I do not own Fate/Stay Night and stuffs:

o. o. o.

Three days later:

Kiritsugu sighed almost contently as he rested in the comfortable chair in Sirius' office, drinking one of the beers the man had stashed under the desk. Reinforcing beer. Why the hell didn't anyone ever market that before? It still tasted like piss but the buzz… oh the buzz...

It almost made him forget the ache of the curse that constantly plagued his body.

His relaxed state was interrupted as the door in front of him opened to give way to Sirius and Waver walking inside. "Oi!" The bigger of the two grunted. "That's me chair yer arse is in lad!"

"And it can tell that you've broken it in fairly well Sirius." Kiritsugu briefly smirked.

The owner of the house grumbled irritably as he walked to one of the guest chairs about being disrespected. Waver went for a seat as well, however he did not take his eyes off of Kiritsugu.

"You know who I am." The cursed man stated.

"Kiritsugu Emiya. The Magus Killer." Waver stated emotionlessly. "I was wondering where you went."

"Someplace quiet to slowly die." The man shrugged casually. "The Grail was corrupted and me being the cold hearted man that I am angered it enough to curse me personally. I only have a couple of years left and I can barely perform any mysteries now."

Both of the listener's eyes widened. "Ya fergot ta tell me that part last night lad." Sirius frowned. "Ah thought ya just got grazed by some cursed Noble Phantasm."

"Must have slipped my mind." Kiritsugu nonchalantly shrugged.

The youngest of the three's eyes narrowed. Being cursed was a serious condition. Their effects varied between each one and for the most part they could be removed with enough time, however one that stemmed from the grail itself… "What do you mean by the Grail was corrupted?"

Kiritsugu sighed. "Something's inside of it. Been there since the previous war if what I know is correct, waiting to be born. Angra Mainyu..."

"Tat's an ol' legend," Sirius scratched his head. "Tha source of all ta evil in ta world. The bloody hell did he get in ta grail?"

"No clue." Kiritsugu shook his head. "What I do know is that for the sake of the world it can't be released and I used up two command spells to destroy the Grail, and accidentally caused the Fuyuki fire. Because of that thing, my wife and well over five hundred people have died for nothing, and I'm soon to follow."

The room was quiet for some time. "Is it true?" Waver got to the point. "Is he really…"

He nodded. "Yes. Archer, no, Gilgamesh is still in our plane of existence." The assassin closed his eyes. "Worse, he seems to have an actual body now somehow thanks to the Grail's contents spilling over him…"

"What!" The blacksmith stood up. "A bloody rogue and egotistical Heroic Spirit is walkin' around without a leash! The fuck are ya doin lad! Ya gotta tell da tower or da Church or…"

"That won't work." Waver grunted. "He owns literally almost every single corperal Noble Phantasm to ever exist an some that only he can use. One of them is a root forsaken anti-world phantasm." He shook his head. "They wouldn't stand a chance…"

"I know." Kiritsugu nodded. "I doubt the Church won't help without serious prompting. He seems satisfied with partnering up with Kirei Kotomine. Former Master of Assassin and a dangerous Executioner. So long as he pretends to play to their rules, it's likely they wouldn't mind holding this over everyone's heads in spite of the risk Gilgamesh poses."

"Bloody hell…" Sirius slumped into his chair. "Ya really know how ta suck tha life outa me day lad." He rubbed his forehead. "Betta get tha rest of tha bad new out befo ya show us tha light in this shit hole."

"There's several things that could qualify as bad news for us right now." Kiritsugu admitted. "However the only thing that we should focus on right now is that the next war is in about seven years… not fifty seven."

Waver's eyes narrowed instantly. "What?" He stated bluntly. "How is that possible? The Grail needs Sixty years in order to absorb the prana from the leylines in the area to have enough energy to summon the Heroic Spirits in the first place."

"I can only think it has something to do with when I forced Saber to destroy it prematurely." Kiritsugu surmised. "I had already set up explosives in the area that would cause earthquakes and disrupt the leylines in fourty years… but obviously that wasn't soon enough."

