After an hour, Archer reports back at the mansion, where his Master is lying silently in the living room, keeping her feelings carefully back under control. He wonders if she knows he'd felt all of it.
His focus had become much better as time passed, but the search for Lancer was still fruitless, and he reports as much to her. She accepts his failure with as much grace as one could while lying dejectedly on a couch.
She just saved his life, but in doing so she also effectively ended it. He touches the pendant over his own heart, the only remnant of the past he'd kept with him all this time. He has no use for it now, so close to the end of his own existence. He takes it out, and dangles it over the back of the couch.
"Hm? You got it for me?" Rin sits up, and accepts the pendant with an outstretched hand.
"Don't lose it again," he says quietly. Don't save my life again. "It doesn't suit anyone but you."
"You think? Well, thanks." She stares blankly at the pendant. "Oh—wait."
"What is it, Rin?"
"If Lancer's Master learns the witness they thought they'd killed is still alive…"
"He'll probably send Lancer back to finish the job," he finishes. That would be the ideal outcome for him, but not if his Master had anything to say about it.
"We're going, Archer." She stands up and walks over to the balcony; he follows her. She's looking towards the north side of the city, where he vaguely remembers the Emiya household is. It's obvious that she means for him to carry her there, and he hesitates for a split second, remembering the vision of the boy in the sunset. He wonders if she would ask the same thing if she knew that he was that very same boy.
She turns back to him, impatient and wondering why her ultra-efficient Servant is stalling. "Hurry, Archer. We have no time to waste."
He bows. "As you wish, Master." He puts his arms behind her legs and at her back, easily sweeping her off her feet. When he makes sure that she's settled, he leaps towards his former home.
They're both quiet as he traverses the city, each lost in their own thoughts. He looks down at her in his arms. Had she always been this small? Or has he grown that much since last seeing her?
She catches him staring at her, so he says conversationally, "You're inviting unnecessary trouble, you know."
"After what it cost me to save him, I'm not about to let him die!" Her reply is fast and sharp, as though she'd been waiting for him to ask. Well, he figures, it was about time she picked up on his penchant for necessary lies.
As they come to the intersection near a very familiar Japanese-style house, Rin shouts, "He's here! The Lancer-class Servant!" and leaps out of his arms, towards two distinctive Servant energies, the other one a bright, golden light, slightly dampened, as though summoned by a subpar Master—
He tries to warn her, but Rin is right in the line of attack and he has no choice but to throw himself between the light and his Master. He projects Bakuya and deflects the first three blows—the Servant backs away, resetting, and he steps forward to attack—
A head of golden hair, a small body bound in the finest silver armor, over a vivid blue dress that matches the ribbon in her hair, invisible sword held at the ready, her green eyes cold with murderous intent.
Archer barely regains enough composure to deflect the next two attacks, landing back next to his Master.
"The Saber-class Servant…" Rin says, as though from far away.
Saber stares them down, ready to attack. He wonders if her movements were always so precise, her dress that brightly blue. He doesn't remember much of his life, and Saber is no exception; the way she moved, the way she looked—right now it is as much of a surprise as it was when he first looked up at her, that fateful night. Dimly he recalls how much he'd relied on her back then.
—how much he'd thought of her, missed her, loved her—
His tin heart pounds furiously, as though it sensed the end was near, either from bursting with emotion from seeing her again or taking her sword through his chest. He hasn't relied on anyone's protection for the longest time, and he isn't afraid of fighting her. But right now he is hyperaware of how he is her enemy in this Grail War. For a moment it feels like the world closes to the space between the two of them… she lunges forward.
"Stop, Saber!"
The force of mana from another Master passes through Saber and freezes her movement; he sees her struggle against her Master's Command Spell when he feels the aftershock of it pass through him, powerful but unaffecting.
Inexplicably, something inside him screams with a primal rage: This isn't how it goes! Saber mortally wounded Rin's Archer on the third day—
But he can't deny what's happening right now, where he's standing, whole and unharmed, across from the fuming golden Servant, head turned back to shout at her Master.
"Are you mad, Shirou?!" Saber demands, and the sound of her voice cues his heart to once again attempt to beat out of his chest. "I could have defeated them handily, and you ordered me to stop!"
"Just hold on, Saber!" Shirou insists, that despised innocence in his eyes. "I have no idea what's going on. If I'm your Master, at least fill me in!"
