Line #28 TearJerker/FromFakeDreams


1	* Early on in Chapter 5, [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Shirou gets himself in trouble]] when he protects Sakura from a bunch of bullies. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He gets beaten up even when using Reinforcement]], and Kiritsugu scares the other children off using his [[KillingIntent Magus Killer persona]]. Then, [[DisappointedInYou he calmly gives Shirou a harsh speech on the latter's foolishness]], [[TragicHero warning him of what will happen if he follow his father's path.]]
2	* Chapter 5, where Kiritsugu, just before dying, gives Shirou his last lesson and sets his life goals. All the more powerful since this moment replaces the canon moment where Kiritsugu passes down his ideal to Shirou.
3	** Comes back with a vengeance 40 chapters down the road when Shirou sees Archer and realizes the ripples this difference made.
4	* Chapter 23, where the letter Kiritsugu left behind for Saber was revealed, you can clearly see the grief and desperation that has gripped the man, to the point where he was actually putting his faith in a ''Heroic Spirit'', an entity which he had despised for the better portion of his life due to them (from his point of view) being no better than common murderers.
5	--> ''[[AintTooProudToBeg Save them Saber. Please save my children]]. [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture I have bet everything on you and Shirou to make things right where I have failed]], [[AllForNothing where I have gambled everything on a lie and gained nothing but destruction]]. [[TraumaCongaLine Every other attempt I have had at trying to make someone close to me happy and live has ended only in death, violence, and sending them on the path of ruin.]]''\
6	''[[SincerityMode Please]].''\
7	''[[PrayerIsALastResort Please give me a reason to believe that there is worth in heroes one last time]].''
8	* During the early parts of the Holy Grail War, [[TheHero Shirou]] and [[TheGoodKing Saber]] have a sobering conversation about their ideals and what they are both fighting for. Saber wishes to use the Holy Grail to undo her past as King Arthur, [[BrutalHonesty but Shirou makes a blunt observation]]. Just as Kiritsugu put his faith in Shirou, the people of Britain put their faith in Saber, and Saber's wish would be spitting in the faces of all the knights [[TrueCompanions who chose to fight by her side and became legends alongside their king]]. Shirou also states that while he still has a [[ChronicHeroSyndrome severe guilt complex]], he would never try to change the past so that Kiritsugu would save someone else in hopes that they would do what he could not. Saber ends up leaving in a huff on her motorcycle.
9	* The 'blink and you'll miss it' mention about some of [[FallenHero Archer]]'s previous summons as a Counter Guardian. He's had to kill [[TragicMonster Sakura]] ''multiple times''.
10	* Zouken blackmailing Shirou into sleeping with Sakura to help calm down the urges she gets from her training since Shinji is dead. He then goes on to tell Shirou that if he turns down the offer, he will pick a random man from the streets to sleep with Sakura. Both Shirou and Sakura are left in tears during their first time together.
11	* Chapter 34 has Rin pretty much start to break down after Luvia and Princess!Medea help her realize that [[BrokenHero Archer's]] attitude, different [[FieldOfBlades Reality Marble]], and lack of a recorded Legend all point to him being a [[FateWorseThanDeath Counter Guardian]].
12	** What makes it worse, is that because she's unaware that this Shirou is not her timeline's Shirou, it makes her believe that all her efforts to curb Shirou's distortion were for naught.
13	** The chapters afterward are not any better almost breaking her time and again.
14	* Chapter 40: [[WhatTheHellHero Luvia angrily demands to know why Shirou wants Rin and Luvia to keep their heads down and support from the sidelines instead of openly helping him fight Gilgamesh.]] Shirou calmly lists his reasons:
15	** [[SpannerInTheWorks Seeing as how fucked up the Holy Grail War has become]], [[ObstructiveBureaucrat the Association will likely go after Shirou for petty reasons]]. [[GuiltByAssociation Shirou has many accomplices, and the Association will go after them as well.]]