"How do ya even kno that th' war is even happenin so soon lad?" Sirius frowned. "Y'said yo'self, ya can barely do squat with your circuits."

The assassin sighed before closing his eyes. "… Roughly three months ago, I started to have dreams about the fifth war." He started off slowly. "There were four possible routes that I had watched. Through each one I managed to gain information on all of the Servants, Masters, Noble Phantasms, and abilities… minus a couple of original Masters who were killed early on by either their servants or other sources." He looked at Waver. "I did not know of Archer's identity at the end of our war, nor of that monstrous weapon of his, Ea until these visions started." Waver's eyes narrowed, having committed the name of the terrifying and bizarre weapon to memory despite having it witnessing it only once.

"Hold on now!" Sirius growled. "Dreams ya say? Other than names, what proof do ya have tat they are not just yer mind fuckin wit ya?"

Kiritsugu closed his eyes. "… I adopted a boy almost immediately after the war." He started off slowly. "He was the only one I could save from the fire. I told him I was a magus. After months of him bugging me I decided to teach him. He had no clan background as far as I could tell, but despite that he has twenty seven magic circuits in his body, all of them are fairly decent quality."

He let the two absorb the information. "His progress before the dreams was nonexistent. He had trouble doing the simplest of spells, he seemed to have no element, and the best he could do was half assed projections and surprisingly thorough structural grasping spells. It wasn't until the dreams that I found out what I was doing wrong and how bad of a teacher I was. The boy had misinterpreted my initial lessons, abandoning his circuits for his nerves, turning them into makeshift circuits every time he used magic completely by accident."

He didn't react to the shocked looks the other two were giving him. It was understandable since the boy's method was borderline suicide. One wrong step and you pretty much fry yourself from the inside out. "Not only that, but he couldn't do elemental magic because his element wasn't of the standard five. In fact it is the same as his origin." He looked up with narrowed eyes. "They're both "sword"."

"Sword?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Neva heard o someone wit that before, actually ah've neva heard o someone wit ta same origin an' element before either, but ah could have sworn there was a term for it somewhere..."

"What's the point of telling us this?" Waver frowned. "What's so special about this boy?"

Kiritsugu's head sagged, making him far more tired looking than he did before. "Shirou… my son… he was not simply just a master in the upcoming war…" He said slowly. "He was also a Servant."

The room was quiet.

"Come again?" Sirius grunted, any form of mirth gone from his body.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"This is becoming just as bizarre as you telling me that Gilgamesh is still alive." Waver seethed. "How, dare I ask is this possible?"

"The night I died… I told Shirou an old dream I had, to be a hero of justice. To save any and everyone I could see. It was a stupid thing to have in the first place. Stupid to even bring it up, but people do things like that when the end is near." Kiritsugu looked emptily at the table, fingering the beer can in his hands. "In one of the routes… in Archer's route… he stuck to that dream completely. Long after the War. And ultimately he ended up becoming a Counter Guardian in order to save the lives of a hundred people." He sighed. "The Grail takes Heroes from the Throne of Heroes. The Throne of Heroes, in turn, is outside of the standard timeline. It has Heroic Spirts from the past. The present, and as unlikely as it sounds, the future. Due to a series of events, an object he had all that life was used in the rituals of one of the Masters, causing him to be inadvertently summoned…"

"A heroic spirit in tis day an age…" Sirius whispered. "Ah tought that couldn't be done." He glanced at the speaker. "What was ta lad's Noble Phantasm though? Its supposed ta be a symbol of his power, but no one can make one tese days. Other than ta Fraga of course, but that's a story in itself."

Kiritsugu looked up and stared at Waver straight in the eyes. "… The Archer of that fifth Holy Grail War had no true Noble Phantasm. He had only one spell that he had earned throughout all his hardships, not asking for anything in return of those who he had rescued. It was an aria… ten counts, in the form of a poem about his life. A spell that was borderline sorcery."

