Fate/Revenant Sword
By: James D. Fawkes
Chapter XIV: Victory Must Be Grasped
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
The happiness that had bubbling up inside of Shirou's chest froze. His entire body became taut like a spring, and the buzzing that had howled about Zouken's unnaturalness came back tenfold. The small, feminine, callused hand that held his squeezed down tightly.
Gilgamesh.
The possibility had always been there. Shirou had always known that Gilgamesh could show up to interrupt their date. Not once had he been foolish enough to think that it couldn't happen. The problem wasn't anything like that; the problem was that he'd forgotten about it all in the joy of spending time with Saber.
"I kept you waiting, Saber," Gilgamesh said in that haughty voice of his. "But even so, I have come for you now, just as I promised."
The tension in the air was so thick it could have been cut with a knife. It kept Shirou rooted to his spot, and no matter how much his brain told his arms that he need only to reach back and unsheathe Escalvatine, his arms refused to follow. There was something indescribable that kept him frozen, a fear — a knowing — that one wrong move would spell the end.
He had to be careful.
Gilgamesh was not an enemy he could simply overpower.
Gilgamesh was not an enemy he could fight recklessly.
He was not the hero Emiya, who Shirou could defeat by proving his ideals were stronger.
He was not Cúchulainn, who could be swallowed in a sea of gold fire and defeated thus or overwhelmed by the spear of his predecessor.
He was not Medea, whose magic could be defeated with a properly strong attack or who could be outwitted by clever deception.
He was not Heracles, who could be defeated in one blow by Caliburn.
He was not Rider, whose Pegasus could not defeat Excalibur.
Fighting Gilgamesh evenly wasn't possible. The wrong move would mean Ea's unleash, and the wrong move then would mean even Shirou's own sword being defeated by that monstrosity.
The only way to fight Gilgamesh was to surprise him too quickly for him to react properly. Any other course of action would mean total defeat.
"What's wrong, Saber?" Gilgamesh's voice was all arrogance and haughtiness, and it had an unrelenting sneering quality. "I came here especially for you. Remaining silent in the face of such graciousness is rude — or are you so overwhelmed that you cannot even speak?"
He laughed at his own joke. It wasn't funny.
"Shirou," Saber whispered urgently, "I will only be able to block his first attack. In that moment, you must retreat and leave this place. Even if you were to stay beside me, against an enemy such as this…this is all we can do."
Shirou's heart felt cold. "You want me…to leave you here?"
It shouldn't have been surprising. She'd done much the same last time, and he hadn't listened then, either. She should know that. She should know that there was no way he was going to just run away and abandon her.
But she asked anyway. Why…?
The realization stuttered to life in his brain. It hit him suddenly and without warning.
They didn't have Avalon.
Avalon was still back at the house, resting inside of Sakura and healing her ravaged body and mind. The only defense they had against Gilgamesh's Ea, the only defense they had that could have protected them from the power of the Star that Split Heaven and Earth, was currently beyond their reach.
But he could still Project it. He could still Trace a copy of Avalon into existence and they could overwhelm their foe like that. With the right timing, even Ea would be repulsed, and Gilgamesh would either be defeated or forced to retreat. Saber should know that. She should well know that it would be well within his abilities to make a copy —
And that was it, wasn't it? She did know. She knew and she still wanted him to leave. She knew and she wanted him to retreat because…because she couldn't guarantee his safety. Without him to provide her Avalon, she would be defeated, but for her, the possibility of his injury was far worse than the prospect of her own defeat.
Because he didn't have Avalon, either.
Which meant that he would die if he was killed. There was no miracle to stitch his body back together, no divine power to regenerate mauled and ruptured organs or shattered bones. If he was injured, he would stay injured. If he was dealt a fatal blow, he wouldn't be getting back up.
She wanted him to leave because she didn't want him to die. In exchange for her own life, she would save his.
…Too bad. He wasn't going to accept that.
He had prepared for this. He had spent the entirety of the Grail War getting ready for this. Everything he'd done, all the things that had happened over the past week and a half, it had all been leading up to this moment.
This was it.
There was no going back.
Ignoring everything else, Shirou stepped in front of Saber protectively.
"Shirou!" she hissed at him. "There is no other option. You must run!"
"Oh, that's right," Gilgamesh said so lightly, as though he had just remembered an insignificant fact. "You have a Master, don't you? To be honest, he's so shabby that I thought he was a dog or something. Well, no matter…"
His arm began to rise. The pad of the thumb and middle finger pressed together; in a moment, when they reached the intended height, they would slide together and the middle finger would snap with a click against the thick flesh where the thumb joined with the palm. At that moment, the Gate of Babylon would open and a weapon would be unleashed.
"Saber," Shirou said quietly; his hand wrapped around Escalvatine's hilt, "do you remember, you asked me why I would make a contract for that sword? The answer is —"
"…there are plenty of ways to keep a Servant in this world without a Master."
"— so I can fight him!"
Escalvatine came unsheathed with a ring as a single sword — a nameless existence whose future legend Shirou was unfamiliar with — shot out of the Gate of Babylon. The air was rent with two shrieking howls — one a high-pitched whistle, the other a ghostly wail — and the two swords crashed against each other with a deafening clang.
