A snippet on What if Shirou (from the Visual Novel Fate/stay Night) was raised by Lucanor Giovanni, and I don't know if I got the Anima characters right, more specifically Lucanor Giovanni and Loctus Khan Schwarzwald.
I also wish to know if I got the levels right for the Fate/stay Night characters I listed at the bottom of the post. I mean, I'm pretty sure someone'd be able to tell me what their levels would be, and I'm positive that my analysis is accurate for Shirou under the circumstances he's been raised by. If not, well, it's mainly because I'm not good with determining someone's level of strength... at all. That said, please be honest, and also help me out if you guys could. I'm a newb with the subject.
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Flames... destruction of an entire area of town. That was my first real memory in my reforged life... my life forged in the fires of a pseudo-Hell.
I had walked from one part of the area to another, seeing all the dead bodies around me, and feeling that I was the biggest case of survivor all around. I don't remember anything of my previous life, but I know one thing: My given name is Shirou, and I was named that by whoever were my parents beforehand.
Soon, I tripped over a body, and fell onto the ashen ground. I turned myself upright, facing the burning sky, and saw a face over me. The face belonged to a man, but the man was also at his last legs, because he inserted something within me, though I don't know what or how, and fell atop me and died. I could feel his warmth flee the rest of the way, then not knowing that he had died, and would stay dead.
As I was about to drift into what I thought would be my end, I heard footsteps in the distance, possibly other survivors, I first thought. That was when I heard voices in a foreign language, possibly a language that hadn't been heard in a long time. As the voices came my way, I could tell that they were looking for something, or someone, for that matter.
I heard a strange voice that, strangely enough, was in Japanese, "****... another dead pile, and nothing like what we're looking for with the pile, either."
"Wait, Number 25," I heard a man say, but I didn't understand what was said until later, "The boy's alive! He also has The Gift, and something is trying to heal him as we speak."
I try to get a glimpse at the man who said that, but the man from earlier who landed on top of me had blocked my view in that direction. Then, as if I was about to die, my world faded to black as my eyes closed for what I thought was my final time.
---
My life had been, shall we say, blessed by the fact that I was saved that cold day from the brink of death. My new father (for that's what he is to me) had been a man to enforce education upon me, so that I would know what to do with my life for when I got out of The Great University, but that was soon changed when I learned something important about the man I call my father.
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A ten-year old Shirou Giovanni was traveling to his classes during the break before 5th Period when he overheard a seemingly idle conversation held between two of the staff. Normally this wouldn't be important to him, but the subject of the conversation was interesting, to say the least.
"Young Shirou sure has gotten good in his studies, hasn't he? I wonder if he'll be one of the Crows, Professor Nebilim?" spoke up one of Shirous' professors, Professor Balfour.
"I don't think it would be good to reveal to him the existence of Wissenschaft, especially since he doesn't know that his father is the head of our organization, so we'll wait for until he learns about it on his own or from his father."
This had stunned Shirou, for a good reason: He had heard of Wissenschaft from a friend before, but he didn't know that it was lead by his father of all people! Apparently he needed answers, and fast, before the whole way his life went was turned upside-down!
"Shirou?" came the voice of Lucanor Giovanni, the man recognized as Shirou's father, "You're going to be late for your next class if you don't hurry..."
Whatever the head of the Principality of Lucrecio and founder of the University and Wissenschaft was going to say next was stopped in his mind when Shirou kicked him in the knee and yelled, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TRUST ME TO KNOW YOUR SECRETS?!" With that, Shirou ran off and out of the University.
The next thing Shirou recognized when he stopped running was a field outside of the area, but still within the border of Lucrecio. He then realized that this was an area where a man named Loctus Khan Scharzwald would usually appear if someone was in need of a life-changing wish. Using this to his advantage, he did the one thing he knew best with his power, which had been classified under a different type of power than The Gift:
"Trace on!"
Forming a simple dagger in his right hand, he then thought of the best way to get Schwarzwald to appear, which was by stabbing himself in the left lung. Just before he could accomplish this objective, however...
"What good would killing yourself do for you, young man?"
Shirou spun around, shocked that he actually got someone to come that fast, but what was more shocking was that it was actually Doctor Schwarzwald! He didn't know how to classify it, but he thought the man would be more reminiscent of the era, not wearing an actual Lab Coat or anything that would be a few decades in advance.
"Doctor, I have a desire, hence why I was trying to do what I needed to do to bring you out like this," Shirou stated, not sure how best to word the next thing he was going to say.
"Yes? What is this desire?"
