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Escavalien

My ultimate FSN timeline

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by
Escavalien
, November 19th, 2021 at 09:20 AM (983 Views)
In my spare time I've just been itching to fuck around with an idea like this idk why.

I don't think it'll interest someone else but I thought might as well document it here if I do want to do it for fun. The easiest way to start for me is to reverse engineer it since the first thing I thought of was the ending.

Essentially, since I like different plotlines in different routes and think they'd work better to enhance each other than the sum of their parts here's a timeline of FSN that I feel might be fun to fan edit in the future. Like if we ever get a ufotable Fate route adaptation, booting up premiere pro and making a frankenstein by putting together footage from all three routes or something idk. Though writing it down alone kind of scratches the itch.

Reverse engineering it, I like different "final battles" from different routes and I feel like they could've been spread out to happen simultaneously in the same timeline. Kirei and Shirou in the end of HF personally don't capitalize on the past with Kiritsugu because Shirou is different quite a lot from Kiritsugu's ideals by the end of HF. It makes sense for that route itself, but on the other hand their other fight is in Fate route and that one has no mention of all the info Shirou learns in HF. So, we take the showdown they have in Fate route and make the tweak that Shirou does know all about Kiritsugu and the past grail war. Essentially, HF's build up but with Fate route's climax. The dialogue would probably be a fair bit different from either version though, I guess.

The other "final battles" are where it gets more interesting, similarly to Fate route Saber is outside fighting Gilgamesh. I actually prefer Gil's fight with Shirou but this is much more cohesive. The main difference here is Shirou vs Kirei has a new emotional subject matter and Gil vs Saber is the best Gil death you could give him, other than UBW's which we can't do cuz Shirou is occupied.

So far it feels like Fate route, but the context would change the scenes imo. For example, this isn't two different duels. You also have the third fight. Rin vs Sakura. I really loved this in the HF route and I sincerely think Sakura in this timeline (because you're making it one timeline Shirou focusing on one specific romantic interest imo is better off being vague without him picking.) would be better written to focus on her relationship with Rin. In this context now you essentially have the old "gang" back, Shirou/Rin/Saber with each one having their own very personal battle with very personal stakes. Kirei was already masterminding the situation in HF, it would only truly need some tweaks. (I've though of how much eating Gil affected Sakura, but I supposed writing around that is part of the fun... maybe.)

A little example of how merging plotlines gives scenes new context that makes them very cool (in my eyes) is something like Nine Lives Blade Works. In HF Archer is somewhat happy to see Shirou divert from his ideal, like smiling with relief. In the context of this timeline, where Shirou doesn't give up (much closer to his UBW version), Archer's attitude in this scene is now a bittersweet gesture of respect and encouragement towards Shirou.

I guess I might as well mention, I'd say Archer vs Shirou from UBW stays but the events after that 1v1 is over are different. Archer still doesn't survive that night, but he does go on long enough to give Shirou his arm before leaving. I'm sure a bigger lore buff would have an idea of how Archer's arm works, projecting with it ultimately kills Shirou in HF but he can project in UBW without resorting to it. In that sense, it might be redundant because he doesn't need it to project NPs? There's a saying where I live that essentially means "God has mercy on those who know their limits." and I sure as hell know I have no idea how the lore interacts in that situation so I guess input on that would be nice.
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  1. tuepiko's Avatar
    I quite like your idea, just a small question: What main role plays Kirei in your timeline? (Well apart from dying ig). I would also like to hear your thought how Shirou's Reality Marble would look like, if he can create one at all.
  2. Escavalien's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tuepiko
    I quite like your idea, just a small question: What main role plays Kirei in your timeline? (Well apart from dying ig). I would also like to hear your thought how Shirou's Reality Marble would look like, if he can create one at all.
    Kirei would be a merged version of his HF and Fate route selves, having moments where he gets to know Shirou (like saving Illya together in HF) only to try and use her as the grail like in the Fate route, essentially the main antagonist but retaining all the build up that allows Shirou to understand him and even like him in HF.

    The Shirou here is mostly his UBW version, though I haven't sat down and thought about it I wouldn't be surprised if there was a tiny bit more focus on Avalon/Excalibur because he's closer to Saber (cuz of merging the routes). I do think I want him to know of Avalon's existence inside him which he doesn't in some of the timelines. I can even see him tossing the real one to Saber before the Gil fight because this version has a reality marble he can fight Kirei with, which simultaneously could be written into a strong character moment where he willingly gives up the overpowered healing he has to "fight his own battles on an equal playing field", sort of. Just ideas stirred by your question but that's the sort of stuff that I'd be brainstorming to write this either way I suppose.
  3. tuepiko's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Escavalien
    Kirei would be a merged version of his HF and Fate route selves, having moments where he gets to know Shirou (like saving Illya together in HF) only to try and use her as the grail like in the Fate route, essentially the main antagonist but retaining all the build up that allows Shirou to understand him and even like him in HF.

    The Shirou here is mostly his UBW version, though I haven't sat down and thought about it I wouldn't be surprised if there was a tiny bit more focus on Avalon/Excalibur because he's closer to Saber (cuz of merging the routes). I do think I want him to know of Avalon's existence inside him which he doesn't in some of the timelines. I can even see him tossing the real one to Saber before the Gil fight because this version has a reality marble he can fight Kirei with, which simultaneously could be written into a strong character moment where he willingly gives up the overpowered healing he has to "fight his own battles on an equal playing field", sort of. Just ideas stirred by your question but that's the sort of stuff that I'd be brainstorming to write this either way I suppose.

    So we really do have the best of all routes. I especially like that Kirei gets a little extra motive for helping Shirou.

    I always thought that Shirou liking Kirei made a lot of sense, as Shirou is kinda what Kirei wanted to see in Kiritsugu. Also having Shirou vs Kirei in the Reality Marble would make the fight even better on a philosophical level, as it represents the essence of Shirou.

    Anyway, I am really looking forward to what you end up writing.
  4. Escavalien's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tuepiko
    So we really do have the best of all routes. I especially like that Kirei gets a little extra motive for helping Shirou.

    I always thought that Shirou liking Kirei made a lot of sense, as Shirou is kinda what Kirei wanted to see in Kiritsugu. Also having Shirou vs Kirei in the Reality Marble would make the fight even better on a philosophical level, as it represents the essence of Shirou.

    Anyway, I am really looking forward to what you end up writing.

    I definitely agree with how you feel, and the best usage of the reality marble in a fight was Shirou vs Archer but it never got used to enhance the themes of a battle otherwise so that could be pretty interesting.

    I'm going to be honest I went with this format because I was too scared to jump into a fanfic immediately, I struggle with writing consistency even in my own time so I tend to be very slow, but it's even way scarier because it's fanfic of something that I didn't create (plenty of pressure to understand the essence of something you didn't make) and also it's on a forum like this one where any given person could have a very convincing point of view and a well written list of flaws. Despite that, it's at least a little encouraging that the idea resonated with you enough to check it out. I appreciate that.