Escalvatine continued on and came to a stop as Shirou completed his swing. The sword that had struck it, the sword that had been aimed to maul Shirou's body, shattered like so much glass.
There was no competition. A nameless E-Ranked Noble Phantasm could never compare with a Last Phantasm designed specifically to weather time and the elements to witness the end of the world.
"Oh?" Gilgamesh's eyes narrowed. "It seems that your Master might not be quite as worthless as I first estimated, Saber."
Around him, beside him, above him, countless ripples tore apart the air and spat out swords, spears, and innumerable other weapons, all Noble Phantasms. The Gate of Babylon opened wide for its King and provided for him every treasure he had ever collected.
"But the King only has one equal," Gilgamesh went on. "No one else is allowed to stand before him without fear of reprisal."
But Gilgamesh did not know. He did not understand that revealing his Treasury was a mistake. He did not realize that every weapon he revealed to Shirou became Shirou's. Every Noble Phantasm that passed through the Gate of Babylon was recorded in its entirety in Shirou's Reality Marble.
In his arrogance, Gilgamesh only made Shirou more powerful.
The smartest decision would be to pull out Ea and simply blast them away. Sure, Shirou could Trace Avalon if he had enough advance warning, but Ea could punch straight through anything else. If it was timed right, there would be no escape.
But Gilgamesh was arrogant. In his arrogance, he refused to use his best tools to wipe out the competition. Because he refused to use his best tools, he invited only the opportunity for his enemies to plan his defeat.
"If you'd been a good dog and lied down," Gilgamesh said cruelly, "I might have been merciful enough to spare your pathetic life. But I don't take kindly to those who willfully tarnish my treasures, as you have just done. Destroying one is unforgiveable."
In the sky around his body, even more Noble Phantasms appeared. Shirou's mind whirled and had some difficulty keeping up with the sheer numbers on display. It was a torrent of swords, spears, and weapons, held back by a dam that was on the verge of breaking. There would be no mercy once they were let loose.
The finally tally came up to fifty.
Shirou gritted his teeth and flipped on his Magic Circuits, then fired up a matching number of Projections to combat the wave that would soon be upon him. It was not the largest number of Projections he had ever done at once — that honor went to his first skirmish with Archer by the lake after Caster had been killed — but it was still a lot.
"Now —"
"Trace…"
"DIE!"
"…on!"
One hundred weapons flew through the air — fifty came from the Gate of Babylon and fifty appeared in the air above Shirou's head. They collided in the space between and clashed with a cacophony of ringing steel, a sound more befitting an ancient battlefield rather than Fuyuki's park. It was a miracle that no one heard them, a miracle that they remained undiscovered in spite of the terrible noise they were making.
It was a conflict that had never been seen before in history, a clash that transcended time and space. Noble Phantasms from all sorts of different eras collided and clanged. Sigurd's Gram, Cúchulainn's Gáe Bolg, Lugh's Gáe Assail, Merodach the Original Sin, Perseus' Harpe, Dainsleif, Claiomh Solais, Gáe Buidhe, Gáe Dearg, Durandal, Joyeuse, Cortana — weapons from all across myth and legend were appearing all at once and being used against one another.
In an instant, it was all over. The clash of legends and legendary weapons had lasted only the span of a few short seconds. Shirou and Gilgamesh were both untouched, but the concrete around them had been gouged and torn and was littered with craters and the remnants of some of Gilgamesh's treasures. The swords that Shirou had created either vanished or had been destroyed in the clash.
All trace of humor had left Gilgamesh's face. In its place was a scowl, a deep and dark scowl that radiated his murderous intent. But he composed himself. Against all of Shirou's expectations, Gilgamesh managed to refrain from shouting and screaming about mongrels and destroyed treasures.
"I see," he said in a deadly serious voice. "So then, it was not a fluke that you managed to defeat that Archer. I can see now why he would have lost to you. For a wretched fake, your technique is exceptional."
The air behind him glowed, and yet more Noble Phantasms came from inside the Gate of Babylon. It wasn't just fifty, this time. The numerous weapons that poured forth from the Gate had to number at least one hundred, and there were still more that were slowly appearing. It would be a rain, a torrent, a flood of Noble Phantasms. There was no point in trying to create a counter flood — the sheer numbers that would be required were ridiculous, and Shirou wasn't sure he could Trace that many fast enough to be of any use.
So he'd have to do like Saber did and deflect them with his own sword.
…That was stupid.
Saber was a Servant and he was just a Magus. The difference in skill levels was too big. The idea that he would be able to deflect that many Noble Phantasms all by himself —
But he wasn't. He wasn't all by himself. He had Saber with him. Hadn't he just realized, not more than an hour ago, that trying to do everything by himself was a mistake?
"Saber," he said quietly, "I need your help."
There was a moment of quiet. Then —
"Yes, Shirou?"
"There's no way I can block all of those myself," he began, "so I'm counting on you to get as many as you can and leave the rest to me."
There was no need to say it — Saber would be blocking the majority. Even she couldn't get them all, however, so Shirou would still have to block some of them himself. But it should be enough. It was not something an ordinary human should be able to do, no, but Shirou wasn't an ordinary human.
"…Very well, Shirou," Saber said with some reluctance. She stepped up beside him. At some point, he didn't know when, exactly, she had summoned her armor. "I will block as many of his Noble Phantasms as I am able, and I shall trust in you to handle the remainder."