"You would demand such a thing with the enemy before us?!" Saber yells. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rin stand up, her hair covering her face, looking straight ahead, at the boy in the sunset.
"Mm, so that's how it is, Master Shirou?" she says, interrupting the childish argument, in a much cheerier tone than he'd expected. "For starters, good evening… Emiya-kun."
"Tohsaka?!" Shirou says in surprise, eyes snapping to her. "What—why—"
"This is going to take a while to explain," Rin says patiently, and Archer feels the way her heart pounds faster, an echo of what he'd felt mere seconds ago. "Can we head in? It's dangerous to stay outside."
"I am against this, Shirou," Saber says, glaring at the two of them with obvious distrust.
"I know Tohsaka from school," Shirou says defensively, as though this solved anything. "She just wants to talk, I think. Can't we call a truce?"
"It is hard to believe that they want anything of the sort—" and here Saber's eyes shift to meet his own, green on gray, blindingly familiar that he tenses up, willing his body not to betray the tidal wave of emotion he feels— "when her Servant can barely let go of his weapon."
Rin glances aside at him, exasperated. "Archer, stand down. Keep watch outside, alright? I'll handle this."
He tears his eyes away from Saber's to meet his Master's. Is that reassurance? It isn't that he doesn't trust her to handle it; it's that he doesn't trust himself.
"As you wish, Master." He drops Bakuya, letting it clatter on the pavement before it dissolves, and dematerializes.
If he's being honest, he'd put off thinking about Saber until he absolutely had to. And now, standing guard on the roof above the living room where she, Rin, and Shirou are, he has no other choice.
He remembers very little; just that he'd summoned her (loved her) and that she had been the reason he won the Grail War. She would undoubtedly be the biggest obstacle he'd have to navigate to kill Shirou.
Mindlessly charging in wouldn't work, not against her. He'd have to attack when she isn't around. Worst case scenario, he would have to explain, to talk her out of defending Shirou. Fighting her is not an option. Even though he doesn't remember the specifics, it's generally not a good idea to stand between the strongest Saber-class Servant and her Master.
His bond with Rin is almost worryingly quiet while he muses to himself, until she steps outside and calls out to him.
"We're going to the Church in Fuyuki," she says, pulling her coat on. "Scout ahead. We'll be safe with Saber."
He scoffs. "Is the Master of Saber so incompetent that you alone couldn't explain the rules of the Holy Grail War to him?"
"His name is Shirou," Rin says. "Emiya Shirou. And it's only in the interests of fairness that I'm helping him. He did save our lives, at the cost of a Command Spell."
Archer holds his tongue; he knows how to pick his battles. She looks up at him coyly, and once again he's struck by how small she is.
"There was no need to step outside to talk to me," he says instead. "You can talk to me even from miles away, through our link as Master and Servant. It would be good to practice as well, for tactical purposes."
"Of course," Rin bats her eyelashes at him. "Can't I want to see my grumpy Servant once in a while?"
In another lifetime, the casual comment would have flustered him. But he'd long since outgrown her provocations, saying things just to get a rise out of him. He stares at her blankly.
"Go," she says again, the ghost of laughter at the edge of her lips.
He goes.
'Scouting ahead' mostly consists of jumping invisibly across rooftops twenty meters ahead of the three as they walk to the Church, Rin giving him directions in between murmured conversations with Shirou and Saber.
Left here, then straight across the bridge.
Rin's thought filters into his consciousness, not quite in her voice but distinct and foreign in his mind. He'd wondered how quickly she would get used to the telepathy, and once again he is impressed. He glances at her, just in his line of sight, and she looks back up at him, grinning at his surprise. You were the one who told me not to underestimate the people around me.
I wasn't saying anything, Archer responds, before he can stop himself. I will go a little farther. See if you can communicate with me then.
Without waiting for a reply, he bounds ahead.
He's waiting on top of the Church when they arrive. He had stayed carefully ahead of Rin's range, just close enough to get faint impressions of her safety, of where to go next. It was a good start.
Saber asks to be left outside, and so Rin wordlessly tells him to keep watch outside too. She and Shirou head into the Church, her dread evident.
They'd given Saber a bright yellow raincoat to hide her armor—and it's then that he remembers: she can't dematerialize. It doesn't make her look any less out of place though, a human-sized yellow duckling instead of an English knight.