There was a deep pause as Waver's eyes widened, realizing what the man was insinuating. "… Impossible…" The teen whispered.

Kiritsugu nodded. "Shirou has the potential to manifest a Reality Marble. Unlimited Blade Works. A world that represents his beliefs and contains the blueprint of any melee weapon he has ever seen. With it he can project even Noble Phantasms to borderline perfection… even the abilities of the weapons old masters will be retained and enable him to fight as if they were his own." He closed his eyes and recalled his dreams. "I've seen him do amazing things in the dreams. And, it is the perfect counter to fight against Gilgamesh."

"A Reality Marble…" Sirius whispered. "… Based on weapons…" He began to chuckle slowly before roaring in amusement and holding his sides. "Ahahahaha! Ah lad! Ya have given me one hell of a gift here! Ah have half a mind ta take the lad from ya and make him ma apprentice! Hahahaha! Ah the work he could help me out wit in ma research!"

"Are you insane?" Waver yelled, clearly not nearly as amused as Sirius. "Reality Marbles are forbidden to research! Even if you are telling the truth and he somehow manages to pull it off, everyone who has been confirmed to have helped him would have a Sealing Designation slapped on them in an instant!"

"I am saying this because I don't know how my actions have already impacted the future." Kiritsugu stated, not showing any change in emotion other than the state that was exhaustion. "The Archer of this oncoming war may have been changed by my actions already. Other than the use of Unlimited Blade Works, there are two other potential ways I have determined that Gilgamesh can be efficiently defeated, and they involve nothing but pure luck and forces that are just as dangerous as he is if not more."

His eyes narrowed. "Even if he is defeated, there are still potential major threats that can emerge from this oncoming war to the world. Even if either one of you receives a Sealing Designation by the end of the war, I doubt either one of you would actually be used in experiments. You both have too much standing to be wasted. As for Shirou… well he can't have a Designation if he isn't a member of the Clock Tower in the first place."

"He has a point." Sirius nodded. "Lad could be a freelancer like his old man. Long as he don't do stupid shit and cause ta Association or ta Church ta hunt him down he'd be in ta clear. 'Sides, it's not like we're ta ones doin tha magic in ta first place. Even if we did take notes on ta brat's work, we aren't dumb enough ta leave them out for people ta see." He scratched his chin. "Now tat I think about it, it's been a while since ah've had someone inside mah real workshop…"

Waver grit his teeth. He was once again stuck in a preposterous situation because of a blasted war and an annoying giant of a red headed man. The problem was that this one made even more logical sense than the previous one… although that was not really difficult all things considered.

A Reality Marble… just like the one Rider had.

Just like the one that Gilgamesh had absolutely destroyed with Ea…

"Why can this Reality Marble stand a chance against Gilgamesh when Rider's didn't?" Waver asked. "It's abilities are a good counter for his Gate of Babylon, but it would still be destroyed against Ea."

"Gilgamesh is egotistical." Kiritugu explained. "He would most likely try to beat Shirou with his gate first, no doubt wanting to destroy the "fakes" with the "originals". Should Shirou have enough skill and prana, he can not only cancel out this power, but overwhelm it. UBW is faster in its weapon creation than the gate is in unleashing its contents. This can enable for Shirou to get in close and fight him at close range. Despite having all these Noble Phantasms, Gilgamesh is simply an owner. He doesn't truly know how to wield them. Shirou on the other hand can use one of the swords he has copied from one of the other Servants to utilize their styles and finish him off quickly with technique, having pinned down the gate with his reality marble. So long as he does not take out Ea before the Reality Marble is deployed, Shirou has a solid chance of winning." He smirked. "That was how Gilgamesh was defeated in one of the routes I've seen."

"A teen beating a Heroic Spirit." Sirius shook his head and snorted. "Now ah've heard of everything" He let out a slow breath. "So where ta bloody hell do we come in lad? Ah know that yer gonna train yer boy ta not suck tis time round but what ta hell are we supposed ta do on tis side of ta planet?"

