Pulled from standby because *koff**koff* Umm ... blocked on MS. Again. Sorry. *ahem*
Editsu-ed, mostly to account for the 'lack of Avalon' I hadn't really parsed from the game's synopsis of 'Fate'.
- simple explanation as to why Shiro's still got his 'youthful good looks'? I've applied the principle of Contagion to Type-Moon's world's workings. Shiro's spent a fairly long time 'hosting' and using a magical artifact of a power rating that was, quite frankly, through the roof. Even after its removal, the Magic Circuits in his body remained irrevokably altered to reflect that.
---
Everything is.
Everything was.
Everything can and will be.
So why not ...?
---
Fate/Split Daybreak
01: No Armor Against
a Fate/Stay Night AU/continuation
idea and cooperation by ordnance11
written by Griever
Copyright 2006(c)
---
'The much valued beauty, the subtle cut, of a truly perfect gemstone. Light, reflected by its facets, splitting off into paths ad infinitum, each similar yet not the same as the others. The universe, this wondrous and horrific place we live in, can surely be likened to a gemstone. A myriad of reflections, an infinite number of possibilities, and each such reflection a world. Each subtle tremor of the light, each particle of it, a human being.
That, of course, is simplifying things, but there are some truths an unprepared mind is simply not capable of perceiving. For all its adaptability, the human mind is seldom prepared.
Hence, the need to a medium. A physical, somewhat simpler interpretation that lets a theory actually be usable, and not just look pretty.
It could have been anything, really. Still ... there's a certain something to a gemstone, don't you think?'
-attributed to Zelretch, the first Jewel Mage

