It was cold.
Before anything else, this single fact made itself apparent in the young boy's mind as he woke up for the first time in days. Lying in bed for at least a minute, eyes not yet even open, he thought about how cold it was, and just why it seemed so strange. There had been worse days - days where it had felt like his whole body would freeze - yet, none of them had ever felt quite so unnatural.
And then, he remembered, a flood of memories returning to him. Flames that had engulfed everything. Screams of young and old alike. The smell of burning flesh, mixing in with the smoke. Bodies, like his own, still moving, struggling, crying out in despair. Then, silence reigning over all.
Back then, after the scorching heat of the fires died down, it had been cold too. Cold, and dark.
The boy bolted up in bed, shivering even as his own body was coated in sweat. He looked around, at his hands, at his room, for anything that could convince himself that it was but a dream. Yet, though there were no scars on his body, no signs that he had been through any blaze at all, everything else had changed.
This was not his bed. This was not his room. Though he could not be sure, he had a feeling that he was in the hospital. No matter how he looked at it, he was no longer at home.
The door opened. The boy looked towards it, hoping for his parents to take him back. However, the man that walked through it was no relative of his?
"So, you have finally woken up?"
The man asked his question with a passive face, the answer already clear. It was nothing more than courtesy; even the boy understood. Courtesy, as well, required his reply.
"Yes."
There was no strength in his voice, nor in his body. Still, he strained to remain sitting up, lest he fall asleep once more. At the very least, he had to know one thing.
"What happened?"
The man stared at him. The boy stared back. There wasn't an answer, only another question.
"Would you like to come with me, boy?"
And, the boy wasn't sure what to say. That was only expected.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, if you do." Silently, the boy nodded, and the man smiled an odd smile. "Well then, what's your name?"
The boy paused for a moment, trying to remember. For some reason, part of it eluded him. In the end, "Shirou," was enough.
---
"Kotomine Shirou" By Mereo Flere
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night
---
It would be a few days before Shirou could leave the hospital. Even if his body showed no signs of injury on the outside, the nurse had insisted that he remained in bed. He protested a little, wanting to leave the place as soon as possible, but in the end he was convinced to at least have a few tests done.
Though it wasn't long, it gave him some time to think; enough for all of his denials to face the harsh reality. From the very first day he didn't need to look far to find other victims of whatever happened. Outside of his door, he could always hear the medical staff rushing back and forth, and patients sometimes were carried past on gurneys. The families were always the loudest though; with so many people missing, many were still trying to find their loved ones here, only to have no luck.
When that man came to pick him up, however, Shirou saw that things were worse than he had expected. A single step outside of the building greeted him to what appeared to have been a war zone. The destruction had reached every part of the city to some degree, with a few blocks seeming to be simply gone, and many more were in ruin.
At the same time, he wasn't that surprised. As someone who had been caught up in the very heart of the disaster, he remembered first hand (if only a little vaguely) just how terrible it had been. To see his home in such a state, what filled him was an already accepted despair.
If it were that simple, though, then there would have been no purpose for this man - Kotomine, as the man had Shirou address him - to have brought him along. There was definitely something more to be said. There was something strange about what had happened, and Kotomine knew something about it.
Shirou's own self, which should have died in that fire, was proof of that.
"Why did you bring me here?" Shirou asked, as they walked through what remained of the central park. Devoid of any life, it brought a chill to him just being here. He knew, without a doubt, that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Kotomine looked around, his hands clasped behind his back, before facing Shirou. "I've brought you here because there is nobody to interrupt us. More importantly, this is where I found you."
That made sense; after all, he remembered being here. At the same time, it didn't. The earth itself seemed to be scorched, and from what Shirou had overheard in the hospital this place had been at the center of the catastrophe.
It should have been impossible for him to still be alive. Even as a child, he understood that.
"You don't believe me."
Shirou looked up at the man before him, and tried to deny it. Nevertheless, there was no fooling Kotomine.
