Ten years after Kiritsugu Emiya summoned a Servant that should have been out of reach, the First Hassan-i-Sabbah, the original Old Man of the Mountain, the Fifth Holy Grail War has begun. Shirou Emiya, Master to an Assassin whose very existence threatens to tear him apart, must finish what his father began- and the First Hassan is not the only impossibility that stalks Fuyuki City.
And Hell Followed With Them
by AshenDream is a Fate/stay night Alternate Universe Fic that explores a timeline where Kiritsugu Emiya and later his son Shirou Emiya summoned not Saber as in canon, but the greatest Assassin of all time as their Servant for the Holy Grail Wars. While the story is based primarily on the Heaven's Feel route of the visual novel, AshenDream also draws on lore and concepts from both the other routes and the wider Nasuverse, particularly that of Fate/Grand Order. AshenDream expertly weaves together the story's premise and canon lore to explore what would cause the Holy Grail Wars to diverge from what should've happened and the resulting implications, as well as giving each character an in-depth look that both explores and expands their personalities faithfully.
Late-Arrival Spoiler is in full effect as the author recommends you read the original visual novel first, though it's not necessary. Knowledge of the wider Nasuverse also helps a lot too.
Not to be confused with the Ranma crossover fanfic And Hell Followed After Him by Harbinger of Kaos.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Kiritsugu did not get along with his Servant Saber in canon, and openly admitted he wanted a Caster or Assassin instead. Here, he gets his wish and the relationship with Assassin is far better than with Saber. Both sides have an open respect and commonality with each other, and Assassin calls his Master a good man long after he died.
- Rin and Sakura's relationship, while still fraught with tension and awkwardness, is also much better since Sakura's status as a Master is quickly exposed and Zouken doesn't start his schemes with Aŋra Mainiiu and the Shadow in favor of something else.
- Alternate Universe: To the main stay night continuity. This being a fic that incorporates Nasuverse lore means that the Theoretical Pruning Phenomenon is also at play.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Assassin is incredibly powerful, but like most top tier Servants who aren't Gilgamesh he requires a lot of mana to fight and nearly drains Shirou to death several times. It's even worse because Shirou's already lackluster Magic Circuits are dormant, so the amount of mana he can provide is effectively zero. Rin fixes this somewhat by opening the Magic Circuits, but Shirou can't provide more than a few minutes' worth of mana.
- Beyond the Impossible: Summoning the First Hassan-i-Sabbah as a regular Assassin should have been impossible since he's normally supposed to be the Grand Assassin. It's hinted that the Counter Force is responsible for this.
- Butt-Monkey: Shinji goes above expectations and turns into an even bigger one than in canon. Unlike Medusa, Queen Medb has zero tolerance for his bullshit and quickly breaks his hands and his will to defy her, turning him into her slave in all but name.
- Bystander Syndrome: Caster is well aware that something is terribly wrong with the timeline, but is so jaded that she'd rather spend the time she has left in happiness with Kuzuki rather than lift a finger to help.
- Cosmic Flaw: Every Servant in the War can sense that there is something wrong with the world. Something happened in the past fifty years that should not have happened, turning the timeline into something Archer and Caster describe as "rotting", implying that it's scheduled to be pruned by the Counter Force from Proper Human History if the situation doesn't improve. Zouken summoning Azrael who is normally summoned by the Counter Force to kill everyone in a doomed timeline before it's pruned from existence further muddies things.
- Deadpan Snarker: Archer as always. When he visits the desecrated theater where Azrael was summoned and sees the imprint of a person on the wall from an explosion (actually from Lancer who is very much alive), he can't help the sarcasm."Some poor bastard got hit hard by whatever happened," Archer said dryly. "Wonder if he got hit by the door before he vaporized."
Rin punched him in the arm. "Someone probably died there, dumbass. Have a little respect." - Death by Adaptation: Gilgamesh was killed by Assassin during the 4th Grail War.
- Didn't Think This Through: Zouken summons Azrael as his Servant Grand Rider since angels have no free will and must obey others. Thus, he hopes to replace the Counter Force with himself as Azrael's master. However, he had to summon him as a Pseudo-Servant, and used Kotomine as his host. Kotomine, who has both free will and hates Zouken very much. Guess what happens after the summoning ritual is a success?
- Double-Meaning Title: The story's title is a passage from Book of Revelation 6:8, specifically "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." The title of course refers to Assassin who is basically a reaper himself. The Them part of the title hints that the true Grim Reaper, the Divine Spirit Azrael eventually is summoned by Zouken as the 8th Servant of the War.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Sakura has a dream of Aŋra Mainiiu but instead of wearing Shirou's form as in hollow ataraxia, he's wearing her form.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Zouken just doesn't learn, does he? He tries repeating the scheme he had planned using on Aŋra Mainiiu with Azrael, and gets exorcised for his trouble.
- Evil Tainted the Place: Rin visits the theater where Zouken summoned Azrael, and is sickened by vile energies and curses infesting the building. She opts to burn it down before the rot can spread elsewhere.
- Exact Words: When Sakura asks Kotomine if Shirou is safe, he answers that he saw Rin carrying off his bloodied and unconscious form from the site of a massive battle to who knows where. Kotomine being Kotomine, knew that Rin was actually taking him to safety after Illya and Berserker attacked them, but worded it specifically to make it look like Rin kidnapped Shirou just to see the sisters fight.
- For Want Of A Nail: As expected from an Alternate Universe Fic. The premise claims the change of Servants is what caused history to diverge, but it's implied the real point of divergence occurred some time in the past fifty years. The current list of changes are:
- Assassin was summoned as the Emiyas' Servant in the Wars.
