Adoption

Fuyuki, Japan

Year 1995

Alcides' first sensation waking up is the the sound of a beeping machine, followed quickly by the smell of a hospital room. Opening his eyes, he finds himself staring at a plain white ceiling. Although he felt Avalon's presence while falling unconscious, it didn't prepare him for waking completely uninjured. In fact, not only is he not injured, but he feels much better than he has ever felt.

Mentally calling up his system, Alcides tries to figure out why. What he sees however is completely different from what he expected.

Name: Alcides Malach

Titles: Son of Zeus

Magic Circuits:

Quantity:EX

Quality:A+

SP:[Locked]

Attributes:

Strength: 80

Agility: 100

Dexterity: 70

Endurance: 80

Traits:

[Void Touched]: Alcides' soul has spent an unknown amount of time in the void, allowing him to use dimensions such Tartarus and Hell to travel to different universes without suffering any adverse effects. Unfortunately for him he cannot choose which universe he ends up in since he lacks an ability like the Kaleidoscope to navigate. This trait also makes his soul adapt to whatever universe he finds himself in so that the higher powers cannot reject the abnormality of his existence/presence.

[Greek Demigod]: Alcides Malach is the son of Gabriel Malach and Zeus, the King of Gods, making him a Greek Demigod. Being a Greek Demigod, Alcides is hardwired for combat and ancient Greek, giving him ADHD and Dyslexia. This trait makes it easier for Alcides to learn any combat skill 10 times faster and easier than the greatest mortal prodigy.

[Son of Zeus]: As the Son of Zeus, the God of Thunder and Lightning, Alcides has the ability to control and generate lightning along with immunity to electricity and lightning depending on the attacker. Unlike some of his siblings however, Alcides falls short when it comes to raw power.

[Curse of Achilles]: Having bathed in the River Styx, Alcides now possesses the Curse of Achilles. The curse makes Alcides nearly invulnerable except in one weak point, the space over his heart. The curse has also increased his strength, speed, agility, reflexes, endurance, and fighting skills by a factor of ten while also increasing the bond between him and his divine blood, making it less tiresome and more efficient to use his demigod abilities. The curse however places an enormous amount of stress on one's body, as the enhanced fighting skills means that Alcides expends energy at a much faster rate, requiring him not to be careful not to overexert himself. According to Chiron, Achilles himself took about twenty naps a day. While the physical drawback sounds mild, the true reason why it is called a curse is due to the psychological effects, which causes ???

Skills:

Ancient Greek(Passive) LV-MAX: Understanding of the ancient Greek language, whether spoken or written.

French(Passive) LV-MAX: Understanding of the french language, whether spoken or written. Despite being fluent in the language, Alcides still struggles with reading it due to his Dyslexia

English(Passive) LV-MAX: Understanding of the english language, whether spoken or written. Despite being fluent in the language, Alcides still struggles with reading it due to his Dyslexia

Hand-to-Hand Combat(Passive) LV-50: proficiency, capabilities and knowledge in unarmed combat

Swordsmanship(Passive) LV-45: Understanding of the way of the sword and how to use it in combat.

Lightning Generation and Manipulation(Passive) LV-30: The ability to generate and use lightning to one's whim.

Staring at the [Curse of Achilles] trait, Alcides can't help the sense of trepidation that rises within him alongside the excitement. He has the curse of Achilles, the curse that made Achilles invincible and allowed Percy Jackson to go toe to toe with the likes of Hades and Hyperion. Just by obtaining it his agility can now be considered E Rank by this universe's standards, making him wonder how much higher his stats will go when he starts training seriously. Although, considering how high his parameters are now, regular exercises will no longer have any effect on him. He will have to look towards magecraft to increase his combat prowess outside of his normal skills like [Hand-to-Hand Combat] and [Swordsmanship]. His [Lightning Generation and Manipulation] skill is already giving him plenty of ideas.

From what he remembers, there is a skill called Breathing and Walking which allows the user to accomplish miraculous physical feats once they gain enough mastery of it. A normal human skilled at it would be able to accomplish supernatural feats with their body while a true prodigy of it could even fight a servant using their physical bodies. It's actually quite similar to…similar to… and he can't remember. No matter how much he tries he can't remember anything about that universe other than the fact that it's a world where normal humans use special breathing techniques to increase their physical prowess in order to fight demons. How ironic, out of all the memories he discarded to survive the fire one of them potentially holds information that may help him survive later on.

Despite the startling realization however, Alcides can't find it within himself to despair. He's survived that cursed inferno and that's all that matters. So what if he can't remember how those breathing techniques work, he'll just have to invent one that works for him.