Sighing, Shirou realized that he had to say it now instead of never. With a determination he never knew he had, he said, "I want to have my father, Lucanor Giovanni, trust me with his secrets, and to let me help him in what he's trying to do."
Confused, Loctus didn't know what to do with the situation. On the one hand, he could tell that this boy was not really Lucanor's son, as Lucanor never had children when he last saw him before leaving 8 years ago with the secret to The Process destroyed except in him, but the way the boy said it was so truthful, it wasn't even funny. On the other hand, he knew that Lucanor would never freely part with his secrets, but it seemed that this boy found out the hard way about Lucanors' involvement in Wissenschaft. Seeing this being a conundrum, he decided it was high time he returned to his student, with his adopted son, apparently.
"Well, I'll do what I can, but you don't have to kill yourself to get my attention in the future. In the meantime, it's back to the University we go, young one." Turning to head off to the University, he then remembered that he didn't get his name, so, turning his head back, he asked, "By the way, what is your name, anyway?"
Shirou, deciding to follow after Loctus Khan Schwarzwald, said, "It's Shirou. Shirou Giovanni."
---
Ever since that day, I was deeply involved in the organization, and I soon learned why father never told me about his involvement: The whole fatherhood thing was hard for him to figure out, despite him being a genius, and he felt it best to keep that aspect of his life a secret for until I was old enough to handle it. Not that it did much good, but he felt it was for my benefit first and formost, so he didn't have hate coming his way from me all that long.
Even so, the fact that I brought back his old friend and teacher was an accomplishment that he never thought possible, so he did the one thing that was beneficial for me in that situation: He made me one of his higher-ups over the Crows. Of course, I needed to go through The Process at some point, so I went through it rather quickly after the new position. It was determined that I had to go through the whole measure of it, but only because I was able to heal wounds regarding the wrong effects for one reason or another.
In short, I was the best success in the field, ever.
As I walked to my next class, where I was trying to learn how to create a TV of all things, I heard Professor Schwarzwald say, "Ah, just a moment, Shirou, Lucanor has something he wants me to tell you in my office."
Well, considering that his office was across the hall from my class, I obliged, and, upon entering his office, I closed the door behind me and asked, "So, Professor, what does my father want of me this time? Do I have to find more Lost Logia?"
Hearing Professor Schwarzwald chuckle, I wondered if it was something I said. However, my fear was put aside when he said, "Not this time, Shirou. You see, in an alternate world that was accidentally found by your father and his men back 10 years ago, we discovered a great fire had occurred and a massive amount of Zeonic energy that had accumulated over the years had been pegged as the cause of the fire, at least after the Zeon itself was broken apart. The fire was so massive, it destroyed a few city blocks, all heavily populated for a city of that size. What we know is that there were no survivors..."
"No survivors? Then why is this so important?" I asked, not sure what was the big deal, due to seeing such hopeless situations caused by other organizations before. If anything, after learning about the group Imperium, I realized that such groups needed to be eradicated, and humanity freed from the grips of said groups, with Wissenschaft the group that frees the world.
"No survivors, that is, except you, Shirou," explained Professor Schwarzwald, which made me gape in disbelief. Had I remembered anything of my life prior to waking up in father's mansion in Du'Lucart, the capital of Lucrecio, I would've been able to believe Professor Schwarzwald, but nothing would let me believe him at all...
As if he knew what I was thinking, which he could probably do, he extracted a folder from his desk and handed it to me. "Here," he said, "I believe this would be the best way to convince you of the truth. Be warned, however, this was done as a part of a research study on you to determine how you used The Gift among other things."
When I opened the folder, the first thing I saw in it were the words "The Shirou Giovanni Raising Project", meaning that he saw me as his case by case project to determine how much of a parent he'd be. Underneath the words, however, I saw several crossed out words that were replaced eventually by "or My attempts at Fatherhood". Seeing that this was the most recent change, and that it was done 6 years ago, I could assume he felt the need to assure everyone looking in the file that he'd been given a change in life as he'd call me his son. At the urging of Professor Schwarzwald, I continued looking in the folder, and I saw some things that had me feel violated.
For example, it was determined that a part of my nervous system was concentrated at certain points, 27 of them in fact, and if I were to use Magic at all, it went through a series of tasks just to get to the desired node of my body, but first my own body would try to circumvent the ordeal by sending the Zeon through those points from before, which I recognized as a form of circuit for whatever reason. Then, if the Zeon was rejected, I saw that it would force my "circuits" to try accepting it, only for it to get it right by the third time and have the Zeon do the correct series of tasks at a speed that was incredibly faster than what the ordinary Magus would do. In fact, that was all that was recorded for the first time I even used any and all spells, as I was noted for having faster speed with my Magic after the first time using each and every spell.