"But an imitation is still an imitation!" Gilgamesh declared with a grandiose gesture of his arms. "So I will destroy you with the original!"
The next moment was a flurry of motion as the hail of Noble Phantasms streamed forth from the Gate of Babylon. Shirou could barely make out Saber slicing as many from the air as she could, but he couldn't focus on it for more than a single instant because the weapons that she couldn't block came for him and it took every single ounce of his strength, speed, and the fractured remnants of Saber's skill he had gleaned from Caliburn to knock them all to the side and away from his body.
Escalvatine became a blur of gold and silver. Shirou's arms protested and his chest ached as his lungs begged for air. Every bone in his body rattled with each collision of his sword with one of Gilgamesh's treasures. Shirou ignored it all, ignored the feverish dizziness that lit up his brain as he forewent oxygen in order to maintain his speed. The moment he made a mistake was the moment he lost.
And then it happened. Shirou finished his swing and started to swing around again when something came for his unprotected side faster than he could deflect. It happened too quickly for him to block it, too quickly for him to do anything but feel the thrill of shock in his belly and perform a hasty Reinforcement of his body and clothes, and slammed into him like a hammer.
Because it was a hammer, Shirou realized as his body flew. The weapon that had hit him was a hammer of some kind, gigantic and too large for any save Heracles to hold it comfortably.
He landed with a thud. His entire left side was numbed from the pain, but miraculously, nothing had been broken. The blow had only been intended to defeat a regular human, so Shirou's last second Reinforcement had dulled it enough to reduce the damage to a bruise, but it had still knocked the air out of him.
Damn it, the thought came as he wheezed. He had to get up. He didn't have time to lie down and catch his breath. Saber was —
"I spared your life on a whim," Gilgamesh said haughtily. "Ordinarily, I would have killed you for damaging my treasures, but keeping you alive is the least troublesome method of maintaining Saber's form. Stay down, dog, and I'll let you live."
"Shirou!"
Saber tried to run to him, but a single Noble Phantasm streaked across the distance and landed in front of her before she could make it more than a few steps.
"Who are you running to, Saber?" Gilgamesh laughed. "That mangy dog is no longer any concern of yours, so there isn't anyone left to interfere. He is not the one you should be running towards."
Saber turned away from Shirou and glared at Gilgamesh. Her grip on her sword tightened so much that he could hear her gauntlets creak under the strain. Still, she didn't move but to square her feet to give her stance more balance and stability. Shirou wheezed and tried to stand, but his diaphragm was still convulsing haphazardly, and without the ability to breathe properly, all the strength had been sapped from his limbs.
"Oh?" Gilgamesh arched an eyebrow. "So you won't come to me, will you? But why? Surely someone like you must understand just how extraordinary it is to have me deem you valuable."
"The past ten years have not been kind to you, Archer," Saber spat. "It seems you have forgotten that I have already rejected your advances once before, and your arrogance has only become all the more stifling. Nonetheless, I shall refresh your memory and say it again. I am a king. It is impossible for me to submit to you."
"Oh?" Gilgamesh chuckled. "But you are still a woman, even if you are also a king. It should be the greatest joy in the world to be chosen as my bride — to be held down and violated at my leisure. So why is it that you refuse? It is not as though you are a virgin, after all."
It was an insult. Shirou could recognize that even through the haze of pain and lightheadedness that made it so hard to think. Gilgamesh probably said it as an argument for why Saber's refusal was unnecessary, but Shirou, who understood Saber best, knew that it was the worst insult Gilgamesh could have spewed at her.
One of the most important things Shirou had learned over that first time through was that the one thing he absolutely could not do was step on Saber's pride. Saber was a king, and she had a responsibility to her people. She took pride in those things, and so telling her to abandon them was one of the gravest insults one could spout at her.
That was why Saber's scowl and the fire in her glare grew hotter and darker. "You…!"
"Your resentment is pointless," Gilgamesh told her. "I have already promised you that I will give as much as I take. Did I not already say that I would lay upon you every pleasure in this world, if only you submitted? Every treasure to be had would be yours, because I have deemed you to be so valuable. You should rejoice."
He spread his arms wide in an all-encompassing gesture. "You do not need to sacrifice your life, nor must you return to that hill. All you need do is submit to me, and I will give you everything. So I'll say it once more, Saber. Be mine."
"You…" she seethed. She caught herself, took a calming breath, and met Gilgamesh's smile with a calm stare. "You have only grown more delusional since last we met, Archer. I refuse. The things you offer are of no interest to me, but even more than that — you are of no interest to me, Archer. Of all the things you have offered, living with you is the least appealing."
Gilgamesh's arms dropped, but rather than get angry, he tilted his head back and laughed. Shirou struggled to his hands and knees, but could yet make it any further up. His breathing was almost back to normal, but it was still difficult and erratic enough that he couldn't stand and join the fight again.
"Perfect!" Gilgamesh cried happily. "Yes, that is the woman who has so bewitched me! There must be at least one who refuses to obey me!" The laughter subsided, but the exultant grin on his face remained. "Then I shall do it by force. After I obtain the Grail, I will bathe you in its contents, and together, we shall enjoy our second lives upon this earth. Rejoice, Saber, for you will not need your Master then. You will become as I have, a full, flesh and blood body."
