Sometimes, it only takes one good intention to spark the fires of battles.
The wish to save a daughter, the desire to seal a weapon that could end civilization at the smallest possible cost, the vision of making one’s world safe from threats… All of these created conflicted that changed the future of those who took part in it. And the conflict to come would be no different from them.
How much could you do with a wish? And what if you could create the possibility to make that wish?
Those were the questions sparked by a single, well-hidden report from an event on unadministered world #97, Earth.
The 5th Holy Grail War.
Because it had involved agents of the TSAB, a report had to be made. But knowing what it could do, the report was made to be passed as quickly as possible by as few eyes as possible.
Unfortunately, the achievements of three earthborn mages destroyed the chances of that plan being completely successful. It was read and analyzed by curious minds in the hope of understanding one of the most powerful non-TSAB mage of this era, the deceased Emiya Shirou.
It failed, of course. Shirou’s abilities were born well before the conflict and the Grail simply helped the growth of his powers and his mindset. But one man set his curiosity on something else entirely.
He did not understand why all others minds didn’t see what he saw. Was it so hard to believe others worlds could develop magic in ways they were never able to? Did they simply ignore the fact that Heroes -Legendary souls of that world’s history- could be brought into existence, retaining their powers of old that could easily decimate any and all non S-rank mage agents they had?
And if that was possible, what about the wish, the prize of the War that called forth powers that blew away what they assumed as facts?
And so, this man knew what he had to do.
Funds were arranged. Contacts were made. Negotiations were conducted and plans were made. All this was done in secrecy, since that man believed some would try to stop him if they knew what he was doing.
It didn’t matter. If his experiment succeeded, they would recognize the need for his experimentation and that if a few lives were lost to it, then so be it.
The name of the experiment was the 6th Holy Grail War.
Since it needed to be as close to the real thing as possible to replicate the results, the man arranged for the experiment to be as close as possible to what previous Wars had. 6 families were secretly contacted about the War and each sent a participant, unwilling to pass up the chance to succeed where many failed. To see if his artificial Grail was valid, the man would let it chose the 7th Master. The man and his hired agents would play the role of mediation and observation from a hidden location. It would take place in Fuyuki city but its current administrator would no be contacted, since she would not support it. Instead, barriers would be raised when open conflict was engaged to avoid detection.
Yes, everything was set in place and it was working! Already, the Seals appeared on the chosen Masters and some had already summoned their Servants. Already, the man believed it was a sign that Man could attain the power of miracles.
But in his beliefs and joy, the man failed to take into account one single thing.
Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
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“Even after so much time as passed, it’s still as dead…”
Those words were uttered by Emiya Vivio, currently visiting Fuyuki city. She was currently seeing the area of the great fire that happened many years ago. Despite what many believed, everything was as it was before. Nothing grew and no animal dared to stay here.
Vivio wasn’t sure why exactly she went to the city. She wasn’t sure where she wanted her life to go and in an impulsive moment wondered about the city that shaped so much of her father’s mindset. But so far, it seemed it was only a loss of time on her part. The traces of the conflict from so many years ago were all gone by this point.
With a sigh, Vivio turned back. It would be dark pretty soon and Sakura would be waiting for her. She had only been allowed to go alone on the condition that she would stay with her, as no girl as young as her should travel completely alone, at least not on Earth. As much as they liked her home world, Nanoha and Hayate knew that it wasn’t perfect.
“I wonder how long I should stay… Should I even have come here, Chris?” Vivio asked, not really expecting a reply from her device. Her Device was hidden in her bag, as a flying rabbit would be sure to attract attention here.
As she walked, she unconsciously rubbed her left hand. All day, it had been tingling for no reason she could think of. She decided she would ask Sakura about it once she returned, as she refused to believe it was normal.
Not attentive to her surroundings, she never noticed the pair of eyes observing her…
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“That power coming from her and how she scratches her hand… There’s no doubt that she the seventh.” A man asked, hidden from view in an alley.