Before Alcides can go further down that train of thought a voice shakes him from his musings.

"You're awake, good." says a doctor in Japanese as he enters the room with a clipboard in hand. "How do you feel?" he asks while taking note of the information displayed by the machine, unaware of the blank look that Alcides is giving him.

"I don't understand Japanese." replies Alcides in english, causing the doctor to stop in his tracks as he takes in Alcides' confused expression.

"Well, that's going to be troublesome. I don't know anyone in the staff who speaks English fluently." answers the doctor.

"I am fluent in English." interrupts a voice behind him.

Turning around, the doctor seems pleasantly surprised to see the man standing behind him. "Emiya-san, perfect timing. Could please help translate for me?"he asks.

"Ok." replies Kiritsugu. As he enters the room and looks at Alcides while offering him a smile. "My name is Emiya Kiritsugu. I'll be translating the conversation between you and the doctor."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Alcides Malach, or Malach Alcides considering that I'm in Japan." answers Alcides, earning a nod from Kiritsugu who relays it to the doctor.

"How do you feel?" asks Kiritsugu as he translates the doctor's earlier question.

"That's good. I have to say, your recovery was nothing short of miraculous. If I didn't witness it myself I would have trouble believing it." says the doctor before asking another question. "Do you have any family members we can get in contact with?"

"No. They didn't survive the fire." replies Alcides, earning a look of sympathy from the doctor and causing Kiritsugu to slightly flinch in guilt, an action that most would miss but is very noticeable to Alcides' ADHD addled demigod brain.

"My condolences." says the doctor with a slight bow before turning to Kiritsugu. "I guess that means you get to ask him. I'll give you two some privacy. If he does decide to go with you he can be discharged immediately." adds the doctor before leaving.

"I guess you have a choice to make now. Would you like to be adopted by me or go to an orphanage?" he asks awkwardly.

Listening to Kiritsugu's awkward pitch for adoption, Alcides barely stops his twitching lips from forming an amused smile. "You really suck at this." says Alcides with a slight chuckle before pointing at Kiritsugu. "I'll go with you." he says while ignoring the slight relief that the man seems to feel after hearing his answer, almost as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"By the way, what happened to the other boy?" asks Alcides before Kiritsugu can say anything else.

"I hope you don't mind, but he'll be coming with us." replies Kiritsugu as he takes out a folded plastic from his coat pocket and hands it over to Alcides. "You can put these clothes on now while I go sign the discharge papers." he says before leaving the room.

Opening the bag Alcides finds a pair of underwear, shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers in his size. Not wasting any time, he quickly removes his hospital gown and puts on the clothes before sitting down on the bed to think of his next steps.

Currently he's in a different universe with no family, no contacts, and no identity. He's currently eight years old, something that confuses him considering that he left his previous universe at the age of five, and his current goal is to become powerful enough to trounce Voldemort, Hecate, and Kronos before returning to his previous universe. The first part of his goal isn't that hard considering that he now has the curse of Achilles, but the second part is going to be much more difficult.

While he could use The Reverse Side to leave this universe, similar to how it happened with Tartarus, he would have no control over where he ends up. He could end up in another Fate universe, or an alternate universe of his original one. His best bet would be to get Zelretch's help, which is absolutely impossible for the current or future him. He doesn't think that Zelretch would be willing to help some unknown magus for no reason. Which brings him to his best option, getting to Zelretch through Rin. That however wouldn't be possible unless Rin becomes his apprentice and he has no idea how to make that happen.

Sighing at the inconvenient situation he now finds himself in, Alcides decides to completely forget about returning home in the short term in favor of just taking it all step by step until he can figure out a concrete plan.

Decision made, Alcides hops off the bed when he sees Kiritsugu return with a red haired boy around his age.

"Ready?" asks Kiritsugu, getting a nod in response. "Good. This is Shirou, he'll be your younger brother from now on."

Smiling at the boy, Alcides gives him a small bow in greeting that Shirou quickly returns.

Seeing them getting along despite the language barrier, Kiritsugu nods before turning around and leading them out of the hospital.

As they exit the building, Kiritsugu suddenly turns towards Alcides and hesitates for a moment before saying, "I guess you should know now that I'm a magus."

Fighting down the smile that threatens to grow on his lips, Alcides replies in kind "I know."

Ignoring how Kiritsugu tensed for a split second in preparation for a fight, Alcides follows him and Shirou towards a black car.

"How exactly did you know?" asks Kiritsugu as they enter the car.

