Chapter Six – Sakura's Arc, Part Two
AQ – School is so very … tedious:S My sincere apologies YET AGAIN. TT TT
Anyhow, without further adieu, Chapter Six. Everything will be explained in time …
The leviathan lumbered forward, its red eyes glaring directly at its helpless victim.
There was no escape.
Lifting its cleaver high in the air, it prepared for the killing blow, definite that Shirou had run dry of luck, as it let out a deafening roar of triumph, causing Shirou to shut his eyes, hoping it would be over in a flash.
There was a sharp, distinct pain in his right shoulder blade causing Shirou to cry out as he felt his own body flying through midair. There was another sharp pain, but this time the source originated from his head as he opened his eyes, only to witness his vision blur and fade.
--
The afterlife was not as bad as Shirou had imagined it to be, yet it was no difference to him. His only problem now was to face his father, to confront his failures face first. He observed his surroundings like a tourist would, taking everything in, millions of thoughts swimming through his mind, thoughts of the final confrontation, of what would become of him, of his final moments on Earth, all as he floated gracefully through space. Yet it was not as welcoming as it first seemed to be; now he felt the coldness around him, there was no heat. He had also felt how heavy his body had become; turning into a struggle each time he attempted to move any of his limbs as he floated adrift.
Then he felt a familiar feeling.
Warmth.
And there it was, the end of the road. The ever-growing light as he slowly, yet inevitably ventured forward. He was only an arms length away as he saw a shadowed figure emerge from the light. "Father!" he called out instinctively pushing his arms outward in the direction of the mysterious figure. Shirou felt the touch of the figure as it slowly wrapped its arms around him as a fuzzy feeling surged throughout Shirou, reminding him when he was still an infant. The tight grip had gotten tighter now as he felt the warmth becoming even warmer. The figure had lighted up, its entire entity white as Shirou struggled to remove himself from the vicelike grip that the figure had around him, slowly heating up its own body, causing a searing sensation to burn around Shirou. Shirou felt like he was hugging the sun, the heat now unbearable as he flailed to back away, yet the figure refused to release him. Common sense re-entered his mind as he felt the urge to live increase, like any normal human being would, flailing more wildly and finally he felt the grip loosen and finally release him as Shirou kicked wildly against the figure, using it as a platform to push off, back into the darkness…
--
"He is awake," Alerted Saber.
"Good," A voice came from down the hallway, "Get him some food and water."
"Yes, Master." She answered. The figure rose, glanced down at a bandaged Archer and walked out of the room, returning minutes later holding a tray full of steaming dishes and a large bottle of water. "Time to eat." As Saber placed the tray beside the immobile figure. Another minute passed and finally Saber broke the silence. "Rin, I might need your help," She called out, "Looks like Archer got damaged badly…" Her face grim.
Another moment as Archer's eyes finally moved, looking around him to evaluate his surroundings. Suddenly his body jerked as a sharp pain ripped through his lower back, causing him to become motionless yet again. Saber remained still, only opening one eye to watch. "Coming!" A shout hollered as a familiar figure came rushing in. Archer's eyes widened in disbelief as his entire body jerked again, yet this time much more wildly, causing the tray to move next to him. "You can go tend to Shirou now," Rin said as she sat down next to an extremely jerky Archer.
"Hi!" She finally said as she neatly placed the tray back to Archer's side as she grabbed a spoonful of rice and offered it to Archer. Archer struggled to reply but his jaws did not respond as the spoonful of rice hovered ever closer. He felt the warm spoon touch his lips and instinctively pulled back, however not as far as he would have liked as pain stabbed at his upper ribs forcing out a loud, distinct grunt. Archer noticed Rin's expression, her playful and innocent face non existent, hidden behind the stern jaw and determined eyes. Archer almost felt a chill wave through his body as he stopped struggling fearing the consequences of any further outbursts.
"Much better!" as her strained face loosened, letting out a joyful smile. "Now say Ahh," Rin said as if a dentist. Archer's face answered back, showing no signs of cooperation. "Looks like I'll have to do it myself…" She sighed as she carefully placed her soft fingertips on Archer's mouth, moving her fingers as light as feathers over his tanned skin, causing a strange and unfamiliar sensation to fill Archer's thoughts. Rin noticed, letting out a grin as she seized the opportunity. "What's the matter Archer?" She teased, "You don't seem as composed as you did last time." Archer, usually used to being in control of any situation, was now on the receiving end of the situation. Karma. He said to himself as he felt the anger swell up from inside of him. The anger surged through his body and eventually Archer took advantage of this as he attempted to utilise his new found strength into moving his body. He let out a grunt as Rin snapped a glare at Archer, yet curious at the same time, then without warning, she felt the tray of food underneath her slide as Archer's body rose, causing the blanket that was originally over him to pull up in synch with Archer's ascent. Finally Archer pushed his chest out in triumph. "Ha!" He cried out as he let out a victorious smile. Suddenly he felt the anger and power had disappeared with the rise to victory, leaving him in his extremely unstable state yet he was confident but again interrupted by a worried Rin Tohsaka.