- Gilgamesh was summoned as the 4th War's Archer, but does not survive it since Assassin chopped his head off.
- Sakura summons Queen Medb as her Servant Rider instead of Medusa.
- The Grand Rider Azrael is summoned by Zouken as a Pseudo-Servant. Only time will tell if the summoning was purely Zouken's will or if the Counter Force is working behind the scenes.
- Get a Room!: Rin's reaction to Shirou and Sakura's awkward displays of concern for each other.
- God in Human Form: The Pseudo-Servant concept from Grand Order is considered by mages to be a mere theory in this timeline. Zouken proves its validity when he summons a Divine Spirit, the Angel of Death Azrael into Kotomine as a host. This functions more of a Fusion Dance though, and the Azrael-Kotomine amalgam goes by Abbadon to differentiate himself from his component parts.
- The Grim Reaper: The true Pale Rider, the Angel of Death is revealed in this story to be the Divine Spirit Azrael, also known as the angel Abaddon and the Greek god Thanatos. Normally he's supposed to follow the Counter Force's will and kill off everyone in doomed timelines before they get pruned from existence, but his unusual summoning as a Pseudo-Servant this time with Kotomine as his host gives him free will for the first time.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Azrael is tired of killing everyone in timelines to be pruned as the Counter Force wills, and wants to live a mundane, human life. He gets his wish when Zouken summons him into Kotomine, but unfortunately no one wants to leave him alone because he might be connected to what's wrong with the timeline.
- In Spite of a Nail: Some things don't change even if the timeline does.
- Archer, Lancer, Berserker, and Caster are still the same in the 5th War. The same goes for their Masters.
- Artoria Pendragon is summoned as a Saber, albeit in her younger Lily form and under Caster's control, replacing Sasaki Kojiro as the poor sap stuck at the temple gate.
- Aŋra Mainiiu is still stuck in the Greater Grail, waiting to be reborn.
- Mundane Luxury: Azrael has never had the choice to be anything but the Counter Force's agent. When his fusion with Kotomine gives him free will as a side bonus, he considers this to be the greatest gift he's ever received and does everything he can to keep it.
- Nested Ownership:
- Caster is the Master of Saber.
- Since Azrael/Grand Rider is using Kotomine as a host, he becomes the Master of Lancer.
- Oh, Crap!: Illya gets a big one when she realizes just what Zouken is planning.
- Official Couple: Shirou and Sakura are the main pairing, since the story uses Heaven's Feel as a base.
- Pet the Dog: Saber begs Caster for food. Despite Caster saying she has no obligation to give her anything and that Servants do not need to eat anyway, Saber is later seen content with a discarded pizza box.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The ritual Zouken uses to summon Azrael is powered by ripping out the life force of the homeless in Fuyuki City, as to not attract attention from the authorities. Even Illya is horrified by this casual disregard for so many lives.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Kuzuki advises Caster to not be a Bad Boss to Saber since a disgruntled servant might not be reliable when she really needs her.
- Psycho Supporter: Assassin immediately sniffs out Sakura's connection to Aŋra Mainiiu and her potential to grow into something dark and terrible, and believes she's deeply connected to whatever's causing the world to rot. He advocates killing her off multiple times, but respects Shirou's wishes that he will not harm her. Offering her the chance to kill herself is another matter entirely.
- Replacement Scrappy: In-Universe example. Archer remembers that Shirou is always supposed to summon Artoria Pendragon as his Servant Saber, and is not happy to see that Assassin has taken her place.
- Rubber-Band History: It's implied that this is happening to the timeline, and the Counter Force is subtly trying to nudge things back to how things were in the visual novel. Should that fail, it will start bringing in the big guns. Should that also fail, the entire timeline will be declared a failure and pruned from existence.
- Underestimating Badassery: Lancer underestimates Rider because when they met in life, Queen Medb always sent flunkies to fight Cu Chulainn instead of fighting him herself, making him think she is a coward who can't fight. She promptly demonstrates that she can fight by giving him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Assassin and Archer believe that it's too late to fix whatever caused the Cosmic Flaw and the worst has yet to happen, but they can still do their best to minimize the damage the inevitable cataclysm will cause.
- Villainous Rescue: Caster rescues Rin and Shirou from Azrael at the church after their attempt to kill him goes south.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Sakura shows signs of this. She's normally meek and quiet but when Shirou is in danger she turns stone-cold. When she's misled into thinking Rin kidnapped Shirou, she's murderously pissed on the inside yet icy on the outside and hints she'll kill Rin, blood ties and differences in strength be damned.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 21 which ends Act One reveals the meaning of the story's title. Zouken uses the 8th Servant slot normally reserved for Ruler, some trickery, and Kotomine as a host to summon Divine Spirit Azrael as the Pseudo-Servant Grand Rider.
- Wham Line: Zouken gives one in Chapter 21 when summoning a new Servant. He's giving the usual chant when all of a sudden his lines deviate the norm, which changes everything about the story.Zouken: Thou who hath no will and no reason, answer my call! Scourge of Gomorrah! Angel of the Abyss! Keeper of Sheol and The Righteous Cleansing Fire! The One True Horseman of Death! Grand Rider! AZRAEL!
- Worf Had the Flu: Assassin is incredibly powerful and can fight on par with Berserker, but since he has Shirou for a Master, he does not have enough mana to fight for very long, often forcing him to retreat.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Archer claims this in order to avoid hurting Saber Lily, as he dearly remembers her older form as his Servant in a past life. Rin quickly calls bullshit on it since just the other night, Archer advocated for killing the slightly older Shirou in his sleep.