"I just don't understand..."
"You don't need to," Kotomine said. "You are still a child, after all. All you need to understand is the fact that you are alive, rather than why. The only question that you should consider is what you will do with the life that you have been granted."
The boy looked around, as if he were trying to find an answer in the barren field. There was nothing in that small wasteland, no revelation in his field of sight. Closing his eyes, Shirou made a fist, and sought his answer from within.
Living was not enough. For all those that had died, a single life would not make a difference. If he wanted to make it up to them, then the only thing he could do was prevent any more from suffering the same fate.
"I...want to be a hero. I want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. I want to save lives."
Kotomine's expression did not change, though Shirou could feel the other's eyes upon him, as if judging his resolve. "Such a path won't be easy to follow."
Shirou nodded. "I know."
"Would you continue to chase it, even at the cost of your own happiness?"
Again, another nod, no hesitation at all. "Yes."
"Even if you had to kill one person to save someone else?"
"I..." Shirou stopped. The truth was, he hadn't thought about that.
Kotomine waited a moment, before placing a hand on the boy's head. Shirou was surprised, though Kotomine seemed like he hadn't been expecting a reply. "Very well then, I'll help you realize that dream."
Shirou's eyes widened, and then he smiled weakly. "Thank you. Though...you still haven't told me who you really are."
"Ah, yes," Kotomine said, as if he had forgotten. "My name is Kotomine Kirei - and I am a magus."
---
Ten years had passed since that day. Many things changed in that decade, as they tended to do as life went on. Fuyuki City itself had gone through the most obvious changes. In that time, nearly all of the repairs had been finished, and people had begun moving to the city again. The city was thriving, just as it had in the time before the disaster.
There were other changes as well. Kotomine Kirei took his father's place as the priest at the local church. Shirou himself had been adopted by that man, taking on his name as his own. When Kirei disappeared from time to time, it had was Shirou who took care of the church, watching it when his father couldn't. Even when he was going to school, its maintenance had been part of his responsibility.
However...the biggest change in Shirou's life was the one the outside world couldn't see.
A magus. That was what Kirei had called himself, in that time long ago. Though he didn't know what that was at the time, that was the first thing he was taught in his training. Thaumaturgy, though there was a difference between True Magic and this, those who used it for whatever purpose they may have were considered magi.
It was this that Shirou strove to become. In order to protect people, he would need power; Kirei had taught him early on that a good intention by itself was meaningless. Learning how to fight; learning when to fight; all of this, he had to do.
Despite the fact that he had no talent as a magus, he struggled, he trained, trying to overcome his own weakness. Kirei watched him, and occasionally guided him, but ultimately the grueling training regiment was something that Shirou enforced upon himself.
Breathing. More than anything else - he practiced that. In order to make his spells stronger, he focused his body to act as a circuit. Doing so would master the flow of his prana...yet, one could only get so far with such little time and talent. Seven years was not nearly enough, and Shirou knew that he did not have the skill needed. Understanding the principle behind it was not the same as going through with it, after all.
In the end, he had run out of time. Sooner than anybody had expected, the Holy Grail War approached. It was the same war that Kirei before him had taken part in, and the very same war that he had prepared himself for all this time. To prevent the kind of tragedy that had happened a decade ago, what Kirei had told him had happened, he would become a master in that war.
"Are you ready?" Kirei asked with a steady voice, as he led Shirou into the basement of the church. "You still have the choice to turn back."
Shirou wasn't. They both knew that. However, Shirou wouldn't let such a small thing get in his way. All those years ago, it had already been decided what his life would be. Even if he hadn't become Kotomine Shirou, he would have followed this path, in some form or another.
"This is what I have to do."
Shirou stepped into the magic circle that had been drawn earlier. Hidden in the shadows, away from where his adopted son could see, Kotomine Kirei could only smirk.