He hears faint voices from inside the Church—Kotomine Kirei, the overseer, and Rin's caretaker when her father died. She had always thought of him with disdain, even when she called him this morning to tell him about Archer's summoning. Rin is on edge, more than he'd be comfortable with, but he closes his eyes, contents himself with focusing on her mana, their link, hoping to pass along some of that contentment to her.
The wind shifts and he feels a set of eyes on him—Saber, he knows instinctively, the only other being around. He returns her gaze, still guarded and hostile, and remembers belatedly that Rin might have forgotten to mention that she still had him around.
Saber averts her eyes, turning back to her patrol. Archer blinks; better to have her openly hostile towards him rather than the alternative—and he pointedly stops that train of thought right there, not thinking about a smile on her lips or her hand casually touching his arm, calling his attention. He closes his eyes again, focuses on his Master's energy.
When they exit the Church, Rin first, she has barely enough time to tell him, We're going, when he hears another voice from the doors.
"Rejoice, boy," Kotomine Kirei says, seemingly to Emiya Shirou, as they're stepping outside of the Church. "Your wish will finally come true. Surely you've realized. Your wish cannot come true without a clear and distinct evil. Though you may refuse to admit it, a champion of justice must have an evil to defeat."
The boy is stunned speechless, not expecting an outright attack on his ideals. Archer smirks to himself; he was going to have to be able to take more than that. Shirou walks away without saying anything, visibly disturbed, catching up to Rin and Saber at the gate.
Archer dematerializes and hovers silently, a little ways ahead of them, ready to scout again on the way back.
"Shirou? Have you finished your business here?" he hears Saber ask; her voice carries clearer in the night air.
"Yes. I have decided to fight as a Master." Shirou pauses, looking at his Servant. "Will you agree to me as your Master, Saber?"
"My agreement is irrelevant," Saber says, with a smile. "You have been my Master from the very start. Did I not swear that my body would be your blade?"
Your blade, Archer repeats to himself. Distantly, he remembers—
You are my sheath.
She had smiled so softly, unguarded affection in her eyes, the sunset tinting her hair molten gold. The memory crashes into him with such force that he's worried it bleeds through to Rin.
"…Allow me to renew my vow," Saber is saying. "So long as the Command Spells are on your body, I shall serve as your blade."
Another bond between another Master and Servant forms, with renewed determination, in front of Master and Servant who went through something similar not too long ago. Archer tears his eyes away to glance at Rin, standing quietly by the gate. She watches the exchange with expressionless eyes that mirror his own, and although he's sure she can feel some of his emotions, he's not entirely sure whose jealousy it is that flows through their bond.
The walk back to Miyama is quiet for Archer and Rin. Archer is fairly sure that Rin felt what he did while watching Shirou and Saber renew their contract, but there's still a chance that she interpreted it wrong. Her silence is meditative, not emotional, and so he lets her think in peace.
All of a sudden, Rin stops walking. "No offense, but you should go home on your own."
Shirou freezes, five meters behind her. "Huh?"
"I brought you here because you weren't officially my enemy yet," Rin says, and something akin to relief washes through Archer. "But now, you're a fellow Master, Emiya-kun."
"I have no intention of fighting you, Tohsaka."
"I should have known," Rin groans. "Jeez, why did I even bring you here?"
He can feel her resolve wavering, so he materializes. "Rin," he interjects. "If an easily slain enemy presents itself, we'd be remiss not to take advantage."
"You don't have to tell me that," Rin grumbles.
"If you agree, then act," he says. "Or what? Will you take pity on that boy again?" She's not even looking at him, and it's amusing, how she can't take what she dishes. He goes for the kill. "Hmm? Don't tell me you have feel—"
"O-of course not!" Rin denies, much too loudly. "I just, …I owe him, you know? And I can't fight with a clear conscience until I've repaid him."
He sighs, turning away. "Complicating things again." He dematerializes slowly. "In that case, send for me when you have repaid this debt of yours."
And he takes up his spot again, twenty meters ahead of the three, as Rin explains her indebtedness to Shirou. He and Saber are about to leave when a voice pierces the night.
"So, are you done chatting?"
An innocent voice from an innocent girl, with a behemoth of black muscle behind her; both standing silently and soundlessly behind them as though they'd been there all along. Archer instinctively reaches for Rin in his mind, and as he does he can feel her do the same.