"Archer! Wait! Don't move too--"
But it was too late as Archer took a step forward and almost simultaneously stumbling on his fragile leg as he lost his balance and fell towards Rin, yet on his descent he felt swift arms secure him before hitting the ground as he felt Rin's body now against his, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and for a moment the two were locked together, motionless, staring into each others' embrace. Finally Archer's arrogant initiative broke the silence. "I didn't really need your help…" He let out a small grin as Rin's face flushed a deep red and almost aggressively dropped Archer to the ground. "Hey, if you're gonna do something, do it properly!" Archer let out defensively yet also mocking Rin at the same time. An inferno of anger swept over Rin as she put her head down, her neat fringe now slightly dishevelled, falling over her eyes as a completely different Rin formed. "Watch what you say Archer." Archer winced back at this as he felt for the first time in his life, fear of a mortal. "Remember that you're the one on the disadvantaged side. You and your master would be dead if it wasn't for us." And with that she stormed out of the room, leaving Archer reminiscing among his thoughts about what Rin had just said.
What does she mean master…?
--
"What are we going to do?"
"We'll have to wait."
"My noble phantasm should have slain him on the spot."
"Hmm…" Rin rose as she walked out of the living room only to return moments later holding a large, archaic book.
"Heracles," She finally explained, "The hero of Greek mythology…" She continued, "Ah, here we go." Her facial expression turned grim, "Noble Phantasm – God Hand, the Twelve Labours, allowing himself to regenerate fatal blows up to eleven times before dying" Saber's face went pale as her jaws clenched.
"Don't worry, we'll find some way—"
"Some way to what?" The demanding voice asked.
"Shirou! You're awake! Are you ok?" Rin asked sympathetically.
"Find some way to what?" Shirou asked, ignoring Rin's question completely, his voice hinting desperateness.
"To beat Berserker."
"That thing has a name?" Shirou asked, surprised.
"Yes? Don't you know that?"
"Quite frankly I don't know anything at the moment." Rin and Saber shared a glance of concern as Rin turned back to Shirou.
"The Holy Grail War. You're in it."
"What's that?" Rin and Saber shared another glance, using their facial expressions to talk for them.
"The Holy Grail War," Rin explained, "Is a war between seven people, or to say more precisely, magicians." Shirou jerked uncomfortably at this and Rin had seemed to notice the reaction. "What?" Rin inquired.
"Nothing, please, continue." Shirou answered weakly.
"These seven magicians summon one servant each, for example, my servant is the Saber class servant." Rin continued.
"Class?" Rin let out a sigh as she explained.
"There are seven servant classes, Archer, Rider, Lancer, Berserker, Caster, Assassin and Saber, each having unique traits, strong points and weak points." Shirou let out an expression of confusion. "So they don't have names? They have no identity?"
"They are real people, like you and me, however they are heroes from time and history and are summoned by the seven masters. Each servant has their own identity and noble phantasms," Shirou opened his mouth but Rin continued, already aware of his question. "Noble phantasms are unique skills that the actual Hero has, such as Berserker's real identity being Heracles, a Greek hero, whose noble phantasms is having twelve lives."
"What!?" Shirou blurted out.
"However that's not the biggest thing we need to worry about at the moment." Saber cut in before Rin could speak.
"Ah yes. Shirou, you do realise that now you are part of the Holy Grail War, as I am." Rin eyed Shirou carefully, watching for his reaction. Shirou remained still as he listened, waiting for the punch line. Silence followed as the two looked at each other seriously until Rin broke the silence.
"You and I are contestants."
--
It had been almost a week since the Berserker incident yet Archer's psychological state was still slightly unstable, suffering from the occasional memory blank, as well as the loss of all long term memory, however physically he was as strong as ever. Rin had been treating him everyday since the day her and Saber had found him half dead under the large oak tree. During Archer's time recovering from his unstable state Rin and Archer had developed an even stronger bond than before, even stronger than between Rin and her servant, Saber. She knew she shouldn't have, and Archer wasn't blind either yet by each passing day the bond had grown stronger and stronger… Rin did not know what was drawing her, or why she was even interacting with her enemy but something about Archer drew her closer by each passing day yet inevitably the day came as Archer had fully recovered, they day which Rin had feared the most.
