Other Dimension's Knight

Rin was panting, she had let her hatred get the better of her. As much as she hated Shinji, she certainly wouldn't kill him, not until she gets answers. But that was exactly what she had done, and as guilt hit her, she remembered the state of her sister, Sakura that was exposed to her previously, and that made the guilt more bearable. She then took a look at Shirou. She knew how much of an idiot he was as he wanted to save people more than anything else, and she knew that no matter what Shinji had done, Shirou certainly wouldn't take his death too well. After all, no matter what happened, they were still childhood friends. And the look on Shirou's face told her everything.

Shirou's emotion were a mixture of feeling of betrayal, anger, powerlessness and guilt. He was angry at Rin for killing him like this. He was angry at Alexander for not stopping her and saving Shinji when he clearly had the power to do so, but most importantly he was angry at himself for not being able to save him. Since Shirou was essentially empty and wanted to fill this void by saving others the same way he had been saved, the sight of Shinji's head nearly exploding in front of the might of Toshaka Rin was unbearable. He felt powerless in front of the events of the Holy Grail War. But Shirou wouldn't discard his ideals so easily. The death of Matou Shinji would just add weight to the numerous lives he discarded in the Fire that destroyed Fuyuki ten years ago.

Rin knew that after this event, there was no way for their relationship to be as simple as an alliance anymore. What she had just done was untolerable for Shirou and even for herself. Taken by her emotions, she just burned the corpse of Matou Shinji and left without saying a word, hoping that things would get better tomorrow.

Shirou was not moving, looking at the now disappeared body of his former best friend as the rain started to pour on New Fuyuki.

A few hours later, Shirou and Alexander came back from school. He was greeted by an angry Saber that was waiting for him to come back immediatly after school. But when Saber looked into Shirou's eyes, she was taken aback.

" Shirou what happened ? Were you attacked after school ? " asked Saber.

" Ah ... no it's nothing, I'm just .... just tired. " simply answered Shirou and immediatly went to his room.

Saber knew that there was more to it but didn't ask more considering her master's state.

Sakura came out of the living room and noticed Shirou.

" Ah! Welcome back, Senpai. " said Sakura but Shirou simply looked at her for a second with a sad look before going to his room.

Sakura was shocked by his look and looked at Saber for answers, but even her didn't know what happened.

Saber sensed someone poking her shoulder and knew that it was Alexander that wanted to tell her something.

" Excuse me Sakura. I have something to finish and I will be going outside for a while. " said Saber.

" Sure .... " said Sakura, not knowing what to do in this situation.

Saber went a bit outside of the house and Alexander appeared in front of her.

" What happened, Alexander ? " asked Saber, looking slightly worried.

" Well... We found the master of Rider, and eliminated him in the school. " said Alexander.

" Where is the problem then ? " said Saber looking slightly confused.

" You remember the problem with Sakura that I mentioned last time where we were in the school? " said Alexander.

Saber nodded to his question, asking him to go on.

" I've found new information that I told to Shirou and Rin, the master of Archer that we met previously. Basically, the worms inside Sakura's body come from another person who is in the Matou residence. Although we do not know his identity yet, I've seeked anyone close to Sakura and I've found her brother, Matou Shinji. In fact, Sakura was the master of Rider, but gave her command seals to her brother. This brother of her didn't have any mana at all, so the formation in the school was his. He was planning on attacking Rin and Shirou, so I simply killed his servant Rider. After that, since Rin knew the situation with Sakura, she was extremely angry at Shinji who had information about the lifestyle of Sakura. And she actually killed Matou Shinji when she realized he wouldn't give her answers. Shirou can't deal with the death of people, I don't know what happened to him in the past, but he wants to be a hero of some sort that saves everybody, so when Shinji died while pleading for his help, it left him a mental injury. " said Alexander.

Saber was stunned for a bit and looked surprised.

" But .... Couldn't you stop Rin from killing Matou Shinji ? " asked Saber.

" Why would I ? Any masters except Rin are currently my enemies and while I don't know if it was necessary, as long as he was a master, he could still contract with other servants in the future. " said Alexander.