"Not on your life!" Saber kicked off the ground and towards Gilgamesh, who merely tilted his head to the side and materialized his armor. Lazily, he blocked her first strike by crossing his arms over his head and letting his golden armor take the blow.
Saber didn't seem surprised that her first attack was blocked — of course she wasn't. Saber wasn't seriously trying to defeat Gilgamesh, she was just buying time. She was buying as much time as she could to let Shirou recover, because she was aware, just as he was, that there was no way for her to beat Gilgamesh by herself without Avalon.
Saber struck again and again. Like lightning, she slashed at Gilgamesh, who stood and accepted it all without budging. Sparks flew, magical energy bleeding off of Saber's sword that ignited under the heat and pressure. The golden plates that served as his armor didn't so much as dent under the onslaught.
That was only natural. Anyone who had watched Gilgamesh like this before would naturally assume that his Noble Phantasm was his armor; that was how strong his armor was.
Again and again, Saber attacked. Her brilliant sword crashed and clanged against the golden plates and neither one gave. That was only natural, too. If Saber were seriously trying to kill Gilgamesh, there was no way she would have tried something that she knew could not have hoped to work.
She was buying time.
Come on, he urged his body. He needed to get back into the fight before Gilgamesh pulled out that impossible thing he called a sword.
Again, Saber attacked. Again, her sword bounced uselessly off the golden armor. No matter how hard she swung, no matter what spot she struck, her sword was ineffective against the impossibly strong defensive power of Gilgamesh's armor. It was almost like fighting Berserker again; nothing she did so much as fazed her enemy. After one last swing, she threw herself backwards and away.
And then, at last, at the very moment that Saber broke off her attack, the strength returned to Shirou's legs and he could breathe properly again. He stood and brandished Escalvatine at their enemy as Saber landed deftly beside him — Gilgamesh looked only slightly annoyed, as though a fly that he had thought crushed had returned to buzz about his head.
"Oh, it's you," he said carelessly. "It seems you have decided to squander my generosity, dog. I promise you that I won't extend it a second time."
Behind him, the Gate of Babylon opened up and Gilgamesh reached back into it, grasping the golden hilt of a cylindrical sword.
It was time.
"Get back, Saber," Shirou ordered.
"Shirou," Saber breathed, "you mustn't…!"
"Just trust me!" he said. The sword in his hands began to glow as he flooded it with Prana. There was no holding back, this time. With Archer, he hadn't attacked with anything approaching full power. This time, he couldn't afford to do that. He had to unleash everything — everything except the Anti-World attack.
There was no telling what kind of damage that would do in the middle of the city.
"It seems bad taste to use this sword against such a pathetic mongrel!" Gilgamesh called over the roar of Ea charging up. The wind around them was consumed by the three swirling segments that glowed red with power. "But I will give you the honor of dying by my most valuable treasure, the sword that only I, the King of Heroes, am worthy of possessing!"
"Everything that's happened until now," Shirou began; he was talking to Saber, not Gilgamesh, "all of the choices I've made, all of the mistakes I've made, every promise I've kept and every promise I've broken, all of the good and all of the bad…it's all led up to this one moment! Saber! This is —"
"Enuma —"
"— why I'm here!"
"— Elish!"
Escalvatine swung down, Ea swung forward. A golden wave of light and fire so hot and so powerful that it could melt steel and distort space-time met a spiraling blast of red-pink energy so powerful that it could tear apart the fabric of reality. Two unstoppable forces collided and crashed against one another, screeching and howling and pushing back and forth. Rapture and Rupture clashed.
In practice, Gilgamesh's Ea was the stronger weapon. It was forged from a fallen star under a system that existed before the World existed. If he had unleashed the full extent of Ea, including the Truth from before the World was separated from Heaven, then even Escalvatine would have been defeated.
But Gilgamesh's weakness was in how much he underestimated his enemies. He would never have used Ea's full power against Shirou, nor even against Saber. That was because he was assured in his superiority and felt that neither of them were worthy of being obliterated by his greatest treasure's maximum attack.
That was why, when Rapture met Rupture, neither attack budged. The power output was skewed in Escalvatine's favor, but the battle between the conflicting concepts stalemated. With one last, impotent sputter, both died away and vanished, and all that was left was the trench gouged into the concrete between Shirou and Gilgamesh.
There was a moment of silence. The look on Gilgamesh's face was priceless, Shirou caught himself thinking. Uncomprehending, stupefied surprise. Disbelief that anyone or anything could actually match him, could actually stand up to his greatest treasure. Disbelief that his sword, the sword that only the King of Heroes could possess, had actually been forced into a tie, a draw, a stalemate.
Because for Gilgamesh, that was as incomprehensible as outright defeat.
After that long moment of silence, the surprise melted away and became white hot anger.
"You…" Gilgamesh seethed. His face had become a terrifying rictus of fury. His armor clanked loudly as his entire body trembled with barely-contained rage. At any second, the control would snap, the leash would break, and the full wrath of the King of Heroes, the oldest and most powerful hero ever, would be brought down upon them both.
Shirou prepared himself, held his sword in front of him and prepared the image of Avalon as backup.