Another example was that they found a flipping scabbard of all things stuck inside my body, and that they were going to remove it, but they couldn't because of a Zeonic pressure that exerted itself onto those attempting to remove it. What they found on it, however, said that its name is Avalon, though I don't know the details as to why a scabbard would have a name, but that's what the Latin said on it. Maybe the bearers' name was put onto it? My scientific mind was wrapping itself on the subject for too long, and when I noticed, I quickly finished that section and continued reading.
Other examples would be hard to explain at this point, so I won't explain yet, period. It was so hard to properly understand, so I don't think I'll go into the details yet, as that would be embarrassing for me to try.
After reading through the whole thing, I realized something important: I had something I desperately needed to do, and I needed to do so as soon as possible. I needed answers for what had happened in my life that made this happen.
Before I could voice my thoughts on the subject, however, Professor Schwarzwald said, "I see that you are determined to know what happened to make this happen, so I'll be brief with you on the mission parameters. In short, it is a mission of infiltrating a society of higher technology where the Zeon formed those years ago, find a way to stop said flow of Zeon from forming at all, and have the mundanes stay happy altogether-"
Before he could continue, a knock came on the door, and I could hear father say, "Loctus, I have an update from one of the Crows on the field." After he walked into the office, he noticed me and said, "Hello, Shirou. I'm glad that you could be here for this."
"The pleasure is mine, father," I reply honestly, and I then take a seat and let him have the floor.
What came next was one of the most shocking things I had ever heard in my life up to that point, "It seems that out of the ordinary people are going about doing rather strange things, like a spearman going about killing innocent families and a strange woman draining the lifeforce of people in the area around a mountain temple. Of course, mostly this is unnoticed by the general populace, but it seems that when someone is supposed to see these strange people, they vanish into thin air, as if they were never there to begin with. However, it would seem that there's more to be brought into the world where this is going on, as we finally have records of what had happened over the course of the 250 year-old tradition that is what we dubbed the Zeon Breakout event before we realized what it really was."
A cold sweat had overcome me at this point, and I was not sure what to really do, but I needed to know what to do with the information. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for my lack of ability to go over there and do something about the problem now, I'd be rushing off to do something considerably retarded.
Seeing the worry on my face, Professor Schwarzwald said, "Well, I guess that the mission parameters have changed, then. I'm going to assume that the mission is to destroy those people and then crush the Zeon gathering device right off the bat, right?"
"Wrong."
That one word was what set both of us onto the edge of our seats, for we were expecting something along the lines of going in to destroy what was going on, and then gather the research for ourselves after the whole escapade. However, father was known to have a method and a reason for nearly everything. Nearly being the key word, because one time father had saved a woman named Marina Daorland from being assassinated on a whim of his, and one of his whims can actually be quite rare. The details I'm not privy to, but it's like she was about to be killed under orders of her younger brother Frederic, and father ordered a squad of Crows to defeat the assassins and look after her. That said, I don't know what father could want with this.
However, it became clear what he wanted, when he said, "I want someone to infiltrate the group that is being gathered for this tournament of a style, this free-for-all that is going on. Call it a hunch, but I have reason to believe that Imperium has done something similar with one of their men, a member of the Jurgand in fact. Not quite an elite, but someone to look out for, in case something horrible goes worse than horrible. He seemed to summon the woman I mentioned earlier with this," at this, he pulled out a strange bladed weapon from his clothes, "dagger as a catalyst."
When I looked at the dagger, I noticed that it wasn't like an ordinary dagger, but it had the feel of some greater mystery that couldn't be explained in words. It was a jagged blade that was also iridescent, and it had the appearance of being thin, brittle, and blunt. It had a rainbow of a color scheme for the blade itself, but in the malevolent way that I could also feel off of the weapon, as it was a weapon I could tell was pure evil and betrayal for those that held it. What was more, the blade itself was giving off an ominous dread that I don't think anyone would really want near them, as a rule of survival.
Yet, for all those qualities, it was as if I could actually copy the weapon itself with my unusual ability in Magic. I would've done so if it weren't for the fact that the original was right there, but I didn't feel it necessary to use my energy like that without knowing what it did, so I waited for a bit before the dagger was placed on the table.
After a few seconds, I asked, "So, I'm to infiltrate, am I?" After all, I don't think it would be a good idea to let the Imperium have their way any more, especially in another world. I would've volunteered if I knew what was supposed to happen, but it seemed like I was supposed to do this the moment I stepped in here.
