Heaven's A Lie
By: PhoenixJustice
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine but the story.
A/N: Based on a self-challenge I gave to myself to see what kind of drabbles/one shots I could pull off by listening to certain songs and within certain perameters for said songs.
A/N2: Okay, so this one shot was written before I found out who Archer really is (doesn't stop the things I ship in him in however. XD)
Pairing: Archer/Rin, mention of Shirou/Saber
~*~ Heaven's a Lie ~*~
She hadn't known that losing Archer would feel as it did, like her soul was being ripped to shreds one piece at a time. It was more painful than anything she could ever remember and the mere THOUGHT of it was enough to bring a person to tears. But she was stronger than that. She HAD to be. She couldn't afford any weakness. She had weathered losing her father, losing her sister, so she could get through this as well. ...Even if it meant consorting with the girl whos Servant had killed her own. She was strong and would continue to be so.
...Or so she believed.
It had been a long time since she had lost Archer; Assassin had been dealt with by Saber and Caster had been taken care of (along with her Master) by the mysterious man from the archer class. No, not HER Archer, but someone from the archer class from the previous Grail War ten years ago--someone that Saber had indeed fought against before. And she had been reunited with her sister, in a way anyway.
She had been hurt badly, but she had survived. She was strong, and so she would survive. But while her body had been healed, her spirit continued to get weaker and ache and hurt. She had never heard of a Master and Servant seperation being this strong, but...things happened unexpected sometimes.
At first, that was what she believed. It was easy to think it was only that, at first, when she was being distracted with the daily things in life, with aiding Shirou and Saber and keeping Illia out of trouble, to watch over Sakura. But, at the end of one of those normal days, she starts breaking down, not sure as of to the reason why. And her dreams were filled with the face of a man; short white hair, lithely muscled, with a rare smile, but one which made her heart fill everytime she was lucky enough to see it.
The name of her former Servant was upon her lips the moment she awakens. As she gets out of bed, she stops, placing a hand to her face, surprised to find that she had been crying in her sleep. Not only that, but she understood; after all the time that had passed, she had finally understood. Understood what he meant to her. She had fallen in love with him, and hadn't even realized it. Not until it was too late.
In secret, two days later, she attempts to resummon him and fails miserably. NOT in secret, two days after THAT, Saber and Shirou win the Grail War. She wondered what their wishes would be. She was no fool; she saw the looks between them (Shirou, for one, was a completely open book) and knew that Shirou was in love with Saber. And was almost positive that Saber was in love with Shirou. But Saber felt a duty to finish something in her past, trying to keep Shirou at bay because of it. Not because she didn't care, but because she couldn't ALLOW herself to care. She put everyone's needs before her own, feeling that she didn't belong in this time.
"You're wrong! You belong here! With me! Saber, I--" Shirou looks away from her, the Grail shining, waiting for the wishes to complete the Grail War. "I love you."
Her heart twinges as she sees the exchange between them.
"Shirou--I have a duty to my people. Regardless of how you or I feel..."
"Say it, Saber." He demands. "Say it. And if you can leave after that, then I'll let you go."
"Shirou, don't." Saber chokes. "Please, I can't."
The fool is actually showing a backbone for once; I have to say I didn't know he had it in him.
She lets out a gasp. It had sounded like...
Saber needs to realize that she has self-worth and deserves a little happiness. Especially since she cannot change the hands of Fate, even WITH the Grail.
She looks around, but sees nothing. Nothing other than the glow of the Grail and two people in front of her.
"...Archer?" she whispers.
Perhaps someone else WILL take up the Sword, but who is to say that that person will be any better than she was? The Grail WOULD allow her to change things, but Fate has a way of turning things around at anytime. You say stay daylight, don't fade away and instead it says Fate stay night; you can hide from Fate but you can't defeat it. I know that all too well.
"I love you, damn you!" exclaims Saber, tears falling down her cheeks. "I love you!"
She looks at the Grail and her breath catches in her throat as, for a brief moment, she believes she sees the ghostly outline of Archer, HER Archer.
If I asked you what you felt, would you tell me? Would you tell me how you felt, Rin?
Tears fall down her face. She hadn't known, but he had. He knew how she felt about him. But how could this be him? How??
She starts to speak, but stops as the Grail shines even brighter for a moment.
"My wish can be your wish, Saber." Shirou says. "I can make sure that your people have a good King. But please, stay with me."
Saber, tears falling down her face, walks over to the Grail, the shining brightness reflecting over her face. She picks it up and from the top, a clear water glistens.
Use your last command seal, Rin. When Saber drinks from the Grail, use your last command seal.
The Grail suddenly grows brightly with the wishes of Shirou and Saber.
"My wish is for Saber's people to have a worthy King." shouts Shirou.
The Grail grows even brighter as Saber makes her wish, though she doesn't speak loud enough for them to hear it. As soon as they both make their wish, Saber starts to fade away. She holds onto the Grail tighter and starts to drink from it. As she does, Rin shouts before realizing it.
"Archer! Come back to me Archer!"
The last command seal on her hand grows brighter and brighter, as does the Grail; Saber's form becomes solid once more and the ghostly outline, which glowed exactly like the Grail did, which Rin had first seen starts to take form. They all look on in shock as the form becomes solid, familiar to them all, and the Grail disappears.
"Archer!" Rin cries, running forward, uncaring of what anyone else thought.
He catches her in his arms. Real, real. It was REAL. HE was real! She wraps her arms around him, tears falling from her face. She could hear his heart beating, his arms were warm and he was HERE!
"I love you." she whispers hoarsely. "I didn't know then. I didn't know--"
"I know," he says. She looks up at him and her heart quickens at the sight of his soft smile. "But *I* knew. I love you."
He holds her close, leaning down to kiss her deeply. Her eyes close and she felt such love and relief it amazed her. After a moment, they both pull away and Rin blushes as she sees both Shirou and Saber looking at them both; Shirou looked surprised, but Saber didn't.
"I'm happy for you, Rin," said Shirou smiling.
Rin blushes again, unable to stop herself. Archer, on the other hand, just smirks.
"Thanks kid," he says. "Surprised to see you still here alive and kicking. I was just so SURE that you would have kicked the bucket by now trying to save your Servant, who was MADE for combat."
"Archer!" exclaims Rin.
Archer just shakes his head in amusement.
"Nah." says Shirou. "Not that it wasn't close!" Shirou and Archer smirk at each other, and Rin realized that it was sort of an inside-joke between the two men, sort of anyway; they were just kidding around.
"I heard what Shirou wished for. But not what you did," said Archer, looking at Saber, wrapping an arm around Rin's waist. "So tell me; what did you wish for Saber, my former King?"
Shirou and Rin both gasp; Saber merely looks at him, almost solemnly.
"I will tell none of you...yet. I figured that you might have figured it out, my former Lancelot."
She smiles.
~*~
A/N: This is just one of many challenges that I did based upon a song. All of them together can be found at my livejournal (the link of which you can find at my profile.)