In the grand tradition of cliches, it was raining. A soggy, cloudy afternoon in London. One you'd be hard pressed to chase a dog out into.
It fit the mood.
Fit it all too well.
Symbols.
So many things about their lives were ultimately about symbols. The most important among them.
It rushed through her like a particularly loud heartbeat, making nerves tingle as it spread outwards, momentarily seeming to shift things without actually doing so.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" the voice asked, its owner's head cocked to one side. It was both entirely too familiar, and entirely too foreign a motion for said person to make.
It made her shiver and pull the collar of her coat - its designer label leather slick with rainwater - up in an ultimately futile gesture.
"Old?" she asked, even as the energies of the Kekkai settled around them, shifting the surrounding area subtly out of phase with the Reality that Was.
"Heh. If you want to get technical about it," he shrugged, oblivious to the rain.
Not a day.
It wasn't unheard of for Mages to slow their own aging. She herself didn't look a day over twenty, and would likely still look that way for decades to come.
He hadn't aged a day since she'd last seen him. Though she wouldn't admit it, it made things ... somewhat difficult. And not merely because the 'how' of that brought forth all sorts of interesting implications.
But then again, she was an accomplished Magi. 'Difficult' wasn't bad enough for her to lose any sleep over.
"I'm sorry about this," she shook her head. "You know the Association has been looking for you for the past several years. Ever since you ..."
"... disappeared? I figured as much. I had, no, I have my reasons, Tohsaka."
"You could have just stayed where you were, Shiro," Tohsaka Rin of the Mages' Association said. "Kept your head down, and they wouldn't have bothered to send anyone. Whatever you're doing, it's pointless. Just making yourself more of a target!"
"They've designated me to be Sealed?" he shrugged, then chuckled, looking unconcerned. The feeling of unreality that Rin had been experiencing since she'd first seen him, standing in front of the British Museum, the front of the main headquarters of the Association, the so called 'Clock Tower', increased. It wasn't like seeing only Emiya Shiro. It was ... like seeing both him and someone else overlaid on top of that.
"I don't want to fight you."
"My sentiment exactly, but sometimes we don't have that choice ... now do we? Sometimes fighting is inevitable," he retorted. "Isn't that what you tried to prove to me during the War?"
The Grail War. It seemed like something so small, so far away ... despite the gravity of the events that had transpired during the whole thing. Had they really gone through all that only to end up like this?
"I'm sorry," Rin said, steeling herself even as she began gathering energy, the Circuits in her body activating and starting to channel it.
Dolche der Vergeltung released the energy, guiding it along well worn paths and calling jeweled daggers into the Reality around her. Each of them razor sharp, their points towards Emiya Shiro's body.
"I know," he gave her the ghost of a smirk, hauntingly familiar. "I've learned a few things as well."
For a moment, she was assailed by feelings of Deja Vu. She knew, instinctively, that she'd felt that energy before. The way it moved, the way it shaped itself, the ripples of Reality that it sent outwards.
Something had always nagged her about Shiro, about what he could do, but she'd never been able to put a finger on it.
Now though?
The two short swords, wide bladed and heavy looking, yet wielded with such seemingly casual ease. The stance. The smirk. Younger looking, yes. But otherwise ...
"I'm sorry too, Rin. I won't take it easy on you. I am ..." he tensed. On instinct, she let the Dolche fly.
Shiro moved.
Jewel shards littered the air moments later, even as raindrops were flung ever-which way by the storm of motion the man in a boy's body had exploded into. Every move, every strike, every mannerism in that fight ...
... it was so obvious.
"A ... Archer?"
The younger mirror image of her summoned Servant during the Grail War. Down to the weapons and skills.
Then he gave her a sad sort of look, and spoke, even as she felt the Circuits in his body flare into life with an intensity she'd last felt at the apex of the War such a long time ago. Even if this time the way the energy flowed was different.
"I am the bone of my sword."
***
"It's ironic, you know," the voice greeted her as she woke, her body hurting but still very much alive.
Her eyes snapped open, only to see ...
... one of the Association's Vaults, warded titanium door hanging from its supports, torn open.
Dust hung thick in the air, the smell of fire and rubble bringing back old memories.
She could see Shiro standing in the middle of the otherwise demolished Vault, in front of a dais. His clothes - jeans, leather jacket, sweatshirt ... he hadn't changed his taste in those, at least - torn and ragged. Bloodied in places. Flesh cleanly visible beneath the tears, unblemished.
"What is?" she asked, forcing herself to sit up and making a quick assessment of her body. She'd felt every single cut that the endless blades had inflicted upon her, but somehow, all that was left were bruises.
"I went to Atlas, broke into the Lost Library of Alexandria, looked up old wives' tales and rumors ..." he turned to face her. "... and what I'd been looking for? It was right in front of my nose. Had been there since before the War. The notes of your ancestors, in fact, in your old home back in Fuyuki. The infinite reflections in the face of a gemstone."
In his hands was ... now she recognized it, and the vault ... the gem which the first of her ancestors who'd learned Jewel Magic had crafted.
"You can't be serious," she protested. "The way to use that is a lost Art! There's nobody left alive who knows how to do it."
"Outside of you, maybe," he said. "I've kept up with you, Rin. I've seen you go through those notes, I've seen you try and recreate the sword of the person who taught your ancestor Jewel Magic. It was hard to miss. After all, it's what got you your position in the Association."
"You want the sword? Is that why you're doing this? For the power? The Emiya Shiro I knew wouldn't ..."
"I could care less about the sword or the gem," he glared at her. "Zelretch postulated his infinite number of worlds. Reflections of Reality as Is. Everything being now, and Now being all-encompassing. I just want one thing, Rin. For old times' sake. I need your _help_ to keep a promise I made."
***
Tohsaka Rin, one of the elite of the Mages' Association, stood in the rain.
The news would label it a terrorist attack. The Association ... well, she had enough influence that she'd be believed if she sprouted something about an unknown attacker and having to resort to her ancestors' gem to vanquish them.
She'd gone from the ruined British Museum moments before the Kekkai failed, weaving a minor spell of avoidance around herself with the remaining Odo she still had.
Emiya Shiro.
She shook her head, half incredulous, half wistful.
He really didn't fit into the webs of intrigue of the Association or their competitors. Too principled. Too straight-forward. Too ... loyal.
A promise, indeed.
For all the changes, for all the revelations ... there was something about him that made sure she couldn't not help him when asked.
Something ...
... something ...
... well, it was gone now. Along with the man in a boy's body himself.
Gone into a facet. Into a reflection. Into a Reality that Was, riding the tether of Fate.
Everything she'd learned, everything she'd believed, told her Fate simply was. Without a way to alter it.
There was no armor against Fate. She'd told him that much ...
... told. Told. She'd just about begged him not to try and change it. It was, she almost smiled, still about as useful as arguing with a brick wall. Damnable, mule-headed, feeble-minded crusader-wannabe ...
No armor against Fate.
But armor ... it's not the way, Tohsaka. Armor only lets you endure. I want to split it. Break it. Shatter it into pieces. And for that, armor is useless.
He was right, she realized.
For that, armor _was_ useless.
For that, one needed a weapon.
And where weapons were concerned ...
I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood.
I have created over a thousand blades.
Unaware of loss.
Nor aware of gain.
Withstood pain to create many weapons.
Waiting for one's arrival.
I have no regrets.
This is the only path.
My whole life was ... Unlimited Blade Works.
The rain fell, drenching her as she watched the police secure the area. It was inconsequential.
It was just rain, after all.
No matter how much the water felt like tears as it ran down her cheeks.
Good luck, Shiro-kun.
---
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

