Chapter 14: There's No Light Without Darkness
Part I: True Meaning of Chaos
"Destroy it, with all you have! Destroy it once and for all! Destroy every last bit of it!"
"Hurry up, Archer. We must go!"
"Don't go, Rin." Archer grabbed Tohsaka's hand to stop her. "We have no dragonslaying weapons or spells, we won't be of any use now." He sighed and touched gently the wound on her forehead. "You're still bleeding, let me take care of this."
He did not wait for her approval, tore up his sleeve and carefully cleaned the wound.
"Huh?" Rin needed a moment to realize in how pitiful state they both were. She was almost out of jewels and already used more than half of her usual energy. Her head was indeed wounded, although not badly. But Archer was almost exhausted from running all the way here, battered and bruised, like he just fell off from the roof or something. She felt ashamed - forcing him to fight again would be just cruel now. Especially, that he would obey her, for sure.
It must be hard for him to fully accept his weaknesses, watching Lancer and this tattooed guy. Yet he did. Warmness spreading across her heart and cheeks was embarrassing. For my sake. It's because of me he changed so much.
"Archer, I… need to tell you something…"
"I don't think this is the best time for confessions!"
Energetic arrow pierced chest of the ghoul, which was trying to sneak up to Tohsaka from behind. It was not Sakura's usual purple missile, but light, calm green one. She was using Lord El-Melloi's magic circuits right now.
"So, everyone's alive?" Magus approached them slowly, his hands in his pockets, but he was also visibly tired. "Good. What's now?"
Above their heads black monster roared terribly, when a blue-red arrow came at him with full speed.
"We watch and wait."
Gáe Bolg pierced dragon's heart, they all could see it clearly. Monster was raging for a while, struggling in pain, and collapsed. The ground trembled under the creature, but something was wrong. Red spear was apparently not enough to strike the vampire down.
"We have full moon tonight or something?" – Cú Chulainn asked, visibly frustrated.
"Who knows? You can't tell, because of this cursed bounded field."
The creature was not regenerating in the true meaning of the word, but rather turning the time backwards, to ignore the effect of Lancer's hit. All they achieved was a short break.
But soon this thing will get up, pissed off and hungry for revenge.
They all were starting to lose composure and hope, when Nameless 'Servant' spoke, calm as usual:
"What do you want me to do, Caren?"
He said already, that the World did not give him free will here, so he had to wait for her commands. Although he knew what to do, he waited for her approval.
"Caren, your order?"
Golden eyes of the priestess were shining, when she ordered with all her might:
"Destroy it, with all you have! Destroy it once and for all! Destroy every last bit of it!"
With all restraints removed, he was not the same creature anymore, and even Lancer stepped back, overwhelmed by the power of his true form.
"Understood, my cute and ruthless Master." 'Servant' smiled. "But first…"
He caught Caren in his arms. She squealed, surprised, and her legs were waving helplessly in the air. He kissed the girl and it was a long kiss, wild and passionate. Caren could not catch her breath and almost fainted in his arms.
"Yeah, I've always wanted to do this." He licked his lips like a wolf which tasted some fresh blood. "I have a weakness for beautiful women, after all. Farewell, my mean but extremely attractive Master!"
"Wait, are you saying goodbye to me?"
"You ordered me to destroy every last bit of it, right?" His red, inhuman eyes were shining with pleasure and joy. He was incredibly happy right now. "Thank you for releasing me from my duty."
"Wh…" She could not say anything more, because he kissed her again, even more fervently. Then he touched her forehead, forcing her to lose consciousness with mana blast, and threw her to Lancer.
"Hey!" Cú Chulainn caught the girl, surprised. "What are y…?"
"Get her out of here, or she'll break soon. Go, all of you, as far as you can. I'll deal with the bloodsucking lizard." His wide grin, full of joy, was somehow out of place right now.
"Are you sure?" – Bazett asked, but she looked happy that someone else decided to do the job.
"There's no single thing I cannot destroy in my true form, trust me."
"I see." Archer said, slowly getting up from the rubble he was sitting on. "Suppress the fantasy by even greater fantasy."
"How?" Sakura asked. "Dragon is the ultimate species, free from the rights of the World. What could surpass it?"
"Something which existed before dragons, gods or world itself." Archer's eyes were shining with fascination. "A pure, cosmic darkness. Humanity used to call it 'Chaos'."
He smiled, realizing, that it was so simple and obvious from the beginning. He glanced at Kanshou and Bakuya, now broken and useless, at their black and white pattern. There's always darkness hidden within light and light existing within darkness. Every end is the beginning. One cannot exist without another.