But it was unnecessary.
Without another word, Gilgamesh vanished into golden dust and the terrifyingly powerful King of Heroes was gone.
Shirou breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. The buzzing in his chest that he had almost forgotten about vanished, too.
He'd done it. Against all odds, he'd done it. He'd forced Gilgamesh to retreat. That meant that he could actually do it. When the time came, when he was facing Gilgamesh on top of the mountain with a clear shot and no one else in the way, he could unleash his sword in all of its glory, hold back only enough to contain the damage, and defeat even the mighty King of Heroes.
"That sword…"
Shirou turned. Saber glanced up and met his eyes for an instant, then turned them back to the weapon in his hands.
"Your fight against Rin's Archer did not reveal its true measure," she said unnecessarily. "And yet…a sword, greater than my Excalibur?"
"Different," he clarified. "Excalibur was forged of the prayer 'glory.' It's a sword that's meant to be held by a king who personifies its nature — a king who strides across battlefields, undefeated, and embodies the noblest of desires of all those who stand beside her and against her. It was your sword, Saber."
He hefted Escalvatine. There were similarities between hers and his, there was no doubt. Escalvatine had been modeled after Excalibur, but made stronger because it served a stronger purpose.
King Arthur ruled Britain, was its salvation, its glory, its greatest king ever. King Arthur fought men and heroes, witches and sorcerers, and maybe the occasional dragon (and even then, so very rarely).
Emiya Shirou was a king only in name and in deed. He was the hero who would stride across battlefields, who would save everyone he could, who would walk the world for the sake of his ideals. He would fight whatever monsters were thrown at him — any men he fought would be either completely ordinary or mages, and they would all be defeated swiftly enough. What awaited him after those men, what awaited him on his long journey, were monsters and demons, creatures that could weather an attack even from the strongest holy sword ever forged.
And he would do it alone.
Inevitably, there would be places his comrades could not follow. There would be enemies his friends could not fight. Inevitably, Shirou would have to face creatures and beasts that could go toe to toe with even the vaunted Heroic Spirits.
And so, Emiya Shirou needed a sword that could destroy even such creatures as those.
"This sword was forged of the prayer 'Salvation,'" Shirou explained. "It was made unbreakable and given the power to destroy even the most fearsome of monsters. It wasn't made to serve a conquering king, who would raze armies in defense of his nation. It's a sword made to utterly destroy anything that stands in its way."
He looked at the red enamel that decorated the langet, which looks so much like blood. "It's a sword made to see the end of the world."
He gave her a bittersweet smile.
"Archer was right, but he never said to me anything I didn't already know," Shirou admitted. "There will be times when I'm forced to choose one side over the other, to kill one person so that another can live, to sacrifice a few lives so that many more can be saved. I'm going to have to use this sword to kill people. And that's fine. I already know that I can't save everyone."
"Shirou…"
"After all," he said quietly, "I already knew that I can't save you."
"Shirou," she started again.
"What'll happen after this Grail War," he cut in again, "what awaits you on that hill when the Grail has been destroyed. I already know that I can't save you from that —"
"Shirou," she stopped him.
Her hand came up. With a shimmer, her armor vanished and she pressed her bare palm over his heart, fingers splayed across his chest.
"You already have," she told him softly.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
It was still dark when Shirou woke up. Moonlight streamed in through the window and left long white lines across the floor. Around him, everything else was cast in a dark gray-blue hue. It had to have been long past midnight, through into the early hours of the morning.
Shirou sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, which was greasy from dried sweat. He breathed in; a musky scent pervaded his room, tinged with the smell of burgundy and fresh water.
A low murmur came from beside him, and there, naked as the day she was born, was Saber, curled up with her back to him and sleeping peacefully. A small, satisfied smile was playing about her lips.
Shirou couldn't stop himself from smiling, too, and closed his eyes as the memories flooded back.
He'd made love to her again.
No, that was the wrong order.
They'd come back from the fight with Gilgamesh a little after eleven o'clock to find the house dark and everyone asleep. Ilya hadn't budged since the night before, but Rin had pulled out an extra futon and curled up on it next to Sakura's. She must've nodded off at some point unintentionally, because Shirou had been the one to pull a blanket over her to keep her warm.
After that, he'd made them a quick but filling dinner and they'd eaten in relative silence, then cleaned the dishes and headed for bed.
Except Saber had had a different idea.
Shirou chuckled a little as he remembered it. Saber wasn't exactly the most forward person when it came to romantic gestures (partly because she'd sacrificed such things for the sake of her kingship), so the blushing, stammered request that he "embrace her" the way he had in the Einzbern forest had been both a little awkward and almost unbearably cute.
He wasn't exactly sure how many times they'd each peaked. Saber had seemed content with just the first time, but just the sight of her had set something off inside of him, and she hadn't objected when he made love to her a second, third, and fourth time, and he'd lost track of how many times she had gripped tightly at his biceps and gasped out his name.
She was surprisingly easy to please, all things considered. He wouldn't say that he was exceptionally skilled, but she seemed to enjoy whatever touches he graced her skin with.
Well, maybe the ten years of abstinence she'd practiced while ruling her kingdom had something to do with it (and worse, ten years of abstinence with her body trapped as a teenager; most men would've gone insane).