Running Man, 1980
Al Stewart & Peter White, performed by Al Stewart
Before the phone hits the receiver,
Youre halfway to the door.
The voice said Get out while you can,
Theres just ten minutes, nothing more.
Time only for the essentials
Better gather them and run:
The false name inside the passport,
The gold bars and the gun.
And once again theyve come out of the past,
And though your mind is cool, your heart is beating fast.
Youve been through it all before;
Each time you wish a little more that you could ask,
(chorus) "What do you want from me?
What do you need from me?
Theres no rest for the running man.
Why cant you let him be?"
Its a long and twisting journey
From the sweeping northern plains
To the outcrops of the jungle,
Bowed beneath the tropic rains.
In the customs hall the officer
Takes you to one side,
And his eyes reveal no feeling
As you hand over the bribe.
And once again youve bought a little time,
And once again youre fading out of sight,
Still the fox is growing older
As he calls over his shoulder to the night:
(chorus)
Here, come over here;
Beneath a sympathetic moon
Well sit and talk over old times without a fear.
Another beer? From the cafes of the night
The tumbling rhythms of guitars ring loud and clear.
(instrumental)
One by one theyve nailed the others,
But you always got away;
What it is that keeps you just that step ahead,
No one can say.
In one last raid the agents
Of the dawn break down the door
Of a house where you were standing
Maybe just an hour before.
And still the thread continues to unwind.
You take the hidden roads that only you can find;
And should they come upon your tracks,
Theres just a question hanging back you left behind:
(chorus)
"What do you want from me?"
"What do you need from me?"
This one is very specialized: it'll only work if he's trying to get away from people who're hunting him, whether as an individual or as a member of a category ("muties," labor agitators, Resistance, whatever). For the duration of the song (four minutes six seconds on the copy I've got), he's unnoticeable, able to slip through the tightest, toughest cordons. Checkpoint guards will forget to demand that he show his papers. No one will recognize his face, even if they've got a 1st-class photo of him in their hands or know him personally. Scent-trackers can't pick him up; neither can telepaths or clairvoyants or mages.
Downside: he won't want to use this if he's got friends/allies within the area of effect; the line "one by one they've nailed the others" guarantees that they'll be caught.
This only works to get away. He can't use it to get into a place unless it's part of escaping, as in sneaking into an airport to catch the next plane out of Dodge.
Oh, and no matter how well he knows it works, he'll always feel as if it's going to fail, and he expects a heavy hand to clamp down on his shoulder any second now. "And just where d'you think you're going?"
Enjoy!
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