It all happened one peaceful morning as Archer's eyes opened slowly, to find Rin sitting beside him, right on schedule with his breakfast and the same cheerful smile. Everything was normal, so far. He returned a smile and levered himself forward so he was facing her, his smile still evident. Yet to Rin's surprise the smile faded quite abruptly as his facial expression went stern, his jaws tight. At first Rin thought he was just going through a flashback, like he frequently did yet something made her doubtful of her explanation to his behaviours. She looked over his face, trying to solve the expression on his face as Rin noticed his eyes causing a shiver to zip through her body. Archer's eyes had become much more vigilant than before, and his eyes much sharper than usual. But that was not what had shocked her, rather the pupils, as she noticed a great depth in them, like a dark and mysterious maelstrom which aroused her curiosity. That was not normal. "Archer?" Rin finally asked, unsure if she had said the right thing. He did not reply, breaking off eye contact as he rose to his feet, his back towards Rin.
"Come walk with me." Archer finally said, yet Rin noticed the lifelessness in his voice, as she warily followed by his side.
They had been walking for some time now and after a tiring and slightly awkward walk, they finally stopped beside a familiar mahogany bench as they sat in unison taking in their environment. Long, awkward minutes followed until finally, Archer broke the silence.
"We shouldn't. I shouldn't." Archer said, his mouth tight as the words came out. Rin looked at Archer then smiled pathetically.
"I can't help it."
"Try at least." And with that Archer's body stiffened as he placed his hands on his sides, readying himself to leave but Rin placed her hand on his as she looked him in the eyes. "We will find a way out of this, I promise." As she moved closer, her face inches away from his. Archer turned to face Rin's eyes, yet only for a moment, as he turned away, sliding his hand away from her, ascending gracefully as took a few steps forward before Rin's arms flung around his body, attaching herself to him, yet Archer resisted, opening her interlocked hands as he continued to walk away, yet to Archer's surprise he felt the same familiar arms around his body, but this time he heard the soft cry as Rin buried her head into as much of Archer as she could. Archer stood there, absolutely still, facing away from Rin, yet deep inside of him he could feel the drilling pain for his forbidden love, boring deep until it caused him to shed a tear, forming at the corner of his left eye until it hurtled down his tanned cheek then the remanence dripping off his jaw line.
How unlike me to act like this, to think of someone this way…
He looked up into the sky, attempting to ignore the thoughts and feelings as he noticed the sky stained a deep burgundy red and reminded him that he would be dead one way or the other. He had to get this over and done with now as he slowly unlocked Rin's grip over him and turned to her, staring into Rin's eyes. They were so flooded with tears that he could not see the pupil properly. He knew he had to let go. "I'm sorry Rin." He almost whispered as he released her grip with almost no resistance. He looked her in the eyes once more, for a brief moment, and then turned away. Rin watched in melancholy as Archer strode off at a brisk pace.
He didn't look back.
Rin stood there in the afternoon breeze, letting the atmosphere swallow her whole. It did not matter to her anymore. Her warm, welcoming fire had now transformed into a searing and dangerous blaze and left a large gaping hole where her heart had been. Half the sun had disappeared behind the horizon and the pink cherry blossoms had now turned a more fiery crimson colour as the breeze grew into a gust, blowing numerous petals off the trees as they drifted gracefully around Rin's motionless body. Rin was filled with rage, yet there was no effort to release it, there was no will to, overwhelmed by the depression of Archer's departure.
Almost an hour had passed and nothing had changed the slightest bit, Rin still in her unstable state. All this time… He must have been using me… The one person I ever loved and cherished… Anger fumed underneath layer of depressive emotion. "He… used me…" Rin whispered out aloud. The anger was too great to suppress anymore as depression turned to fury. He will pay for this. She thought as she clenched her fists, and with that she awoke to reality, finally aware of her situation, aware of the tears she had been shedding, aware that there was no point of crying over something that was gone. She straightened her back as she swiped the last remanence of wetness from her eyes.
No mercy, she thought at last.
--
They had left just as subtly as they had entered the house, the two females, entering quickly and quietly, grabbing their belongings and leaving, as if it was a mission, as if it were a war, and it was. Now that Rin had made her mind up Archer was her first priority on her hit list. She had made her mind up that she didn't really want to kill Shirou as well since removing Archer would mean only losing one soul as well as Shirou's right of participation in this war, yet doubt filled her mind. Could she really kill her one true love?
It didn't matter anymore. Rin and Saber had a far worse threat to face. The large gargantuan let out an ear deafening roar as he offered a barbaric challenge, pointing directly at Rin who disappeared behind her servant Saber, readying herself in a defensive position.
Berserker was back and with a vengeance.