"Go get it, Emiya. Go, make your dream come true."
"I am the Spreader of the Plague,
the one who'd been abandoned.
I have lost everything,
even my name,
and never managed to save anyone."
He smiled, because it was not true anymore.
Actually, he was going to save them all right now.
"Have acknowledged my pain
yet never felt anything except it.
Another thing, which needed actualization. Because of Caren he realized something important and he decided to fight for it.
She was like a little ray of light in complete darkness. She gave him hope.
"So, as I pray, Infinite Wastelands Arise."
They were infinite in their true form, like a black hole, able to absorb everything around. But normally he could not control it, so every time he used this ability, total destruction happened. Thanks to Caren, this power was now directed – the only thing to destroy was the black mud, shattered pieces of Servant imprisoned once within the Grail, and everything affected or blackened by him.
Broken 'Counter Guardian' smiled and closed his eyes, overjoyed. The last task soon will be completed. His Reality Marble pulled in everything connected to former Avenger – the dragon-vampire, his bounded field, remained shadows and the undead, blackened swords of Archer and even Nameless 'Servant' himself – to devour it.
And after that, it devoured itself and vanished to complete nothingness.
"It seems much brighter than before…" – Rin noticed, looking at the sky.
Sunlight was blinding, indeed. The sky was clear and calm, with the perfect shade of blue. Above their heads a little bird soared into the air, chirping cheerfully.
"It's the same as usual, Rin." Archer smiled, grabbing her right hand. "We just could not notice how bright it was, until the true darkness came."
Sakura grasped Shirou's free hand from the other side. She also reached out her right hand to Lord El-Melloi II and he accepted with a blush.
"Aaah, I think you're right." Rin smiled a little and grasped the hand of Caren, linking the girl to their living chain. "What do you think, Caren?"
Priestess was not smiling, but she seemed to be amazed by the view as well. She nodded, swallowing the tears.
"It's all right, Caren." Bazett joined them too. "Another wish came true today. And you should think of your own wish from now on."
"What about my wish?" Lancer was determined to ruin the moment. "I think I'll start to make it come true right now."
He hugged his Master from behind, partially showing affection, partially just making fun of Bazett. She protested passionately, but only provoked him more and had to deal with aggressive tickles.
Archer glanced at them over his shoulder and smiled. They all were wounded and exhausted. It was the end of the world they were facing, after all.
And exactly because of that, they felt alive like never before.
Part II: The Full Circle
"Many people died back then. Who knows how many little Shirous lost their families and decided to become heroes…"
"Go, go, Uncle Shirou! Uncle Shirou!"
"Hey, shouldn't you be rather on your father's side?!" - Lord El-Melloi II reprimanded the audience.
"But Uncle Shirou plays better than you, dad!"
"Go, dad! Yay, Uncle Shirou got you now!"
Four people gathered around the TV – two children, boy and girl, and two adults, probably more childish than kids. Pads in their hands, they looked like in the middle of the duel to death.
"Hey, all of you! You're not going to sit here all day, I suppose?" Sakura entered the room with a 'proud mother' expression on her face. "Go for a walk or something!"
"I'll go to Grandma! She has candy!"
"I'll go first!"
"No! I won't let you!"
The kids abandoned the game and ran to Aoi. This stage was already finished and there was no surprise who won again.
"I'll defeat you next time." Lord El-Melloi II was quite serious now, despite a thin smile on his face.
"In your dreams." Archer left the room, chuckling.
Sakura winked to him on the corridor. He knew well this kind of expression, 'Tohsaka expression'. She was plotting something, no doubt.
"Christmas is coming," she started on their way to Rin's room. "And kids are big enough to have some real fun, don't you think?"
Something dangerous was coming - Archer noticed and trembled.
"What? Don't tell me that you want me to play Santa?"
"You're terrified?"
"A little." He admitted honestly. "Why me? Do I look so old?"
"Noooo, but kids love you so much." She kissed his cheek. "You'll do it for me, right? Please, Shirou…"
Her voice was so tempting that he blushed unwittingly.
"Your husband has bad influence on you, Sakura." She laughed and gave him a long, piercing gaze. "Fine. But just this once, ok? I'm sure they won't like it anyway..."
"You're the best, Shirou." Sakura hugged Archer warmly, making him blush again. "Come later to try on the costume!"