This idea has been floating in my head since episode 12 of Fate/Stay Night.
If Saber is the source of the King Arthur myth and she does go back to her time at the end of the series to live out her life in the past, suppose Shiro decided later to go back in time to find her and live with her?
After all, if there is King Arthur, how far would Merlin be?
Based on what Ived read, the era in which Saber would had lived would had been a tumultuous one, with the break up of the old Roman system, civil war and barbarian invasions occurring in Britain during that time. So you know youre going to have intrigues and plots all over the place.
So..if Shiro made that decision to go back in timehell have to have some serious training both as a mage and quite possibly as a warrior to survive in that era before going back. Or does he go in cold and wing it?
And theres no guarantee that Saber would remember him as Shiro if he does make it.
Not to mention the stories of how Merlin ended does not bode well for Shiro.
Theres a couple of angles that would be interestinga modern day Japanese magician in King Arthurs court and the romance angle also would be interesting.
Also theres the time paradox.any changes that Shiro makes in the past could conceivably end up making changes in the future that could erase him too.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Okay, in response to another thread elsewhere, I finally sat down and worked out all the official Steps in the full Walk, as I currently see it. With luck, I should be able to finish this before I die of extreme old age, but no promises, okay?

I'll be working my way back to you babe
With a burning love inside
Yeah I'm working my way back to you babe
And the happiness that died
I let it get away
Been paying every day
When you were so in love with me
I played around like I was free
Thought I could have my cake and eat it too
How I cried over losing you
See I'm tired and I
I ain't about to go living my life without you
Hey, every day I made you cry
I'm begging girl 'till the day I die
I'll be working my way back to you babe
With a burning love inside
Yeah I'm working my way back to you babe
And the happiness that died
I let it get away
Been paying every day
I used to love to make you cry
It made me feel like a man inside
If I had been a man in reality
You'd be here baby loving me
Now my nights are long and lonely
And I ain't too proud babe, I just need you so
Girl but you're too proud and won't give in
But when I think about our love again
I'll be working my way back to you babe
With a burning love inside
Yeah I'm working my way back to you babe
And the happiness that died
I let it get away
Been paying every day
My road is kinda long
I just gotta get back home
Oohh I'm really sorry for actin' that way
I'm really sorry oohh little girl
I'm really sorry for telling you lies
For so long ohh please
Forgive me girl come on (give me a chance)
Won't you forgive me girl hey (lets have romance)
Oohh forgive me girl (lets start again)
Come on forgive me girl
I want you over and over and over and over again
I'll be working my way back to you babe
With a burning love inside
Yeah I'm working my way back to you babe
And the happiness that died
I let it get away
Been paying every day
-- Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Working My Way Back To You

-- Bob
---------
For Jor-El so loved the Earth, he sent his only begotten son...

Village People's Macho Man could increase Doug's muscular mass an make him super strong. As a side effect it could reduce his intelligence, and give him an even more granstanding attitude (bodybuilder's style). Altought it will probably not be a big problem, given Doug's augmented brain.

Random firings of my neurons have come up with yet another twisted crossover that will never be written--by me anyway. (hint, hint)

One day, the Golden Trio of Hogwarts, on a secret nighttime expedition to the Restricted Section of the School Library, got lost in the stacks. After what seemed like hours of winding their way through row after row of books, they finally emerge back in familiar territory. Except- why is there a bunch of bananas sitting on Madam Pince's desk?
Then the silence of the night was broken by a terrible noise coming from behind them.
"Oook."

Harry Potter and the Unseen Wizzzard

Going insane slowly,
Jervic

Go vote for me and Odinborn (should you think I deserve it) at the WKA.
wka.moments-lost.co.uk--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel

Way back in history along the Nordic coast
That was the sound all the people feared the most
It would echo through the night up and down the foggy f-jord
It was Erik and his bloodthirsty horde!
Erik the Awful, the brutal and tenacious
Erik the Awful, the ruthless and courageous
Subtle as a chainsaw, lacking all the social graces
You could run, but you could not hide!

Yes! And as the oars of the sleek, fierce Viking ship cut like k-nives thru the fog-shrouded Nordic sea, transporting this wild, marauding band of Viking heathens stealthily towards their unsuspecting, slumbering victims, there he stood, on the foredeck, Erik the Awful, the wildest, bloodthirstiest Viking of them all!