"Berserker," Rin murmurs.
And Archer remembers another fragment of his long-gone past—
"Good evening, Onii-chan," Illya says to Shirou. "This is the second time we've met like this."
He knows who she is, even before she introduces herself to Rin and Saber—Illyasviel von Einzbern, the Einzbern homunculus, daughter of Irisviel and Kiritsugu. His adoptive sister, whom he had grown to love, who had died five months after his Grail War.
Her death had been the first in an endless string of deaths he actively fought against but happened anyway, in the most brutal way possible: right as he'd grown to love her as family. It was the first crack in a belief he thought infallible. The first time his ideal had betrayed him.
But now she is an enemy, the most powerful Master with the most powerful Servant. Berserker, the only Servant who could hurt Saber—
He remembers with ringing clarity the horror he'd felt, looking at Saber bleeding from the stomach, so easily hurt by Berserker. But when Emiya Shirou used a Command Spell to stop Saber from attacking him, everything changed. Now, he is here, he can help—Saber doesn't have to get hurt. His willingness to fight roars through his bond with his Master, and she recoils a little.
"That thing outclasses even Saber," Rin murmurs, as if to warn him.
"It's terrifying," he agrees. "That Servant could face the other six single-handedly."
"Which means this isn't an opponent we can beat with brute force. ...Archer." Rin speaks with renewed purpose, and all the mana in his body responds. "This calls for your class's primary fighting style."
Offensive power from a safe distance away. She's right—the best way he can help this fight is from afar. He prepares to leave. "Then what about defense? I doubt you could take one of his charges head-on."
Illya turns to look at them with the grin of someone who was assured victory. Rin grits her teeth, and sizes up her allies.
"There are three of us," Rin decides. "At the very least, we'll be able to fend him off."
"Understood." He would have to trust her on this—he needs time to get to a suitable spot and prepare his weapons. He leaps away and readies his Magic Circuits. Unbeknownst to Rin, he knows that Saber has a decent chance against Berserker if she puts everything she had into defense.
On my word, Rin says, clearer and louder in his mind, amplified by adrenaline. He projects a bow and readies his swords as he runs; focuses his senses on the Servant energy near his Master, the golden light in his peripheral—
Now!
He turns around on his heel and fires, red blades showering an area far away. Almost immediately, Rin reports, with much surprise—no effect—
He keeps running. From what he can tell, it seems Saber engages him in a swordfight, and Berserker keeps up with her. He focuses on scaling the tallest building he can immediately see, and he arrives on the bridge right on time.
Archer, fire support!
"He's less a frenzied warrior and more an embodiment of savagery," he muses conversationally, readying his bow. "He may be mad, but his ingrained swordsmanship hasn't left him." He pulls on the bowstring, and fires one shot. From his viewpoint, he can see the impact on Berserker's body, and once the smoke clears—no effect. He tsks.
Saber reengages him in close combat, but even from a mile away he can see that Berserker is about to overwhelm her. Rin rushes forward—
Fire when my gems land!
—and throws what looks like tiny purple gemstones at Berserker. "Archer!" she calls, but he's already firing; blue flames erupt from the reaction. The flames roar high, enough to cover the giant, but when they die down he still stands upright, unharmed.
This isn't working, and Illya has the grace to point it out. Rin is running out of patience; he wills her to calm down.
A bolt of gold streaks out of the park and into the nearby cemetery near the woods, and Rin and Illya follow. He jumps across to the next set of buildings, trying to find a better vantage point, but the area is densely forested.
Rin stops in an area far from the two Servants, and for a split second he has to choose between his Master and the golden Servant. He stops in his tracks; if he feels two Servant energies, Saber is still holding up. On the other hand, he can't stay in this world without his Master. He nocks an arrow and focuses on Rin; she's struggling against Illya's familiars. He steadies his aim, and fires.
He destroys two familiars, and Rin runs at once. For her to run must mean the fight is going badly; he checks in on her as she rests against a tree.
Are you all right, Master? Or was my assistance unwelcome?
Rin sighs, and says honestly, No, you saved me, Archer. To be honest, my back was against the wall. So, where is Illyasviel?
My apologies, but visibility is poor in your area. I can sense where you are, but I cannot track enemy Masters.
Figures. But seriously, what a monster! Rin protests. How can she create familiars out of single hairs? That's simply absurd!