-End of Chapter 1-
Before anything else, this single fact made itself apparent in the young boy's mind as he woke up for the first time in days. Lying in bed for at least a minute, eyes not yet even open, he thought about how cold it was, and just why it seemed so strange. There had been worse days - days where it had felt like his whole body would freeze - yet, none of them had ever felt quite so unnatural.
And then, he remembered, a flood of memories returning to him. Flames that had engulfed everything. Screams of young and old alike. The smell of burning flesh, mixing in with the smoke. Bodies, like his own, still moving, struggling, crying out in despair. Then, silence reigning over all.
Back then, after the scorching heat of the fires died down, it had been cold too. Cold, and dark.
The boy bolted up in bed, shivering even as his own body was coated in sweat. He looked around, at his hands, at his room, for anything that could convince himself that it was but a dream. Yet, though there were no scars on his body, no signs that he had been through any blaze at all, everything else had changed.
This was not his bed. This was not his room. Though he could not be sure, he had a feeling that he was in the hospital. No matter how he looked at it, he was no longer at home.
The door opened. The boy looked towards it, hoping for his parents to take him back. However, the man that walked through it was no relative of his?
"So, you have finally woken up?"
The man asked his question with a passive face, the answer already clear. It was nothing more than courtesy; even the boy understood. Courtesy, as well, required his reply.
"Yes."
There was no strength in his voice, nor in his body. Still, he strained to remain sitting up, lest he fall asleep once more. At the very least, he had to know one thing.
"What happened?"
The man stared at him. The boy stared back. There wasn't an answer, only another question.
"Would you like to come with me, boy?"
And, the boy wasn't sure what to say. That was only expected.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, if you do." Silently, the boy nodded, and the man smiled an odd smile. "Well then, what's your name?"
The boy paused for a moment, trying to remember. For some reason, part of it eluded him. In the end, "Shirou," was enough.
---
"Kotomine Shirou" By Mereo Flere
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night
---
It would be a few days before Shirou could leave the hospital. Even if his body showed no signs of injury on the outside, the nurse had insisted that he remained in bed. He protested a little, wanting to leave the place as soon as possible, but in the end he was convinced to at least have a few tests done.
Though it wasn't long, it gave him some time to think; enough for all of his denials to face the harsh reality. From the very first day he didn't need to look far to find other victims of whatever happened. Outside of his door, he could always hear the medical staff rushing back and forth, and patients sometimes were carried past on gurneys. The families were always the loudest though; with so many people missing, many were still trying to find their loved ones here, only to have no luck.
When that man came to pick him up, however, Shirou saw that things were worse than he had expected. A single step outside of the building greeted him to what appeared to have been a war zone. The destruction had reached every part of the city to some degree, with a few blocks seeming to be simply gone, and many more were in ruin.
At the same time, he wasn't that surprised. As someone who had been caught up in the very heart of the disaster, he remembered first hand (if only a little vaguely) just how terrible it had been. To see his home in such a state, what filled him was an already accepted despair.
If it were that simple, though, then there would have been no purpose for this man - Kotomine, as the man had Shirou address him - to have brought him along. There was definitely something more to be said. There was something strange about what had happened, and Kotomine knew something about it.
Shirou's own self, which should have died in that fire, was proof of that.
"Why did you bring me here?" Shirou asked, as they walked through what remained of the central park. Devoid of any life, it brought a chill to him just being here. He knew, without a doubt, that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Kotomine looked around, his hands clasped behind his back, before facing Shirou. "I've brought you here because there is nobody to interrupt us. More importantly, this is where I found you."
That made sense; after all, he remembered being here. At the same time, it didn't. The earth itself seemed to be scorched, and from what Shirou had overheard in the hospital this place had been at the center of the catastrophe.
It should have been impossible for him to still be alive. Even as a child, he understood that.
"You don't believe me."
Shirou looked up at the man before him, and tried to deny it. Nevertheless, there was no fooling Kotomine.