16	** Rin is the Second Owner of Fuyuki, so if the Association find out about her assistance, [[FateWorseThanDeath she would lose her legacy, her money, her research, her home and her property]]. [[ContinuityNod The only reason that this did not happen in canon]] is because [[ItAmusedMe Zelretch intervened]], and [[ProperlyParanoid Shirou does not want to bet on the eccentric Magi's assistance this time around.]]
17	** Luvia is in a similar position. Sakura, Illya and Bazett aren't in as bad a spot, [[TheMagocracy but Luvia and Rin are magi to the core.]]
18	** [[FridgeHorror And in the worst case scenario]], the Association would use Shirou as a scapegoat because he knew about the corrupted Grail, Zouken, Kirei and Gilgamesh. They would blame him for allowing things to spiral out of control and [[TheNeedsOfTheMany for not killing Sakura for the risk she posed to society]], along with not informing Rin of Archer's true identity and using his future self to take out Kirei and Gilgamesh more quickly. [[ColdEquation He'd be called ineffective for not killing Luvia and her sister despite knowing the risks that Witch!Caster posed]]. He'd be called a traitor for not revealing the above concerns to [[TheDreaded Barthomelloi]] earlier. [[TheyWouldCutYouUp Not to mention Shirou's Reality Marble and his Apostle affliction...]]
19	** While all of this is going down, Lancer gets a brief moment of quiet with only Assassin for company. He shows his more introspective side by discussing just how terrible parents many heroes(himself included) are, bitterly reminiscing on how many are only seen for their great deeds while their more unclean deeds are glossed over or outright ignored, wondering just what would have been of their children had they spent more time being good mothers and fathers instead.
20	* Chapter 42: [[InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath As Archer and Assassin are busy trying to kill each other]], [[NotSoStoic Heroic Spirit EMIYA breaks his composure]]. [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning While Kiritsugu managed to make it to the Throne of Heroes as a true Heroic Spirit]], [[FateWorseThanDeath this version of Shirou went down the path of a Counter Guardian]]. Assassin deflects, stating that [[ColdEquation they are both 'cleaners']] and that [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids the difference is that only 'fools' pretend otherwise]]. [[CallingTheOldManOut Archer becomes quite furious]], point out that he inherited a [[TitleDrop fake dream]], [[TragicDream a fake dream that his father already fulfilled]]. [[IHatePastMe Archer notes that he was going to try and kill his past self again]], but now he genuinely want to switch targets since he can afford to vent all of his rage and frustration on the man who led him astray in the first place.
21	* Chapter 43: [[UndyingLoyalty Ilya's maids die because of Caster's dragon fang warriors]]. Also, Merem reveals that [[CoolOldGuy Sebastian]] died in the initial assult on Luvia's home.
22	* Chapter 44 has Shirou finally discover the identity of [[IHatePastMe Archer]], and worse still the resonance between their souls causes Shirou to relive all of Archer's [[DyingAlone life]], existence as a [[FateWorseThanDeath Counter Guardian]] and summonings in the Grail War. He does not take it well.
23	* Chapter 45 finally drives home the difference between Shirou and Archer: if Archer inherited Kiritsugu's ideals, FFD!Shirou inherited his ''regrets''. This means Archer and Shirou are so different on a fundamental level, they will never be able to understand or accept each other, even more so than in canon.
24	** Taiga (who may have more of an active role in canon) also actually had one when reminiscing about Kiritsugu with Shirou.
25	** Kiritsugu's scared mannerisms in regards to his son once he saw the Archer route. That left poor Shirou with some emotional trauma that came back with a vengeance when he saw JUST what Kiritsugu wanted him to avoid, when he met Archer.
26	** This also means Archer's VERY EXISTENCE causes untold anguish to Shirou, sending him in a borderline UnstoppableRage in Chapter 46, where Rin has to blackmail him with his kitchen to stop him from trying to kill Archer. "He will deny me" all right.
27	* Chapter 46, when Shirou hands over to Luvia a complete file about himself and every single thing that could get him imprisoned/killed/worse. Princess!Caster comments he is genuine and that his heart is in the right place, but he goes about it in such a clumsy way, that it comes across as very sad. Luvia herself is quite moved by how selfless an idiot Shirou is. It's even more tragic when you realize Shirou had been toying with the idea of disappearing for a few months, and he seems to just brush it off as part of his plan.