So it would seem, he says agreeably. You were right in trying to defeat Berserker's Master first, but that seems no easy task. In which case…
We have no choice but to pin our hopes on Saber, Rin completes for him. Archer grits his teeth; he hopes she interprets it as his mistrust in Saber. Stay put and watch the battlefield from above. I'll meet up with Saber.
Understood. Make sure you know when to retreat, Rin.
Yeah, yeah, she says, brushing him off, already walking towards the two Servants.
Archer wants to fight Berserker head-on, to unleash Unlimited Blade Works to make him pay for ever touching Saber in any capacity, or timeline—but that would be revealing his hand too early, for at least one person to understand the true nature of his Noble Phantasm and identity. His grip on his bow tightens, the only thing he could use at this distance.
Did he really just consider using his Noble Phantasm for Saber?
I can't do this, he thinks to himself. The plan is to kill Emiya Shirou. It is, and has always been, the end goal of his existence: the only thing that mattered. The only reason Saber should matter at all is the fact that she is his Servant, an obstacle to overcome.
Whatever remains of his feelings (his love) shouldn't matter.
It is then that Rin arrives at the battlefield, Shirou following close by. Saber is barely holding on against Berserker, blood trickling down her forehead; his chest constricts but he pointedly ignores it. Saber readies her blade, and lunges forward—Berserker catches it, blindingly fast.
Shirou rushes forward, innocently wanting to protect his Servant… Archer makes up his mind.
Get clear, he orders.
Archer? What do you mean, 'get clear?' Rin asks.
That was magnificent, but it won't be enough. He projects Cadalbolg, the Helix Sword, his preferred projectile that ranked high enough to be a Noble Phantasm. The original weapon had enough power to raze cities, but he had modified the sword to condense that power to a much smaller radius, enough to overwhelm Berserker and hopefully catch Emiya Shirou in the process. Anyone else caught in the blast would be an unfortunate casualty.
Anyone.
He nocks the blade, and fires.
Cadalbolg streaks through the city sky, a blinding line of white light that leads straight to the cemetery; the impact makes the cemetery burst in a ball of purple flame. A cloud of dust shoots up into the sky, fluttering down to the surrounding area, the heat wave from the shock barely visible from Archer where he stands, on top of a building miles away.
Without the warning he gave Rin, the boy couldn't possibly have survived. He killed his former self and his—Saber with one shot. A wicked grin splits his face; how fitting that his life would end in defiance of the very morals he worked so hard to uplift and betrayed him.
As the dust clears, it reveals an enormous crater in the ground. …And nothing has changed. Berserker stands as he always has, and Shirou and Saber crouch behind cover, safe and whole.
The boy stays alive.
Disappointment and relief wash over him in equal parts, and he stands still, alone at the edge of the rooftop. His first attempt at taking Shirou's life—his own life—failed. He didn't hesitate to kill Saber… but wasn't that what he wanted to be able to do?
But she's alive, too.
Vaguely he hears Illya compliment Rin about having him as a Servant, and she calls back Berserker to retreat. Saber calls worriedly to Rin, holding Shirou in her arms.
He feels detached, as though he was merely looking through his own eyes as someone else moved his body. Dimly he registers Rin calling him back; he leaps off the building.
Rin is in the middle of an argument with Saber when he lands.
"—not going to hurt him!" he hears Rin say, once he can focus enough to listen. "If I wanted you dead I could've had Archer shoot you dozens of times by now!"
"Your Archer fired at us," Saber says, clutching Shirou's unconscious body tighter to her own, both of them beaten and bruised and bloodied. "The only reason we did not get caught in the blast was because Shirou pulled us away."
"You can barely walk, much less carry your Master home," Archer interjects quietly, as he feels Rin's frustration rise to critical levels.
Saber narrows her eyes at him. "I will not let you bring Shirou."
"I didn't say that," he replies coolly.
"Tell me, Saber, do you know how to take care of Shirou's injuries?" Rin says, not unkindly. Archer glances down at her; she's holding out a gem, a peace offering. "I did say I owe him a debt. I can heal you, and you bring him home, then I'll patch him up. We can be even after this."
Saber gives her a long, hard look, sizing her up. She looks at her Master, unconscious in her arms, then back at Rin—finally, she nods.
"I'll call for you when I need you, Archer," Rin says, without turning; green eyes flick towards him as he dematerializes.