He was surprised that he hadn't slept straight through the night, considering how tired he'd been afterwards. That exhausted, he shouldn't have been waking up for quite a while, but after a few short hours — four in the morning, the clock read — he'd woken up for no apparent reason.
In that regard, perhaps it hadn't been quite a good idea to make love to her so much. If he didn't go back to sleep, then he'd be tired the next day, but if he did, then he was likely to wake up way later than they'd intended to — there was virtually no chance of him getting up early enough for them to get up to the church by dawn.
Well, that part of the plan had always been a bit flexible. Dawn was simply the most convenient.
If he were honest, he was actually dreading it. Destroying the church would set too many things into motion — one way or the other, destroying the church would mark the beginning of the end of the Fifth Holy Grail War. If they managed to defeat Gilgamesh, Cúchulainn, and Kirei all at once, then so much the better, but if they didn't, then the final battle would begin. Lancer would be defeated, then they'd have to fight Gilgamesh and Kirei, and after that, when the Grail manifested, they would have to destroy it, and Saber would return to that hill to die.
For that reason, he couldn't regret making love to her like it was the last night they would have together. One way or another, tomorrow was the end of the Holy Grail War. Tomorrow, he would have to say goodbye to Saber. Tomorrow, all his victories and triumphs would culminate into a final confrontation to decide the fate of the world. If he failed, All the World's Evils would be fully and entirely unleashed.
If he failed, the world as he knew it would be completely and utterly destroyed.
Which meant that he should stop musing and get back to sleep.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
The light streaming in through the window was still dim when Shirou woke up again, and as he sat up and glanced sleepily at the clock, he thought that that was probably the reason why he hadn't gotten up earlier. He plopped back down on the bedding haphazardly and tilted his head back to look out the window: the sky was a dismal, overcast gray.
Yeah, he decided, after everything that had happened last night, there was no way he would have been getting up early in the morning without the usual bright ray of sunlight glaring down at his face.
Besides, the entire point behind getting up early had been making his way to the church in time to destroy it as the sun rose. That way, the flash from his sword or from Saber's wouldn't have caught anyone's attention and everyone would have written it off as sunlight peeking over the horizon.
If the entire day had been overcast, though, as he suspected it had, then the sunrise wouldn't have been especially noticeable behind the murky gray clouds that stretched all the way across the sky. Since that was the case, the entire deception behind using the sunrise to disguise the flash of either Excalibur or Escalvatine was moot.
Well, it could have been a lot worse, he mused. Ten o'clock in the morning wasn't as bad as one o'clock in the afternoon, so he still had plenty of time to get ready and go destroy the church. In the end, the church was pretty out of the way compared to the rest of the town, so the whole sunrise trick hadn't been necessary, just very, very convenient.
"Shirou," a quiet voice whispered. A hand reached down and slim, callused fingers curled affectionately around his. "You are awake?"
He gave Saber's hand a gentle squeeze — he probably could've squeezed as hard as he could and it wouldn't hurt her, but still — and turned his head to the side to greet her cool green eyes.
"Good morning, Saber," he greeted.
She closed her eyes and let out a sigh through her nostrils, then gave him her own little smile.
"Good morning, Shirou," she returned.
"We should probably get up," he told her.
She hummed. "Yes, we should," she agreed.
Ten minutes later, they were bathing together and washing away the grime of the previous night's exertions. Initially, Shirou had suggested taking turns, but Saber had insisted (despite the redness in her cheeks) that bathing together would be far more efficient than doing so separately. It took all of his self-control not to turn that simple bath into something a little more…intimate.
Saber made it a lot more difficult when she suggested they wash each other's backs, and then gave him short kisses every time their lips came within six inches of one another. Between that and the delicious feel of the soft skin of her back beneath his hands, it was a miracle he managed to keep himself from making love to her again.
Fully clothed and hair still dripping, Saber and Shirou stepped into the dining room at ten-thirty. Rin greeted them with a flimsy wave from the table, where she was sitting and sipping her morning tea.
"Morning, Tousaka," Shirou said.
"Good morning, Rin," Saber said politely.
"Morning, Saber, Shirou," Rin replied.
"I'm going to start breakfast," Shirou declared as he headed towards the kitchen.
"And I will set the table," Saber offered.
"So, you guys were out pretty late last night," Rin started conversationally as Shirou ducked into the fridge to find food. "Did you enjoy yourselves? Maybe…slip into a love hotel for an hour or so of passionate sex?"
Two things happened simultaneously: Shirou jerked up and hit the back of his head on the roof of the refrigerator, and Saber dropped the plate she'd been holding. Then, three more things happened simultaneously: a throbbing ache started where Shirou had hit his head, the dropped plate smashed and broke on the floor, and Rin started laughing.
"Tousaka!"
"Rin!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Rin gasped between laughs. "I-I just c-couldn't hel — help myself!"
Shirou heard the distinct sound of her fist beating weakly against the tabletop as she bent over and grasped her stomach. When he turned to glare at her, she was doubled over with her forehead pressed against the table and her shoulders heaving as she cackled into her skirt.
It wasn't that funny, he didn't think. It was actually kind of insulting — like he'd take Saber to a love hotel, a place where so many other couples would have enjoyed whatever room they wound up in. It didn't matter how well it was cleaned; love hotels just weren't personal enough, especially when he'd spent the last week and a half with her curled up beside him in his own bed.
