Want and Need
is an Alternate Timeline Fate/stay night fanfic written by Fanfiction.net user Kiiam that attempts to answer the question no one wanted to ask, what if the Masters of the Fourth Holy Grail War were given different Servants based not on who was most compatible with them, not on a chosen relic(mostly), but who the very sane mind of Angra Mainyu decided were best for them as people. Oh, and let’s throw Manaka Sajyou in as well, why not?
As of now, considering the fic hasn’t been updated since 2015 and the author hasn’t posted any new fics, it can unfortunately be considered a Dead Fic.
- Adaptational Heroism: While in canon Kariya was a Byronic Hero with good intentions and who ended up being manipulated into dying for nothing, in this fic events coincide in a way that show his good aspects more than his obsession. He ends up nearly killing himself by overusing his Blade Worms’ conversion of his body into Magical Energy function, which unfortunately leaves him too weak and disarrayed to have his familiars defend him from Assassin, who stabs him in the back, quite literally, leaving him dying on the ground. This time however, he didn’t overuse out of a desire to kill Tokiomi for his questionable parenting decisions and marrying Aoi, rather this time to save a bunch of children who Caster was targeting to use as material for his blasphemy against God.
- Friend to All Children: Kariya as in canon, though he shows it much more here by spending time with kids other than Sakura, and even takes care of Shinji for a bit instead of letting himself get angry at a literal child for not being able to comprehend what Sakura was going through and help her. His Servant, Berserker Sakata Kintoki is most definitely another case of this, playing with several children in a nearby park at one point to make them happy, and being the one who got Kariya to pay more attention to Shinji in the first place because he wanted to make him smile again.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite the change up in Servants and a different Master, some things remain the same, in this case being Kayneth getting shot by the Thompson Contender, having his Magic Circuits break and fix themselves in warped ways over and over again, and dying from Kiritsugu Emiya’s guns. Only this time, the wielder of the Contender against Kayneth isn’t Kiritsugu, it’s Waver.
- Moment of Weakness: When Waver is fighting Kayneth in the forest while Lancer and Rider are battling, he gets pushed severely on the backfoot. Backed into a corner and panicking, he looks for anything nearby that could work as a weapon, and he finds it in the form of an odd looking gun. The consequences to using said weapon on Kayneth in a moment of panic haunt and traumatize him for the rest of the fic.
- The Ace: Enkidu. There’s virtually no weapon he can’t pull or use if it comes down to it, and he can pinpoint Servants’ locations with ease. There’s a reason he does so well in the fight against Saber. Ah yes, there’s also the fact that Age of Babylon gives him functionally unlimited Noble Phantasms, not just high-quality ones. Let’s not also forget that he has the chains version of Enuma Elish.
