Where does a story end? In the past yet to be?
It began with a death and ended in a death.
The last one started it, but the first one finished it.
And somewhere in between them, the world changed.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- "The sentence of death will now be carried out." He looked at him, the man he had saved. The man who had betrayed him. The man who signed the order to execute him. He had followed his dream to become a hero. And now the realization of that dream was going to kill him. Yet, he didn't care. He didn't feel much of anything anymore. Gone, all of them gone. The precious people he had cherished, No, there was room for self-deceit here, not now. He had driven them away. There had always been another crisis, He had let their love die on the vine. Perhaps this was punishment for his sins. He had never told them. Except for her. Would he meet her again? Would she understand? Or would she no longer recognize the man she had fallen in love with? He would have the answer to that soon. The sound of the trapdoor opening up underneath him was the second loudest sound of his life. The crack as Emiya Shirou's neck snapped in the noose was the first. And the last. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- The city was starting to burn around them. Two figures moving almost too fast to be tracked by the naked eye clashed The knight was a blur of blue and silver, only the pale gold of her hair betraying Truly, she was worthy of the title for the strongest class of Servant, Saber. As for her opponent, he met her blade for blade, matching every bit of ferocity Despite the rain of seemingly endless weapons he produced, she could sense that That it increased her own chances for victory was irrelevant. Her Code of Chivalry Sex was meaningless on the field of battle. A woman could die just as equally as a man. But he would not stop looking at her. His gaze seemed to burn her, those eyes Second only to her desire for the Grail, she wanted to kill him. And after him, her master. The honorless bastard who did not let her truly battle other Servants, Emiya Kiritsugu, she did not know enough profanity to properly curse him to whatever damnation he deserved. But after this last battle the Grail would be complete and their paths would never cross again. She would be free. Free from the Command Seals. Free from her Geas to the Throne of Heroes. Free from her Crown soaked in blood. All she had to do was kill the last remaining servant, Archer. The opening was swift and unexpected. He fired another sword and his previous eagle eye aim seemed to vanish. The blade came nowhere But he made no move to defend himself. He only looked at her and smiled. It had to be a trick. She knew it and was waiting for it right up Crimson blood ran down the immaculate blade and trickled warmly "Why," she voiced her confusion out loud. The lost expression on her face almost broke him where her attacks had not. Slowly, painfully, he embraced her frozen form. He could feel the tension forming, He moved his mouth close to her ear and whispered, "Because I love you." Whatever she had been expecting, that had not been it. She gaped at him as his dying body began to dissolve into motes of blue light. "I will always love you, Arturia." He looked behind her to where his last attack had hit. The only attack in this battle that had ever really mattered. The arrow that had turned Kirei Kotomine into a wet paste on the church's floor. And so still wearing that happy grin, Emiya Shirou died.
-Prologue
one by one they had drifted out of his orbit and left him alone.
always something else to do instead of letting them get close to him.
-Epilogue
and seperated repeatedly like high speed pendulums as metal rang on naked metal.
any hint of softness to her deadly figure. She fought with the mechanical precision
of a finely honed machine, cold and efficient.
with an attitude that infuriated the knight despite the mask of control she wore.
he was still holding back, still refusing to fight her with everything he possessed.
could not accept this condescending to what she believed was merely her gender.
that reflected an image of her as a woman, not a warrior, not a King.
but merely used her as a distraction while he quietly assassinated the other masters.
near her as she charged in, her sword still up to guard as she closed to strike.
to the moment that her sword ran him square through the heart.
onto her gauntlets as she stared dumbfoundedly at his still smiling face.
could almost read her mind forming the suspicion that he was planning a last attack from death's door.
All Over Again
by Shade
Fate Stay Night, Fate/hollow Ataraxia & Fate/Zero are property of Type-Moon
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