" But .... I've messed up. I didn't think it would affect Shirou that much. I would have definitly stopped Rin if I knew this would be the case. " added Alexander.

He in fact knew that Shirou had a hero complex, but he didn't know that it was this deep. He was never close to the man in any dimension he visited.

" Also, Rin was also in a bad mental state, but that's something she will endure, I'm sure of it. The problem is now the alliance that we've made with each other. I don't know if it will stand with the state Shirou is in. " said Alexander.

Saber was looking slightly guilty after everything that Alexander said.

" Anyway, right now we need to make Sakura stay in this house. The being that made her suffer like this has intention for the grail, and now that Matou Shinji is dead, he will focus on her and we can't let this happen. " said Alexander, astralizing once again, leaving Saber to return to the Emiya Residence.

Shirou was currently in the warehouse in the Emiya residence. Today's matters left a scar on his mind and he was determined to be stronger to be able to help others. Even if he knew the situation, he couldn't help but be slightly angry at Rin for killing Shinji and Alexander that let it happen.

He was currently trying to improve his reinforcement magic by testing it various object in the warehouse. The problem was that his mind was constantly revolving around the events of this afternoon and he couldn't concentrate properly.

" Trace On " said Shirou, reciting his aria once again on a piece of wood. He felt pain progressivly as he went through the steps of reinforcement. And suddenly, the piece of wood shattered as he was unable once again to follow the steps.

As he sighed and took a pebble this time, he sensed a presence near the warehouse. The door opened and revealed Saber dressed in casual clothes.

" Shirou ? " said Saber

" What it is Saber ? " said Shirou

" Alexander.... told me what happened this afternoon. " said Saber, sitting next to him and looking worried and guilty.

" Oh ..... don't worry, it's just that ... you know what, nothing. " said Shirou, looking away from Saber.

As much as she wanted to help her master, if he was that unwilling to talk about it, she could only ignore the subject. Therefore she decided to change the subject of the discussion.

" I just sensed magic that was why I came here. You are training ? " said Saber.

" Oh.... yeah, I do this every day. " said Shirou.

" I heard that your speciality is strengthening magic Shirou. " asked Saber.

" Well, it's more like the only thing I can do so I would not call it a speciality. " said Shirou, looking slightly embarrassed.

" How does one train in the art of strengthening ? " asked Saber, looking quite curious.

" Strengthening isn't only about increasing something's toughness, it also includes increasing its effectiveness. For this rock, it makes it harder, for this light bulb, it makes it brighter for example. I visualizean object's component materials and pass my mana through them to strengthen it. " said Shirou, looking quite serious at his explanations.

" I see " said Saber, very close to Shirou, who now was slightly fl.u.s.tered.

" I-It's better to show than to tell. " said Shirou, making some distance between him and Saber.

" I'll try on this " said Shirou with a rock in his hand.

" Trace On " said Shirou as blue lines appeared on his hand and were transfered to the rock.

" Tracing fundamental structure. Tracing component materials. Altering fundamental structure. Strengthening component materials..... " said Shirou as his hand was trembling under the strain of the magic.

Suddenly the rock exploded and Shirou sighed, knowing he was unable to complete the steps of the strengthening magic once again.

" Damn, another failure.... In reality, my success rate is pretty low. " said Shirou.

" No. I sensed that your concentration was lacking at one point. " said Saber, understanding what was troubling him.

" Oh .. no it's just tha- " started Shirou.

" Don't worry, it seems that my presence is problematic for you. Please do not push yourself too hard. " said Saber, leaving the warehouse.

This night, Shirou slept in the warehouse as he was having nightmares about Shinji's death. He kept dreaming about the night where the fire destroyed Fuyuki and was sweating in his sleep. But suddenly, his dreams changed into some sort of visions that flashed over and over.

By the time Alexander saw the strings in the Emiya residence, it was too late, he simply traced the origin of the strings and proceeded towards the Temple in New Fuyuki, with Saber who also sensed the presence of the strings.