Chapter Text
Prologue
Fire… That is all what Shirou felt… Crushed under rubble and unable to move. It all happened so fast. One day he and his mother were walking in the park… the next thing both- no, his mother died instantly, the next thing he knew was that unmistakeable pain when something hot charred the skin.
He was dying, that he knew without a doubt. Yet, he was still alive, where thousands have died…
He felt a faint voice, crying out to whomever could hear it. Did it matter? No… it did. He felt something stirring within his back. Instinct perhaps, a will to live, he didn’t know.
But at that moment, Shirou knew what he wanted. He wanted to live.
And so, he cried, cried out for help, and help did arrive.
A man with jet black hair dug him up from the rubble. Something was placed inside him, and he saw the face of the man that had saved him. Crying, smiling, not once in Shirou’s life, what he can remember at least from his life had he seen someone happy.
It felt nice, warming… He wondered “Will I ever see this smile again?”
**5 years later**
It’s been 5 years since the fire, and Shirou had been adopted
The man’s name was Kiritsugu Emiya, oh and he was also a mage? Magus… eh specifics
Point is, he was living with this man, and has been living with him for months. Kiritsugu felt hollow? Shirou couldn’t quite get why, but Shirou could see the man was hurting. There was also something else Shirou could feel.
Something about Kiritsugu made Shirou revolt. He didn’t hate the man no, but there was… something inherently wrong, as if Kiritsugu has been cursed.
Nevertheless, both he and Kiritsugu were sitting, seeing the moonlight. It was quiet, peaceful. The chirping of crickets in the night sky. After what happened, the fire of Fuyuki the public called it, Shirou always found solace in this peace.
There was a long silence between the two, which gave time for Shirou to think. He had tried to get Kiritsugu to teach him magecraft. Initially, Kiritsugu tried his best to ignore Shirou’s request by telling him no. Eventually however, Kiritsugu acquiesced, Shirou didn’t know why, but he was happy the man was willing to teach Shirou.
Kiritsugu did make Shirou promise never to use magecraft, with the exception of life and death scenario, or just training with his ability in secret. Shirou was fine with that; he really was and he didn’t expect that anything of note would happen in his life.
Shirou took magecraft like a duck on water. It felt natural for Shirou, as if the practice ran within Shirou. Kiritsugu taught Shirou everything he knew to Shirou, which was mostly about combat that actual practical magecraft since Kiritsugu only wanted Shirou to protect himself.
There were a couple of things Shirou found out about himself during training. One, he was strong, like ridiculously so. Kiritsugu told Shirou that he had supernatural strength, stronger and faster than even the average magus even after reinforcement so that was nice. The second thing Shirou found out was that he was definitely NOT the first magus in his line. His biological descendants had been magi, that or he was just born with a lot of magical circuits. 130 of them in fact, which Kiritsugu told him was not normal, but it wasn’t unheard of.
The silence was finally broken when Kiritsugu spoke “Shirou.”
Shirou, his line of thought now broken, looked towards his adopted father
“Yes?”
Kiritsugu still looking towards the night sky would speak once again “When I was little, I wanted to be a champion of justice.”
“What? Did you give up?”.
After a short silence Kiritsugu would respond once again “It’s unfortunate, but… Being a hero is a limited-time thing. When you grow up, it gets hard to call yourself one.”
Silence reigned between the two once again Golden-brown eyes looked towards the black eyes. Shirou could sense that Kiritsugu sacrificed much in his life. To much, and so Shirou had to ask.
“Dad. Was it worth it? To be a hero.”
Black eyes would look towards Shirou. Kiritsugu would speak softly
“No. It wasn’t. To be a Hero, someone must have a hard stare and heart of stone. Always forced to focus on the many over the few, even if the few are your loved ones. I forsook my humanity to be one, and now I live the toll of it all. And yet, I still admire the dream, to be a hero. Maybe not a hero of justice for the world, but a hero to those who you cherish the most.”
Shirou thought to himself. He always felt terrible for being the only survivor other than Kiritsugu in the Fuyuki Fire, feeling that he didn’t deserve to find happiness, unfair to the deceased of those who burned to prioritize his own feelings. It was cruel that thousands died that night and yet he didn’t and yet is this the life that he wants? To live the life of a hero, thankless, perhaps even hated by the greater world for his actions in protecting those very people?
At that moment, Shirou found his answer, as he finally spoke up
“I… I want to be a hero. I want to be a hero to those I will cherish. I will carry on your dream with my own path. I will be a hero, but I will not abandon my humanity.”
Kiritsugu simply closed his eyes, and for what would be unknowingly the last time he smiled in his life, he spoke up.
“Thank you… Shirou. I can be at peace now.”
With that, Kiritsugu slowly died, not alone, but with loved ones around him. As this happened, Shirou could sense the life within Kiritsugu slowly pass on. At the same time, he felts something slowly burn into his hands.
As the burning feeling subsided, Kiritsugu, Shirou’s father, passes on, smiling as he does so. Shirou, for the second time in his life, had lost another parent.