AN: This prologue is copied from a fanfic "Fate:Remnant" by ImperialCupcake, go check it out, awesome fanfic, sadly it was dropped. But I can assure you, aside from this chapter, I didn't copy anything else. Oh, and if ImperialCupcake is reading this, and wanted me to take it down, just tell me. I'll do it as soon as I can.
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Do you know Fate? The "timeline" or "route" where Shirou takes a path similar to Archer but instead of becoming a jaded bitter anti-hero, he never gives up his ideals and and meets Saber in Avalon to be with her forever and all eternity. This route emphasizes "oneself as an ideal".
Do you know Unlimited Blade Works? In this route, Shiro falls in love with Rin and the question that is posed in the Fate Route is answered in this way 'What is important to me is my dream of being the hero that can save everyone, no matter how hard it may be.'
This route emphasizes understanding of oneself, justice, and the worth of ones' ideals.
How about Heavens Feel? In this route, Shiro falls in love with Sakura and the question given in Fate and the answer given in Unlimited Blade Works are put to the test.
The answer is 'I only want to save those important to me, regardless of any negative consequences done to others in the process.' Shiro comes to this answer after realizing his feelings for Sakura and understanding that his feelings for her are more important than his ideals. The theme of this route is still love but the major theme is harsh realism.
Those were the three most well known route or timeline in the vast Nasuverse.
However, this story takes place not in any of those route, but in one particular route in the infinite parallel worlds that can even be considered as an "anomaly".
Among other things.
In this route, during the Fourth Holy Grail War, the young Shirou was kidnapped by the psychopath Ryuunosuke who wanted to offer him as a sacrifice to summon a demon.
Shirou's desire to survive was strong enough for the Holy Grail to recognize and gave him a set of Command Seals and allow him to summon a Servant.
Due to not having a catalyst, Shirou summoned a servant with highest compatibility to him, his alternate future self, the Heroic Spirit EMIYA.
However, EMIYA, upon knowing who his summoner was, did not hesitate to commit suicide and left Shirou to survive on his own.
But, even though temporary, the connection between Master and Servant was still there. And since Shirou and EMIYA are technically the same person, right when EMIYA disappeared, some of his abilities, skills, experiences, and memories transferred to him.
And after that, several small changes also happened which will greatly affect the future.
Matou Kariya sicc Berserker to Matou Zouken and killed the old worm, making him Matou Sakura's guardian(Shinji was a necessary casualty)
Fuyuki Fire still happened since Kiritsugu try to blow up the Grail, and he ended up adopting Shirou - the only survivor of the fire.
Shirou back then lost his memories but he still have parameters comparable to a Low-Tier Servant, along with skills and Noble Phantasm.
Kiritsugu decided to train Shirou to not hurt others and control his strength.
Shirou took some mercenary jobs both in mundane and moonlit world and was eventually called the "Neo-Magus Killer".
He got acquainted with Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an enforcer, during one of his mission who is six years older than him and they hit it off nicely.
He then got acquainted with Caren Hortensia when he hunted down a Dead Apostle, and he eventually became friends with her since they're pretty much the same age, and they maintained contact over the years.
He also managed to meet and eventually get along with Kiritsugu's biological daughter when he sneaked into the Einzbern castle after Kiritsugu died and left a regret that he couldn't see his daughter.
But that's not all; Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou, and Luviagelita Edelfelt are also women he got involved with since they go to the same highschool.
Then Holy Grail War came, but this time due to the Grail having too much power due to the last wars not having a clear winner, it produced another seven masters and the Battle Royale became Team Battle of Blue vs Red.
Team Blue being; Shirou, Luvia, Sakura, Rin, Bazett, Caren, and Illya. Their servants are; Saber/Artoria, Caster/Medea, Rider/Medusa, Archer/Chiron, Lancer/Cú Chulainn, Assassin/Hassan of the Cursed Arm, and Berserker/Hercules, respectively.
The cannot even be called close, as they successfully defeated the other team without having any casualty.
Right when they thought they have won, King Gilgamesh, the Archer Servant from 4th Holy Grail War appeared and targeted Illya who was recuperating in Einzbern castle.
Gilgamesh stormed through the castle and killed Illya's Servant, Hercules after a battle and was about to kill Illya when Shirou and the others arrive, forcing him to make a tactical retreat.
Fortunately, they managed to defeat Gilgamesh through Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works and him fully inheriting the Parameters and Skills of Heroic Spirit EMIYA.
And again, right when they thought that they won, they found out that the Grail is actually very corrupted and for some reason chose Sakura as its vessel, turning her into an edgy version of herself.
Now, with Sakura going avenger on them, and even corrupting Lancer, Assassin and Archer, turning them into a edgy version of themself. It became quite a hard fight.
Shirou, Rider, and Saber volunteered to fight said edgy servant and hold them off while Caster, Rin, Luvia, Illya, Bazzet, and Caren decided to fight the ridiculously overpowered Sakura(Unlike the HF version, this Sakura actually learned proper Magecraft and wouldn't lose to Rin at all, so with the nigh-infinite mana from the Root, she was almost unbeatable)
Thankfully Shirou, Saber, and Rider managed to beat and kill the "alter" Lancer, Assassin and Archer and helped Rin and the others defeat Sakura.
It was then that the group all decided to destroy the Grail and make sure the Sixth War won't happen.
With Artoria's Excalibur, Shirou's Traced Caliburn, Rin's Jewel Sword of Zelretch, Medusa's Bellerophon, and Medea's Rain of Light.
The Grail totally disappeared without a trace.
The aftermath was a pain to deal with since a third of Fuyuki was blown up and it became impossible to erase everyone's memory so they merely altered it to make seem like a terrorist attack.
The group then managed to live peacefully after the war.
As for the servants, they decided to stay since they were pretty much family at that point since all of them were entangled with Shirou.
Sakura, due to being chosen as the vessel for the Grail, has a certain connection to Akasha which gave her nigh-infinite Magic Power, so she basically sustain the Servant's existence by herself.
And, just like that, three years have passed.
Sakura became the Second Owner of Fuyuki City with Rider staying by her side and protecting her, even though she doesn't need protecting.
Rin went to the Clocktower and became a disciple of Zelretch with Artoria acting as her guard.
Caren became the "overseer" of the Fuyuki Church since the previous one(Kotomine Kirei) died, killed by Caren herself. She sometimes stays with Sakura and Rider.
Illya went back to Germany and took over the Einzbern and became its matriarch with the help of Shirou and the others.
Luvia also went to the Clocktower and studies Magecraft with Medea as her teacher.
Lastly, Bazett and Shirou teamed up as an Enforcer/Mercenary/Assassin and do all sorts of missions in both mundane and moonlit world.
Yeah, all of them are pretty busy in their own right. But they do make time for them to meet up and they would just party or go in vacations around the world.
So yeah, even though they are pretty busy, their bond still remained strong and they are pretty happy with their current life.
However, this story doesn't start from there. No. This story starts when these little group found themselves stranded in another world.