"Yes, Shirou, you are," replied father, but he then said, "that is, if you want to. I certainly won't force the issue on you, but you're the first choice for the matter. Of course, you won't be going in alone, you'll have Crows coming with you to keep guard on your flank and back, should you need the support, as well as the Crows already in the area."
Well. That proved itself interesting, the fact that father had placed Crows in an alternate world, but how this happened I'll find out later. For now-
"And the Crows entered the alternate world... how?"
I turned my head over to Professor Schwarzwald, looking at him a bit incredulously before realizing that this was from after he left earlier in his life, and he needed the info first hand so that he can direct me to safety.
"They entered the same way they did the last time. Through a Lost Logia," I heard father say, then I turned my head back to him just to focus better on what he'd say. "I think it's best to show you said Lost Logia that we managed to leave a copy of with the Imperium... and I mean we duplicated the technology fully. It just doesn't have a way back for their version."
Well, this intrigued me, and I think it intrigued Professor Schwarzwald as well. We went down to the secret lab and saw what I think was supposed to look like a strange gate of sorts. I think that it was something called a... no, wait, I don't know what it's called.
"This is a dimensional transport operating on the laws of a power called Zelretch, though we don't know what Zelretch is, it is supposedly the power that supplies the realities for us to travel to. It was with this that we discovered the existence of the alternate world we dubbed 'Gorann', and where we found you, Shirou."
Gorann... where I'm from. Well, if that doesn't ruin the world, then I'm good to go over there and see what happened while I was away. I knew I needed to be ready for anything, so I figured I'd get started by getting a place to stay, for one thing. Knowing the fact that Crowns wouldn't be usable there, however, I decided to figure out a way to earn the money necessary to live. With that, I thought I'd be some sort of scholar, or possibly a metal worker, but I had the nagging feeling that those skills would be useless in my new environs, so I decided to try something else when I got there.
"I see. I think I'll like my trip to my original home, but I'll come back regardless, because here in Du'Lucart is where I belong, at least for now." With that, I waited for until everything was taken care of with school and the Crows that were assigned to come with me.
---
Five minutes had passed since the school was informed of my excused absence. I now had the group of Crows ready for travel, and we all will be travelling to Gorann for the first time, even for me, because I hadn't been there in a long time, and I had only travelled from there. To confirm everyone as ready, I said, "Well, this is it, people. Are you ready?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"You don't need to be so uptight with me, fellow soldiers of Wissenschaft," I said, and I honestly meant it, because of the fact that I wanted to be treated as an equal among the soldiers under my command.
"Sorry, Shirou," was the general reply.
"It's okay, just don't do it again, please," I replied in turn. Turning to the gatekeeper, I said, "Hey, Charles, could you turn on the gate? We can't go where we need to without the gate active, you know."
"Right away, Shirou," came the energetic voice of my friend Charles. As a boy who was gifted with machines like I was, though that skill I never shared with my father, he knew how to operate almost anything right off the bat, though what he couldn't he knew how to within an hour. He was just that good with Lost Logia and other machines.
Soon, the gateway opened up, the humming of machines sounding like music to my ears. When it finally showed our destination, we moved on out, ready for what was beyond the doorway.
Little did we realize what was going on at that point in the world of Gorann, in the city called Fuyuki, for it would be the death of many.
---
Yes, this is what I was referring to, and I don't think it's wise to say that this is the best thing ever written. In fact, I doubt I got Loctus Khan Schwarzwald and Lucanor Giovanni right, but I figured that changes would occur to make both of them different from the source material by this point.
Also, at this point, Shirou is still 16 by our standards, but he's got more experience under his belt with fighting armies and such. At the very least, he's at level 4, and he's considered a Warlock... and for those of you who don't understand the rules of Anima: Beyond Fantasy, I'll explain when I actually have this turned into a fic, but for now, this is just a snippet.
Also, for those of you wondering, this is going to be a fic where Shirou can curbstomp his foes, but only because the opposition underestimates him, hell, even Saber will underestimate him, just because he's not a normal human. I'm going by the belief that normal humans are probably level 0 to level 1 at the very least. Anyone that specializes in something would probably be a few levels higher at max, but for Shirou, level 4 is the right level for now. I'm going to guess that Sasaki is the weakest of the Servants with a level of 6, and TA is weaker still (should he come into the story) at level 5. I'd guess that the Knight classes are around levels 8-12, depending on how destructive they were in life on the battle field (EMIYA being either 11 or 12 with Gil being a straight 12, borderline 13), Rider being level 7, Caster at level 8, and Berserker at 13? Just speculation on my end.
Anyway, how do you guys like so far? Should I continue, or should I stop?