28	* Chapter 47 has Illya interacting with Archer, and the revelation of just how worn down the countless summons and Grail Wars have left him. She ''begs'' him to hold on to what few memories he has left when the War is over, to not lose more of himself to the haze of constant killing and death, and he can't even promise that much anymore.
29	* Chapter 48 has Witch!Caster finally getting her just desserts. Still, given how pathetically she gets owned, and with all the crap she has been forced to go through in life and after, one can't help but feel a very little bit sorry for her. She loses absolutely everything, and then as she was about to cause everything to blow up as a last ditch attempt, she gets shot in the back by Assassin, ultimately coming off as a wretched being who was until the end played by everyone, and who had to be put down for the greater good.
30	* Chapter 49 has a moment with Illya and Assassin that is both this and Heartwarming. The reason why it is tear-jerking is because of all the pent up feelings on both sides, and the fact that most likely Assassin expects to disappear, given that his role is over. It is also extremely gut-wrenching to hear Illya acknowledge she is not up to the task of caring for Shirou alone.
31	* Chapter 51 has a sobering moment when Taiga and Kiritsugu reunite, and the narration reveals just how far his planning for the War went. [[ManipulativeBastard It goes in this territory because Taiga's role won't be known to Shirou for a while, and because it's yet one other sacrifice for the World, showing that some habits die hard for Kiritsugu.]]
32	** Even worse when you realize that Taiga's "[[ManchurianAgent low magecraft resistance/gullibility]]" has been hinted at as early as Chapter 4!
33	* Chapter 55: Something has to be said for how tense the mood is after the Holy Grail War, with everyone assuming Shirou is acting all mysterious, and again going to unleash hell on the city, and therefore being unable to trust him at all, even though they all know he has gone through Hell for them. It doesn't help that he has VERY valid reasons to hide what is going on (namely, a transaction between Dead Apostles in town, which would, if known, risk causing far more harm than if the deal just goes through without a hitch), and that he can only say "You'll understand when it's done" to placate them, which comes off as callous.
34	** Princess!Caster's speech to Shirou, stating once again why she hates him and why she thinks he's a ticking bomb that will cause nothing but harm to Luvia.
35	* Chapter 58 ends on one. Ain't it sad, Issei?
36	* Chapter 60 lays off the mother of TearJerker moments on the Emiya family and everyone associated. Irisviel has been forced to manifest as a failsafe in the Holy Grail War's system, and she has more of her personality surfacing thanks to how well things have been managed until now. On the plus side it means she is more affable, on the minus side it means Irisviel is genuinely a TragicMonster in the making. To say old wounds have been torn open again is an understatement.
37	* Chapter 61: Archer tells Kiritsugu that the notes the latter had on the former giving a version of Shirou his arm only makes sense if he was being pushed by the Counter Force. This means that every time Archer is summoned, the Counter Force is already guiding his actions, meaning that there was never any chance of him ever getting out of his pact with Alaya.
38	--> Archer sighed. "My goal of killing my younger self in this War to get out of the Throne was based on the idea that I could move with autonomy while summoned as a Servant. But… if my actions were proven to be influenced by the Counterforce even then…"\
39	Then there was a chance that his actions had been subtly influenced ''every time'' he was summoned during the Fifth Grail war to begin with.\
40	His faint hope of freedom was based on the false assumption of having a window of free will.\
41	But the cruel truth of the matter was that there had been no window from the very beginning, let alone an escape.
42	* Chapter 65 has Shirou come to the realization that after the Grail War ends, he will have to leave Fuyuki and possibly never return.
43	* Chapter 70 has Irisviel see the Kiritsugu blade, made of the ashes of its namesake. She has a breakdown upon sensing the curse on the blades, knowing that she cast the curse on her husband during the Fourth War while under Angra possession.

Context TearJerker / FromFakeDreams