"If you're finished," Shirou snapped as he bent over to help Saber pick up the pieces of the broken plate.
"No, no, let me help —"
Rin was up and kneeling beside him within seconds, and she muttered an incantation as she smeared her finger over one of the larger pieces. Like the window that first night, all of the cracked and shattered bits of the plate snapped back together as though it had never been broken.
"Consider that my apology," Rin told him lightly. She went back over to the table and sat back down. "I expected a pretty good reaction, but I didn't mean for you guys to break stuff over it, so I'm sorry."
"I guess it's alright," Shirou mumbled. He handed the plate back to Saber. "Here."
"O-of course," Saber muttered. Her cheeks were flushed, but she ignored it and went back to setting the table, so Shirou went back to cooking breakfast.
"Anyway," Rin said, "Sakura has made a full recovery."
Shirou's heart thudded to a stop and he turned around again to look at her. "Really?"
"Yup," Rin said succinctly. "She's still asleep, but everything that was damaged has been healed. I pulled that out of her about two hours ago."
She gestured to Avalon, Saber's golden sheath, which sat over in the corner propped up against the wall. Shirou couldn't help the burst of excitement that welled up in his belly; they had one of their trump cards back, and even more importantly, Sakura was okay.
"Also," she continued, "I meant to tell you guys earlier, but so much stuff kept happening. I found the location of Lancer's Master a few days ago — or rather, the location of the person who used to be his Master. Whoever she was, she was a foreigner from the Mage's Association, but, well…There was nothing left except a lot of blood and a severed left arm."
Shirou's right hand curled into a fist.
He'd forgotten about that. Kotomine had stolen Lancer's contract early into the War and left the Master to bleed out and die. And he'd forgotten about that — so stupid, he was so stupid. If he'd remembered, then maybe he could've saved her —
"It was old, though," Rin went on. "Whoever attacked her did it days ago, long before Lancer offered his help against Caster, and probably before you even summoned Saber, Shirou. Based on the amount of blood, Lancer's Master was probably dead by the time he and Archer fought up at the school."
She sighed.
"A Master is only a Master if they're chosen by the Grail," Rin said to herself, "so cutting off the left arm and stealing the Command Seals from it is useless unless you're already a Master. Right, Saber?"
"Yes, Rin, that is correct," Saber answered calmly. "A Magus cannot become a Master simply by stealing the Command Seals from another. The Grail is the one who chooses Masters."
Rin hummed thoughtfully. Shirou felt his heartbeat quicken — he could say, he knew. He could just come out and tell her what she was already thinking of herself. Kirei was the final enemy. Kirei was Lancer's Master. He could so very easily tell her that truth, cut to the chase.
But she had asked him not to tell her. Just yesterday, she had asked him not to tell her anything about the Grail War that he knew because he time traveled. This was not something she could change, true, but he figured that it would mean more to her if she puzzled it out herself.
"Except…Shirou and I are the last Masters left, aside from Ilya," Rin muttered. She glanced at her hand, which was bare. The Command Seals that had marked it were long gone. "Zouken, Shinji, Caster, and Kuzuki are all dead. With his Master gone, Lancer should've disappeared."
She hummed thoughtfully again. "One last question, Saber. If a Master retains both his Command Seals and his Servant, then is he still a Master, even after the Grail War ends?"
"It is as you say, Rin," Saber confirmed. "Even once the Holy Grail War has ended, a Master remains a Master so long as he possesses both his Command Seals and his Servant."
Rin scowled and looked down at her tea as though she had just been told it was poison. Shirou imagined that, to her, every foul thought she'd ever had about Kotomine Kirei had just been justified.
"Shirou," she began calmly, "I know I asked you not to tell me and I'm not sure whether or not you've told Saber yet about that little secret of yours, but…"
She looked at him with sharp, cold blue eyes. "Is Kirei Lancer's Master?"
Shirou put on the most serious, solemn look he could muster. "Yes."
Rin stared back down at her tea and sloshed it about in her cup with an absolutely miserable expression on her face.
"So Lancer was nothing more than a way to gather information," she concluded. "He was nothing more than a glorified spy. His entire purpose was to gather whatever information he could about the other Servants summoned so that Kirei could attack with whatever other Servant he's kept squirreled away for the last ten years — Shirou, by any chance, were you guys out late last night because Kirei's other Servant attacked you?"
Shirou blinked and his mouth flapped soundlessly. She'd figured out all of that just from the fact that Kirei was Lancer's Master?
"Yes," Saber answered for him. "Last night, we were attacked by the Archer class Servant from the Fourth Holy Grail War."
"Archer, huh?" Rin mused. "Do we know his identity?"
"Gilgamesh," Saber told her solemnly, "the King of Heroes."
Rin twitched, but didn't comment. "And his Noble Phantasm?"
"The Gate of Babylon," Shirou said before Saber could. "A gateway to his treasure room, containing everything he ever collected when he was alive. The number of Noble Phantasms he has inside of it is virtually limitless."
Rin twitched again, but still didn't comment. "Which is virtually useless against your Unlimited Blade Works. Right, so we can beat him."
