perfectly normal to another.

As I settled in it didn't take long to fall asleep. I had spent what felt like longer than the twelve-ish hours I had been gone in Avalon. My body was perfectly fine, probably better than fine, but my mind was a little tired.

So I fell asleep.

Instantly I wasn't in my room, in my bed.

I was atop the tower in Avalon. Avalon the sheath in my arms.

"Step one." He said cutting me off. As he stepped forward gently grabbing Avalon from my arms he set it on a table that appeared with a wave of his hand.

"Step one?" I asked, confused looking around to see Cath Palug in a different spot than he had been laying in before.

I turned back to Merlin. And then he smiled.

Darkly.

"I don't think I'm going to like step one."

"No one likes step one." Fou said. No this was before he lost his sentience resurrecting Mash. Cath Palug. Primate Murder in another life.

"Don't worry. You aren't actually in Avalon. I couldn't do this to you in Avalon." He said with a happy smile.

"I'm suddenly not feeling so-URK!" I gasped as Merlin slammed a fist into my chest.

No, not into my chest. Through my chest! I glanced down and his entire hand was inside!

"If you want to be a hero. Survive." he told me.

But I was screaming. Pain! I was feeling horrible horrible pain!

My insides burned.

My outsides burned. My skin melted my soul shuddered.

I fought it. I fought back against the immense pain.

It was worse even than when I created a fake circuit. It wasn't just my spine in pain. It was my everything.

I screamed and thrashed atop the tower, that wasn't actually the tower in Avalon for who knows how long.

Until finally it seemed to ease. And my body stopped burning, even if it still hurt.

I opened my mouth to say something to Merlin. Probably to cuss him out when I suddenly jerked awake.

"Shirou!" She said urgently sitting next to me. Her face a rictus of concern. I was breathing heavily. I felt… Wet. Soaked with sweat. My body felt like it was on fire.

"Shirou! I'm going to call an ambulance! Jus-"

"N-No." I said, I had grabbed her as she tried to rise up. "I-I'll be okay… I'm feeling… Better." It od her but one look at me had her shaking a bit as she shook me off.

I wanted to fight her but she was gone.

I couldn't even think about it before she was back. I had to spend every piece of my mind just fighting against the burning inside me.

But then there was coolness.

"Fine. I won't call an ambulance, but you had better get better soon Shirou. If you don't break this fever in a few hours I'll carry you to the hospital myself!" She hissed at me, her eyes looking a little teary eyed as she ran a cold cloth over my forehead.

Oh.

That felt nice.

It still hurt. My insides burned, but at least as my eyelids grew heavy it wasn't so bad as she cooled my forehead.