“Should I strike now?” Another asked.
“She hasn’t summoned her Servant yet. If we act now, the Grail will just decide on another for the seventh.”
“Then what if I provoked her to summon it, Master?” The voice asked. “As it is summoned, I strike her down and then the Servant will be next immediately after, completely confused.”
“Not a bad idea… I’ll call a barrier on the target. Go get her, Assassin.”
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As soon as the barrier settled, Vivio knew something was wrong. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew what to do.
“Sacred Heart, s-“
But she would not be allowed to.
“Wha- Ahh?!”
A knife appeared, aimed for her raised arm. Vivio fell back in surprise to avoid it, cancelling the set up.
A red line appeared on her flesh, blood dripping from it. But the girl would not be allowed to dwell on it. Two more were sent, planting themselves just before her feet.
Had she been less terrified about the current events, Vivio would have seen that those strikes were not intended to be lethal. If they had, she would have died on the first attack.
But her terror disregarded it. With no more attack coming but still not seeing her attacker, Vivio stood up and ran away, not believing she had any chance to transform here.
What was going on?! Why was someone after her?! Who wanted to kill her?! Vivio thought she was used to terror from the times of the Jail incident. But the devil you could see could not induce the terror of the one you couldn’t, with the possibility of death coming from anywhere.
“Aren’t you going to summon your Servant?” A voice whispered as she ran.
With a shriek, Vivio fell to the side. Standing right next to her was a man entirely black, dressed in an equally dark cloak. The only non-black feature of the man was what Vivio’s sight was fixed on, a white skeletal mask.
The man said nothing, only observing her fallen form as her terror held her in place.
“Mmm… Perhaps you are the uninvited one my Master talked about.” The black man said after a few moments, talking to himself. “In this case, you would have no idea what is going on. Your orders, Master?”
“Kill her, of course.” A new voice said. “It’s the same rules as before for witnesses and I will not stay here all night just to wait for her to summon something by accident.”
“No…” Vivio muttered, finding the energy to crawl backward at those words. Her bag was left where it had fallen, completely forgotten. “No…!”
“Very well then.” The black man answered. A throwing knife appeared in his hands.
Was that it? Was her life truly going to end here?
“So…Someone, help me… Please…”
“Farewell, young lady.”
“HELP!!!!”
And like that, the die was thrown.
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A blast erupted from the bag, shredding it and its contents. A magic circle appeared, with Chris hovering above it glowing in its same light.
“What the hell, a toy as a Servant?” The unseen man asked.
“No!” The black man said in reply. “It’s the catalyst, the Servant will appear now.” And as he finished saying this, he threw the knife, now falling back to the plan he proposed earlier.
But this time, it was deflected.
Vivio, who had been staring at the magic circle, barely had time to notice the weapon aimed at her heart. But as she turned her head, a new strange man appeared and deflected it with a sword.
No… He wasn’t a strange man. The hair, the skin, she sword he used to deflect the knife…
“I could take you out now, but I feel generous today. Go away, NOW!” The man who defended her said, still facing away from her.
The black man took a few steps back before vanishing, unwilling to take his chances at a direct battle. The barrier dropped soon after. Luckily for the two remaining at the scene, no one was around.
Vivio noticed nothing of it. She was still staring at the man who saved her. Was it really…
“I ask of you…” He said, as he was turning.
That voice… Vivio’s mind refused to believe. How was it possible? As much as she wanted all this to be true, it couldn’t be possible!
But when he faced her, she simply stopped thinking.
“Are you my daughter?” Emiya Shirou asked, smiling at his daughter.
“Papa… Papa!!!” Vivio screamed, running to hold the man she lost and missed for so long. She held him with as much strength as she could, burying her crying face into him. She had no idea what was going on and what had just happened. But she knew everything would be alright.
Papa was here to help her, so everything would turn alright.
Originally Posted by The Sylentnight
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