"Wouldn't it be better if we talked about this away from Shirou. He looks confused and I don't think that you want to translate some of the stuff we're going to talk about." suggests Alcides.

"Just answer me this, are you a danger to Shirou and I?" asks Kiritsugu as he stares into Alcides' eyes through the rear view mirror.

"No. I really don't have a family and I haven't even activated my magic circuits yet." answers Alcides, appeasing him.

The rest of the drive takes place in silence as Shirou and Alcides take in the nighttime scenery of the city while Kiritsugu seems to be in deep thought and occasionally glances back at Alcides.

After a peaceful drive, Kiritsugu stops in front of a garage where a pair of men in suits seem to be waiting.

Getting out of the car, Kiritsugu greets them before handing over the keys to the car. "Thank Taiga-san for me." he says as he gestures for Alcides and Shirou to follow.

"No problem." replies one of the men as they watch Kiritsugu walk away with the two boys.

Like the drive, the walk is relatively peaceful until they arrive at their new home where Kiritsugu gives them a short tour before sending Shirou to sleep while Alcides waits for him in the dining room.

Entering the dining room, Kiritsugu can't help but once again study Alcides. The boy who knows about his status as a magus while himself doesn't seem to be one. The boy doesn't even have his magic circuits activated according to him.

Between the boy's calm and his physical features, those golden eyes can't be natural, Kiritsugu wouldn't be surprised if Alcides claimed to be from a prominent magus family.

"Alright, you can start explaining now." says Kiritsugu as he sits in front of the boy.

"To start with, I'm not from this world." begins Alcides, earning a raised eyebrow from the man. "Because of an event where my uncle and I were attacked by enemy mages and phantasmal beasts, I somehow ended up in this world injured and in the middle of that cursed fire." says the boy, causing Kiritsugu to raise another eyebrow. "The reason I knew that you were a magus was because I saw you flinch in guilt when the doctor mentioned it." he explains before falling silent.

Sighing, Kiritsugu gets up and makes his way to the coffee machine in the kitchen while trying to process the bombshell that Alcides dropped on him.

"If you knew that I had something to do with the fire, why did you come with me?" asks Kiritsugu while he waits for his coffee, because of course tonight's going to be one of those nights.

"Because I know that whatever guilt you may have isn't because it was intentional. You don't intentionally set fire to a city with cursed flames and then look as if you've found salvation when two children survive." somberly says Alcides, causing Kiritsugu to tense up for a split second. "Nor do you adopt the two children in an attempt to make up for your perceived sins." he adds after a few seconds of silence.

"So what do you plan to do now?" asks Kiritsugu as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

"I need your help." admits Alcides.

"With?" responds Kiritsugu as he sits down in front of Alcides.

"Training."answers Alcides.

Alcides' answer causes Kiritsugu to stop for a moment before taking a sip from his mug. "I'm not the best person to train others in magecraft. I'm a third rate magus and a spell caster. I don't subscribe to any of the mindsets that a magus should have." he says

"That's fine. I just need to know the basics while I can figure out the rest through references or books." replies Alcides, causing Kiritsugu to stare at him for a few seconds.

"Is it because of your lineage? I can tell that you're not fully human by your eyes. Not only is that type of gold not natural, but there's also a hint of power around them that wouldn't be present in a normal human." deduces the man.

Seemingly unbothered by the man's deduction of his true nature, Alcides merely smirks before answering. "You're right, I'm a half-blood. Half human and half something supernatural. Not only am I a half-blood, but also one designed for combat. I can learn any combat discipline ten times faster than the greatest prodigy, my brain is hardwired for combat, allowing me to see the slightest twitch of your muscles despite that oversized coat, and my physical abilities are beyond the greatest athlete even if they were to use reinforcement." reveals Alcides.

"Great, I just picked a walking WMD who's not even 10 years old yet." sighs Kiritsugu in exasperation. As the statement sinks in however Kiritsugu stops for a few minutes before turning back to Alcides. "If you had four years of dedicated combat training, how powerful would you be?" he asks despite hating himself for it. He knows that what he's about to do is wrong, this will be another action that will damn him to hell if it exists, but for his daughter's sake he can't find it within himself to care much. As long as Ilya is saved he's willing to go to hell when he dies.

"Unless my opponent is near the peak of power possible, or they have some ridiculous conceptual weapon, I will win." answers Alcides confidently.

With another sigh Kiritsugu begins his final damning act on this earth that will hopefully save his daughter.

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AN: I told you guys that I'm back, so here's another chapter. As usual, tell me what you guys think.