Kiritsugu closed his eyes. "I've told you both already that I'm going to die soon. Nothing I say or do will change that. I won't see the War, and odds are likely that I won't see my daughter either." He sighed, ignoring the caught off guard looks the listeners gave him, no doubt never expecting him to have a daughter in the first place. "However I will use even that to our advantage…"

His eyes opened and narrowed. Very slowly and elaborately, the Magus Killer explained his plan to the others, watching with mild interest as their expressions paled and lost all foundation with their eyes never blinking or looking away from him. "… After you deliver the items to Shirou Waver, I want you to occasionally visit him and train him in my stead to ensure that his progress is going smoothly. Make sure to enchant the container of my messages so it doesn't open until at least a few days into the war. Make sure you are not in the city during the months leading up to it to ensure that the Grail doesn't accidentally choose you as a Master."

"By ta fucking root lad…" Sirius whispered. "You're truly serious about tis."

Waver was shivering. 'Screw the Reality Marble. If the association ever got word of the boy was capable of doing to any mage he comes across in battle... I'd be blamed for helping make the second Magus Killer.'

"I take it this means you both believe me now." The man sighed in an even tone. "Shirou's a good kid. He goes out of his way to help people. In a way it's his way of dealing with his survivor's guilt from being the only one to live through the fire. To be honest, he doesn't really have a sense of self preservation when it comes to helping others. He's the type to jump in head first to help someone even if it meant he'd get hurt or killed in the process without even thinking about those particular consequences before, during or after the event…."

The father's eyes dimmed. "… I don't want him to end up like me." He muttered, his voice finally breaking. "Look at me. I sacrificed my father. My adopted mother. My wife. My partner. My daughter. Even myself to my foolish dreams to save people. This boy truly is the only thing that has enabled me to keep my mind after I've lost everything to "save the world". He's the only thing I have actually truly saved... and I'm the one that nearly killed him in the first place."

He laughed bitterly as tears actually began to fall down his face. "… Yet even still I want to help save the world. The Grail may have cursed me and ended my life early, but I've truly been dying the moment the war started again.., probably even longer." He dropped his head so that it almost touched the table, but it did nothing to stop the sounds of his now heavy crying. "Please. Help me protect my son and everything else I used to care about that still somehow still exists. My daughter is going to be a Master in this war too. She's going to be the container of the next Grail and will die if I don't do anything. She'll just be another meaningless sacrifice. I'm trying my hardest to plan for everything, to save everyone, but I know that it won't be enough. Not by myself. Please…"

Sirius and Waver were silent as they took in the sight of the broken man in front of them, begging for their aid. Despite their previous encounters and knowledge about him, neither one of them ever expected that they would ever live to see the day that the famous Magus Killer would break down in tears right in front of them like a small child.

Sirius was the first to recover, grunting tiredly and scratching the back of his head. "Damn it lad. And here I thought Natalia was a handful." He sighed and crossed his arms. "Fine. Count me in. Ah could at least use yer plan ta further mah research a bit in ta process. Just don't think ah'll be quiet about it."

Waver on the other hand was quiet, going over the situation over and over in his mind, taking in the risks of every action he could do before reaching a conclusion and closing his eyes. "This," He growled. "Has got to be one of the dumbest and irrational thing I have ever gotten myself into in my life." He waited for several seconds before relaxing his body, opening his eyes, and putting on a feeble grin. "Still, the first would always be when I stole Kayneth's artifact, ran off to Japan of all places, and participated in the previous war. I doubt I'll be in any more danger than I was hanging around Rider back then…"

The two elder men paused for a moment before chuckling to one another in mirth.

"Really?" Kiritsugu began to laugh more, the tears still streaming down his eyes. "Does that mean you knew that I had a sniper rifle pointed to the entrance to that home you stayed at for almost half a day near the end of the War?"

Waver's grin fell almost as quickly as the color in his face as the two full grown men laughed even harder.

o. o. o.