He sighed heavily, watching Sakura running down the stairs, and entered the room. Tohsaka wasn't there, so he decided to wait for her and sat on the couch.
Rin barely glanced at Archer when she came in, an open envelope in her hand.
"Look, a Christmas card from Caren." Rin showed him a postcard with strange stamp. Caren dedicated herself to missionary work, teaching children and helping charity organizations around the world. She finally found her way and happiness in this job.
"She won't come?"
"No. But Bazett and Cú will, they're on the way. Why are you laughing?"
"Don't ever call him 'Cú', Rin, if you want to live."
"I know…" She sat on the couch next to him, well, almost on his lap, to be precise. "What Sakura did to you? You looked miserable when I came in."
"I'll be playing Santa for kids." He sighed again, to show her how deep was his suffering because of this fact.
"It's great, they will be happy." She rolled her eyes in response to his sullen expression. "Come on, they love you, so you can play idiot sometimes to make them happy, right?"
"So you're admitting that this is idiotic?"
"Yes, but being idiotic for your loved ones is fine… from time to time." She smiled, a little too viciously for him.
"You love kids too, don't you, Rin?"
This question sounded innocent, but there was some deeper meaning in Archer's words. The last thing he was blaming himself for.
"Our family prospers, these kids will inherit both Tohsaka and El-Melloi magic crests and positions. We don't need more kids, I've told you already." She caressed the top of his hand. "It's perfectly fine."
It was. They were happy like this. Archer opened his little gastronomic business and it was functioning perfectly. Yet still he found some time for archery lessons in Homurahara Academy, and for training with Rin. Tohsaka suspected that it was because of Lancer's teasing about his 'rusted' skills. She did not mind it, trainings were keeping them both fit.
And Rin had a lot of duties, both as Lord El-Melloi's Assistant and first mage of Fuyuki. She was doing what she loved – expanding her magical knowledge and experimenting.
"By the way… I should proceed with my research soon to make IT happen. To close this story in a full circle."
'IT' meant the experiment that started this timeline, according to Assassin's words during the Fifth Grail War.
"But you don't want to?" – Archer asked, hearing some doubts in her voice.
"I'm not sure that I should… And I don't have the relic anymore."
Archer was hesitating for a moment, then gave her the pendant which was always on his neck, hidden beneath the shirt.
"Summon him," he said.
Blue eyes were shining, when Rin grabbed the jewel and took a deep, long breath.
"Many people died back then. Who knows how many little Shirous lost their families and decided to become heroes…"
"I know what you're thinking, but… Our debt to the World has been already paid. If we really had any in the first place. And you must admit that the final outcome was not that bad."
"But... are we the ones to decide?"
"What we decide right now is our future, nothing more, Rin. You cannot save everyone."
He smiled, surprised, how far he went from his old self. This sounded so egoistic… Rin must have noticed this too, because she asked:
"Are we not villains then?"
Well, maybe. In a way this nameless guy was thinking, they were pure evil, for sure. But he also decided to fight for himself in the end, and got what he truly wanted.
"That's how people act, Rin. You can do nothing about it." He shrugged. "Besides, if you try to reset this timeline, this guy will come back and kill you for sure. So better be wise."
She smiled at the thought and sighed. Archer was right. Many people decided to fight for this timeline, even gave their lives for their happiness. So it was not only her decision. But she had to fulfill her duty of closing the circle and set the events into motion.
It did not sound so terrible this way, she concluded.
"Yeah, it's not that bad, after all." Rin let herself hide in his arms.
"Could it even be any better?"
"Of course… We could be now on the tropical beach, sipping exotic drinks."
"Meh, I like my current drink better," he laughed and kissed her, slowly, devoting himself absolutely to this single action. Like she was the most important woman in the world. "Yes, this is definitely my favourite taste."
"Pervert."
"You're the one to talk…"
Blue eyes filled the whole field of his vision, and it was like diving into a bottomless sea of magic and emotions. And bond their shared exploded with these feelings too. It was something extremely beautiful. A kind of miracle, indeed.
If this is how evil looks like, Archer was ready to worship it.
Actually, he already did. And could not imagine any greater happiness.
So, this is the end of this timeline and story… I hope You enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave comments, because without them I don't know if and how to continue. Thank You in advance!
I'm going to update "The Only Thing You Can Change" from time to time, bonus chapters will come. And I'm rewriting the story of 5th Grail War in "Another Time". Old friends are back and two – not one – new Servants will participate. Powerful opponents will clash, so I hope it will be interesting.
Thank You for reading and commenting this long! See You soon!