"I just don't understand..."
"You don't need to," Kotomine said. "You are still a child, after all. All you need to understand is the fact that you are alive, rather than why. The only question that you should consider is what you will do with the life that you have been granted."
The boy looked around, as if he were trying to find an answer in the barren field. There was nothing in that small wasteland, no revelation in his field of sight. Closing his eyes, Shirou made a fist, and sought his answer from within.
Living was not enough. For all those that had died, a single life would not make a difference. If he wanted to make it up to them, then the only thing he could do was prevent any more from suffering the same fate.
"I...want to be a hero. I want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. I want to save lives."
Kotomine's expression did not change, though Shirou could feel the other's eyes upon him, as if judging his resolve. "Such a path won't be easy to follow."
Shirou nodded. "I know."
"Would you continue to chase it, even at the cost of your own happiness?"
Again, another nod, no hesitation at all. "Yes."
"Even if you had to kill one person to save someone else?"
"I..." Shirou stopped. The truth was, he hadn't thought about that.
Kotomine waited a moment, before placing a hand on the boy's head. Shirou was surprised, though Kotomine seemed like he hadn't been expecting a reply. "Very well then, I'll help you realize that dream."
Shirou's eyes widened, and then he smiled weakly. "Thank you. Though...you still haven't told me who you really are."
"Ah, yes," Kotomine said, as if he had forgotten. "My name is Kotomine Kirei - and I am a magus."
---
Ten years had passed since that day. Many things changed in that decade, as they tended to do as life went on. Fuyuki City itself had gone through the most obvious changes. In that time, nearly all of the repairs had been finished, and people had begun moving to the city again. The city was thriving, just as it had in the time before the disaster.
There were other changes as well. Kotomine Kirei took his father's place as the priest at the local church. Shirou himself had been adopted by that man, taking on his name as his own. When Kirei disappeared from time to time, it had was Shirou who took care of the church, watching it when his father couldn't. Even when he was going to school, its maintenance had been part of his responsibility.
However...the biggest change in Shirou's life was the one the outside world couldn't see.
A magus. That was what Kirei had called himself, in that time long ago. Though he didn't know what that was at the time, that was the first thing he was taught in his training. Thaumaturgy, though there was a difference between True Magic and this, those who used it for whatever purpose they may have were considered magi.
It was this that Shirou strove to become. In order to protect people, he would need power; Kirei had taught him early on that a good intention by itself was meaningless. Learning how to fight; learning when to fight; all of this, he had to do.
Despite the fact that he had no talent as a magus, he struggled, he trained, trying to overcome his own weakness. Kirei watched him, and occasionally guided him, but ultimately the grueling training regiment was something that Shirou enforced upon himself.
Breathing. More than anything else - he practiced that. In order to make his spells stronger, he focused his body to act as a circuit. Doing so would master the flow of his prana...yet, one could only get so far with such little time and talent. Seven years was not nearly enough, and Shirou knew that he did not have the skill needed. Understanding the principle behind it was not the same as going through with it, after all.
In the end, he had run out of time. Sooner than anybody had expected, the Holy Grail War approached. It was the same war that Kirei before him had taken part in, and the very same war that he had prepared himself for all this time. To prevent the kind of tragedy that had happened a decade ago, what Kirei had told him had happened, he would become a master in that war.
"Are you ready?" Kirei asked with a steady voice, as he led Shirou into the basement of the church. "You still have the choice to turn back."
Shirou wasn't. They both knew that. However, Shirou wouldn't let such a small thing get in his way. All those years ago, it had already been decided what his life would be. Even if he hadn't become Kotomine Shirou, he would have followed this path, in some form or another.
"This is what I have to do."
Shirou stepped into the magic circle that had been drawn earlier. Hidden in the shadows, away from where his adopted son could see, Kotomine Kirei could only smirk.
-End of Chapter 1-