(His momma named him Erik 'cause she couldn't spell "Aaaaaaaauuuuuggggghhh!")
He had a hairy head, a hairy face, hairy chest, hairy arms, hairy legs, hairy boots and a hairy hat, shaped like a big bullet with horns comin' out of the sides... and once he started after ya he'd never stop! He'd turn to his oarsmen in his 37-oared f-jord and say:
"Findi firdi ferdi fingi!"
which was Viking for:
"Yo! Ravage, pillage, plunder, and maim, and put big hickeys on all the fair damsels! Yoooooo!"

And it was Erik the Awful, the brutal and tenacious
Erik the Awful, mercy sakes, goodness gracious
His appetite for slaughter was simply voracious
You had to sleep with your sneakers by your side!

Yes! And when the villagers heard that awful battle-alarm:

Yeah, that's the one... They would run for their lives, fleeing over hills and through valleys to the river, whereupon they would walk in mid-stream for thirty-seven and one-half miles, climbing out on the low-lying branch, shimmying down a young sapling onto rocky ground and leaping from stone to stone until they arrived one week later at a secret cave, 297 miles away, and as they sat down for the first time to catch their breath, outside they heard:
"Yoooo!" "Findi firdi ferdi fingi!" "Yooooo!"

Yes, it was Erik the Awful, the brutal and tenacious
Erik the Awful, turned up in the darndest places
Subtle as a chainsaw, lacking all the social graces
You could run, but you could not hide!

Oh! And this time they cut south to Paris, bought tickets on the Orient Express to Istanbul, hired a U-Haul to the coast, jumped a Greek freighter across the Mediterranean Sea to Mongolia, hooked up with a camel caravan into the heart of the Gobi Desert, and as they paused at an oasis, to lift one handful of cool water to their parched lips, over their shoulder they heard:
"Yoooo!" "Findi firdi ferdi fingi!" "Yooooo!"
They fled to Calcutta!
"Yoooo!"
The Himalayas!
"Yoooo!"
Tokyo!
"Yoooo!"
Toronto!
"Yoooo!"
Toledo and Hey Hialeah, Georgia...
"Yoooo!"
But it was no use! They finally succumbed to a savage plundering and pillaging followed by a big hickey party on the outskirts of what is now Washington, DC, where the decendants of Erik can still be found today, working as Special Agents for the I! R! S!
"Yoooo!"

Yes, it's Erik the Awful, the brutal and tenacious

Erik the Awful, mercy sakes, goodness gracious
Subtle as a chainsaw, lacking all the social graces
You could run, but you could not hide!

Erik later amassed a small fortune posing for Molly Hatchet album covers, and did stuntwork for Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian! He also won an Academy Award for his dual role as a train wreck and his tender portrayal of King Kong's daddy! Oh, you might remember the end of that one: there wasn't a dry eye in the house when he married the Empire State Building. It was just a wonderful thing...
-- Ray Stevens, Erik The Awful

-- Bob
---------
For Jor-El so loved the Earth, he sent his only begotten son...

(mp3 files available here)
The Drupa Song - Doug and target(s) within his AoE are teleported to Dusseldorf, and given an infodump about the current SOTA in printing and graphic design. Just the thing when you need to know the best way to get those informational pamphlets ready6 NOW for the former invasion forces of the Blarglesnort Armada, now the newest batch of immigrants to earth after haveing their Tyrranous Leader defeated and all but of handful of their ships' hyperdrives destroyed... or something. Or if you want to be in Dusseldorf, or somewhere easily reached from there. (This is actualy a kind of catchy pop number - enoguh to be tossed into my regular library, at least)
KPMG Jungle Mix - Target is unable to deviate form his or her planned strategy, certain that their power and energy will prevail. (the normal version is a sleep aid, if it does anything at all - though I'd expect that power to be taken from the Anvilanian National Anthem from Animaniacs first, given Doug's usual MO)
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes?
Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked?
See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows