Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or any of the characters used in this story. The concept and the characters are property of Type-Moon.

Author's Note: I needed something to get me back on track and off of a writing hiatus. I was trying to think of a one-shot plot using my favorite pairing Archer/Rin and this is just what happened to pop into my twisted little mind. Some hints from all of the Fate avenues (in no particular order and not to be taken as so).

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Archer's POV

Time is irrelevant when you're a counter guardian, there's no way to determine how much or how little time has pasted or how much the world has changed from the past you knew. There's no interaction in the hall of heroes outside the ones relived in your memories, and your own purpose for being is to be selected for the Holy Grail War; an endless and bitter cycle of masters and servants locked into battle all so one victorious pair may have their utmost desires fulfilled by the Holy Grail.

I sigh while venturing through my reality marble, all of the noble phantasms I have envisioned cluttering the barren land. The thing about time, again I find myself rethinking the matter, is that you have a great deal of it to think of your regrets and the people most impacted by them.

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Rin's POV

Incantations are hard enough by themselves, but an incantation mixed with a troublesome kaleidostick can only leave its user envisioning the worst possible outcome. For instance, take right now, here in a barren wasteland with nothing in sight, where the sound of your own footfalls reverberate across the vast terrain—all while being stuck in an outlandish attire and carrying a spiteful companion in the form of a stick. Oh yes, it appears innocent to the eye yet its true purpose (I'm convinced) is to make my life a living hell all for its own pleasure.

It would be unwise for me to draw unnecessary attention to myself, especially until I discover my whereabouts, therefore—

Great...in my attempt to squeeze the life out of the troublesome stick I stumbled over something in my path and released a great deal of profanity in my attempt to right myself again.

# # #

Archer's POV

Voices must be a sign of delusion or dementia; however, I know of no guardian having suffered from either, yet I could have sworn that the colorful sound that just graced my ears was none other than Tohsaka Rin. I suppose it would be fitting that my mind voices her oaths. After all, I did leave her in an inconvenient manner.

"Archer, form a contract with me."

Her face looked so sad, her blue eye radiating a sea of emotions as she stood before him.

"I cannot do that..." began the red knight, standing in the morning's glow with the rising sun, "I no longer have a goal, and my battle ends here."

"But! But you—" She couldn't say the words that wanted to follow "won't be saved".

"Rin...please take care of me," asked the red knight, having no right to ask this of her after the decisions he had made, the actions he had taken, "I think you know, but I am unreliable...please support me."

"Yeah, I know. I'll do my best so that he'll be able to love himself so you should also-

Again she failed to voice her thoughts "forgive yourself".

"Its fine Tohsaka, I'll do my best from now on."

# # #

Rin's POV

I felt it best to not just stand where I had formerly been while announcing to the world, or this dimension per say my exact location and I was pretty sure that I was not dressed for my surroundings not in this ridiculous magical girl attire that the kaleidostick so deems fit for me, it's unlucky user. So needless to say camouflage was more or less out of the question. First thing I need to do is to figure out what went wrong…

"Emiya-kun, I'm going to England to see if I can fix the time loop that my experiment caused," informed Rin, she wanted to ask him to accompany her but seeing her little sister through the kitchen window preparing breakfast ceased all thoughts on the subject. "Please take care of yourself."

"Tohsaka, can't you stay for breakfast before you leave?" asked the good natured boy with a smile, rubbing the back of his head, "You know, Sakura always makes more than enough food."

Rin gave a small smile in return, "I'm sorry, but I really can't stay, I'll miss my flight. I'll return when I have a solution."

And I recall researching the matter at the Mages' Association, and how kind it was of Zelretch to give me the kaleidostick, but how and where did I end up when I was performing an incantation and…

Rin held the kaleidostick in one hand, her family's sacred book in the other as she recited a spell that should have reversed the effects of the experiment she had performed, yet as she read the words her mind flickered to another time…

The knight who is about to disappear is still acting like before. He is her partner that she spoke cynically with, ran through the battles with and trusted her back to. She can declare those days were "fun".

And in the time that he was there and starting to fade from existence she could not think of anything to say and the suddenly, she knew it was wrong but…

"Archer, form a contract with me."

"I cannot do that. I do not have a goal anymore. My battle ends here."

And although she knows its true she cannot stop the words, "But-But you—" she can't say, won't be saved and she can feel the tears trying to escape.

"Man…I don't have any attachment to this world but…" he looks as though he doesn't want to see her cry, that it's not something he's used to, "Rin, please take care of me. I think you know, but I'm unreliable. Please support me."

She smiles, willing the tears back, "Yeah, I know. I'll do my best so that he'll be able to love himself, so you should also—

Forgive yourself, goes unspoken between them.

"I found my answer," he states nearly gone now before her eyes, "it's fine Tohsaka, I'll do my best from now on," and as she looks upon his face, his smile is the same as the boy lying near them and before she can move, he's gone.

And the tears fall as she mutters, "I never got to complain to you…"

My eyes widen in acknowledgement, of all the things to have thought about during an incantation and then to end up here…in one of the dimensions in the hall of heroes. The realization hits me; my thoughts have brought me –

"Rin?"

I turn around at the sound of a distantly familiar voice and my eyes widen in awe at the sight before me.

"Archer?"

A wave of emotions hits me at the sight of my former servant: confusion, loss, sadness and stupidity—

mainly stupidity because as I take in my surroundings I recognize this wasteland as being Archer's reality.

# # #

Archer's POV

To say that I am alarmed at seeing Tohsaka Rin would not go unspoken with my mind; however, her apparent choice in fashion has drastically changed and she appears no older than our last encounter. As if being able to read my thoughts her face takes on a crimson hue as she appears to be waving a wand of some sort and berating it for its behavior.

"Rin?" I begin once more, although she is entertaining and the cat ears are definitely a topic of discussion for later, I'm curious as to her reasoning for being here.

She appears to have heard me and stops shaking the wand like tool as she sincerely smiles at me.

"Hello Archer."

The girl before me now is much different then the one I left crying on a hillside at dawn as I disappeared from a world where I no longer had a purpose. A world where I was to have no longer an attachment to, save one blue eyed girl.

"Rin, why are you here?" I ask, feeling that it is a reasonable question; however, I should have realized that I would be in for an ear full.

# # #

"I never got to complain to you, baka! You can't just tell me to watch over Shiro—" She stumbled over her words, "You and then disappear. Taking care of Shiro is a full time job, but you needn't have asked it because it was obvious that I wouldn't stand by and let him choose the wrong path. I wanted you to say, 'I'm sorry Rin, didn't mean to betray you.' "

She was being sarcastic now, a hint of annoyance and an underlying emotion flickering in her blue eyes, "thanks for forgiving me even if I didn't deserve it, for starters and then," she stopped for air in her belittlement, "you should have listened to my complaints without argument."

Archer waited with an amused smirk until Rin's tyranny had concluded and after noting the cat ears on her head had flattened, her hands on her hips and the haughty atmosphere surrounding her, he let out a chuckle.

"Even if I had said all of those things, I hardly believe that they would have appeased that frightening temper of yours," he paused noticing her brow crease before releasing that familiar anger on him, "however, my intention was always to eradicate myself from existence. I did not honestly believe that I would gain the opportunity to be summoned to a place and time where my desire could be a reality. Being summoned by you was an unforeseen complication where I soon realized that I could not persuade you to tie your fate into my objectives do to your honor of attacking the servant not the master unless provoked. And since I knew that my idiot past self would never do that, I was, therefore, forced to betray and distance myself from you," Archer carefully explained while retaining a look of nonchalance and an aloof air about him, his arms folded.

Rin still appeared to be quite cross with her former servant, yet she yielded by informing, "I knew that your desire was never to harm me and after Lancer rescued me-

"Lancer?" questioned Archer with an accompanying arch of his eyebrow.

A slight blush tinted Rin's cheeks as she smartly replied, "Yes, Lancer did prove to be quite the gentleman; however, we're talking about you," she informed with a pointed glare in his direction, adding insult to injury, "When Gilgamesh attacked you, my first reaction was to rush to your aide," she looked away as if frustrated and annoyed with her inability to control her emotions as her words echoed in her mind, "What did you do my Archer?"

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore what I thought or how I felt," she turned sapphire orbs to him and smiled.

"You never cease to amaze me in one form or another," observed Archer as if he were feeling sentimental all of a sudden.

Rin smirked and offhandedly remarked, "In your past, I find it hard to believe that I would have allowed for you to carry on as a martyr. You were probably too much of an idealist to listen even after taking you as my apprentice." Her eyes softened at the look of confusion reflecting in the red knight's eyes, "You didn't become my apprentice in your time? Well then, what was my role in your life, if not your teacher and babysitter?" she asked playfully.

Yet all her good humor disappeared at the look she received in response.

"Some things do not occur the way that you logically believe they will," Archer stated with little emotion to betray his feelings, "It doesn't matter what role you had in my time, my actions and ideals led me into a world I was not ready for."

Rin let out an exasperated sigh, "I honestly can't imagine that I wouldn't have offered to train you or stop you from self destructing," she explained, shrugging her shoulders for effect and callously adding, "I mean, we'd have to have been on separate continents or I'd have to be dead not to notice—

She stopped short from finishing her thoughts, the brief flicker of emotion that had passed over his face was all she needed to realize the truth. She was met with a hardened gaze, as if the topic had been taboo and she was a child that needed reprimanding.

"Of course," she murmured, grasping the concept and laughing hollowly, holding her arm with her right hand and bowing her head to stare at nothing in particular, "I'd have to have been dead in order to have allowed you to fool heartedly throw your life away."

"Now I know that there's something seriously wrong with you, Emiya-kun. Your life should be the most important thing to you. Your way of thinking is seriously flawed."

The cat ears on her head seemed to mimic her mood as they flattened almost sadly in response to the look on her face and the kaleidostick appeared to lose its natural shine.

"This is not how I expected this to go," she murmured, her blue eyes shining with tears trying to escape, "I never expected to meet you again, Archer, but I forgive you. I always forgave you even when you betrayed me, you were my servant, and deep down I always believed in you."

# # #

Archer's POV

"My intention was never to erase your being from existence," I begin, feeling obligated to do so at the risk of seeing Rin's tears, "I would not have allowed any harm to come to you, only that my aim be fulfilled."

God this is awkward, already time has been altered drastically by allowing my past self to survive, I think, while trying to piece what has been stated together in my mind. My former self becomes her apprentice, she is obviously an active part in Emiya Shiro's life but that does not explain how she came to be here.

"Rin, how is it that you are here now?"

She looks embarrassed, fingering the wand nervously, "A spell of mine went wrong and now there is a time loop that I cannot undo, it has sent us back to the time of the Holy Grail war were I would have summoned you. I left Japan to go to the Mage Association in order to find a remedy for the situation," she explained, with a frown appearing on her face, "but I made a mistake during the counter-spell...I was thinking of other things...and my focus-

"You were distracted, similar to when you summoned me?" I remark with a smirk on my face, "Did you find yourself thrown unceremoniously into my world, as I did in yours? And is this time loop on Halloween?"

She glares at me and holds up the wand in her hand, "Yes, I may have been distracted," she admits as she goes into one of her familiar short tempered rants, "Yes, I may have caused a time loop, but no I did not put this costume on by my own free will, the culprit is this," she shakes the wand, holding it up for my examination, "the kaleidostick. It's a gift from the Mage Association, but it acts more like a curse, and it rather enjoys putting me in embarrassing situations, and if you really must know...I was thinking about when we parted ways."

# # #

Rin's POV

That's right...my mind strayed to Archer when I was reciting a possible counter spell. I was tired and thinking that maybe I had made the wrong choice by not acting on my feelings for Shiro while trying not to hurt Sakura; then I found myself thinking about Archer and how I made a promise to take care of him.

I feel embarrassed and ashamed for some reason.

"I see," informs Archer standing before me with an indecipherable look, "your thoughts of me triggered your magic to respond."

"Yes," I admit, feeling exposed, "I suppose I wanted to see you, or Shiro, or perhaps both of you." I'm fumbling to put my emotions into words to help him understand what I am trying to convey.

Yet, surprisingly, he looks at me with a different expression, one of understanding?

# # #

Archer's POV

"I am relieved that, Emiya Shiro, has someone like you to guide and support him, Rin. He and I will not share the same fate," I explain, yet her expression is unascertainable at the moment.

"I," she murmurs, as her attire changes back into her school uniform. I sense that this wand of hers has had a change of heart reflecting Rin's mood, "I decided to respect Sakura's feelings and in doing so," she looks uncomfortable and nervously rubs her arm with her hand, attempting to keep her eyes averted from mine, "I, well I, decided not to act on my own."

Now I am completely baffled. My former self is an idiot; there, I've said it, a complete and total idiot. I should have killed him and saved him the trouble of allowing this girl to get away. I recall Sakura being a great cook and a very pleasant person, but how many girls are going to waste the energy of a unique penchant that her father gave her to save a strange boy she barely even knows? How many girls like Tohsaka Rin are going to come into his life? And how many girls like Tohsaka Rin are actually going care about him? God, I was an embarrassment in so many ways.

I suppose it's now my turn to feel awkward, as I clear my throat to address this erroneous situation, "I understand your wanting to protect Sakura's feelings; however, you should ask yourself what it is you want, Rin. I didn't have the same opportunity in my time and I believe," oh great, I'm coughing nervously now, "that-

"I understand," she interjects, her blue eyes meeting mine with a look of sincerity, "thank you...regardless of what path you chose, I know that if I had been alive in your time that I would have done everything in my power to have saved you."

I smile sincerely and bow my head in agreement, for I know her words to be the truth. I do not turn toward her, even after feeling her hand grasp mine or acknowledge the tint of pink on her cheeks.

# # #

Rin's POV

I know how I feel about Shiro, yet, I also know that I love Archer as well. It's strange, the love I feel for both of them is similar yet at the same time it's completely different. My bond with Archer started out entirely different than that of Shiro's and my own, yet I want to spend this moment with him and to savor it.

"Will you form a contract with me, Archer?"

He never once looks at me, yet as he stands there with his head bowed and a smile on his face, my hand clasped in his, I can feel his answer.

"Yes," he replies, "I will accept you as my master, Rin. Until the time loop is erased, I will be your sword in this battle."

"Very well, Archer," I accept his words, "until that time." I slowly raise the kaleidostick in my right hand as a rift in the reality marble opens leading to the time I left behind.