"There is one other Noble Phantasm of particular note in his possession," Saber interrupted. "It is a weapon even greater than my Excalibur. Gilgamesh calls it Ea, the Sword of Rupture. As a Noble Phantasm, it exceeds the standard system of ranking."
This time, Rin couldn't contain herself.
"And you walked away from that?" she demanded incredulously. "If you were that outmatched, you should've been crushed! That's not even a competition! You two should be smears on the pavement if you went up against something so outrageous! There's no way you could have fought a weapon like that and — oh, I see."
She turned to Shirou with a look of understanding on her face. "That's what you needed those books for," she clarified. "You weren't looking for a way to fix your bond with Saber, you were looking for a way to contact something that could compete with Ea. That's how you got that sword, right?"
Shirou blinked. "Ah…Yeah."
It was scary, sometimes, just how smart Rin was.
"Well then," she went on, "I guess all that's left is for you to beat Kirei and end this thing. Do you have a plan?"
"We do," Saber nodded.
Shirou's lips tightened into a line. "We're going to destroy the church."
Rin frowned at him, but she didn't say anything right away. Her eyes became unfocused and glazed over, and he recognized that she was imagining the scenario in her head — how feasible it was, how likely it was that it would work, exactly what repercussions could be expected afterwards — and then she looked at him again.
"It could work," she said slowly. "If you catch them by surprise, then there's no way they can get away in time to avoid being caught up in the attack. Yeah, that'd do it — all three of them at once, provided they're all there. Even if you only get Kirei, Lancer won't last long without a Master, which means that Gilgamesh would be the only problem left."
She hummed thoughtfully. "I have to say, though, Shirou, that this sounds rather more like something Archer would've suggested than something I expected of you."
And despite how uncomfortable that might have made him, Shirou couldn't find it in himself to care.
"If it means saving the city," he told her firmly, "then I don't care."
Rin smiled her wicked, smug smile. "Then I guess the only thing left for me to do is stay here to watch Ilya and wish you good luck."
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
Immediately after breakfast, Shirou grabbed Avalon from the corner and Escalvatine from his room and gave the former to Saber and strapped the latter to his belt. Unfortunately, it was still daylight, so walking around in the clothing he'd been given by the Fae wasn't feasible — it would draw far too much attention.
So, despite feeling rather naked and unprotected, Shirou left the house with Saber in his normal clothing a little after noon. He comforted himself with the fact that if all went well, he wouldn't need his armor anyway.
They walked in silence, the two of them, side by side and wearing identical expressions on their faces. Shirou didn't know about Saber, but a thrill of nervousness was sending his stomach into flip-flops, and it only got worse with every step. It was as he'd thought the night before: whether they succeeded or not, too many things would be set in motion. At the end of the night, Saber would leave him, one way or another.
If they succeeded, then he'd have time to say his goodbyes to her as fully and completely as he wanted to; it was not the same as having her by his side for the rest of his life, but it was better than the few short minutes they'd had on that hill the first time. If they failed, then it was likely things would play out much the same as they had that first time, which meant only a few short minutes for them to bid each other farewell.
Either way, he was going to lose her again.
He cursed himself for his weakness. Hadn't he known that from the beginning? Hadn't he already been aware that he would have to be parted from her when it was all over, no matter when that was? It wasn't like he hadn't known that she was going to leave when everything was finished.
It shouldn't have been so surprising that he would miss her. No, it shouldn't have been a surprise at all. The throne of his soul which had remained empty since that fire had been filled by her. Every instinct and drive that should have been dedicated to self-preservation had been dedicated to her instead. There was nothing in him that could replace her.
And that was why, despite know that she wouldn't stay, that she couldn't stay, Shirou wanted very desperately for her to stay.
They were halfway across the bridge when Saber broke the silence.
"Do you think this will work, Shirou?" she asked quietly.
He frowned.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I mean, if it goes as planned, then it should. All the same, we should be prepared for something to go wrong, because, I mean, how much stuff has gone as planned so far?"
He thought of Rider and Shinji, Saber having to use Excalibur against Pegasus, Ilya kidnapping him, Rin saving Archer, Archer siding with Caster, Caster stealing Saber's contract, Zouken and Assassin, Sakura — really, no matter how much he'd tried, he'd never been in control of what was happening in the Grail War. Every plan he'd made had fallen apart at the seams, with the notable exception of the sword currently sheathed at his hip.
Saber hummed.
"Yes, I see your point," she said thoughtfully. "Then it would be prudent to be ready in the case that Gilgamesh or Kotomine Kirei should survive."
"Right," Shirou nodded. "So it's a good thing we have Avalon back."
"Shirou," Saber began, "are you sure it should not be you who carries the sheath?"
Against his will, Saber's concern made Shirou smile.
"No," he told her, "you need it more than me. If I have to, I can just Trace a copy of it, and if I just need a shield, there are a couple that I can pull from the hill. You're the one that needs a defense, Saber, so you keep it."
"Very well," she accepted. "As you say, Shirou."
It was fifteen minutes later, a few minutes after one o'clock, that they came upon the church. The chill in the air as they stepped into the courtyard had nothing to do with the winter weather, and Shirou had to bite the inside of his cheek to distract himself when he remembered that the decaying orphans from that fire ten years ago were sequestered away in the basement.
It was as he said before. He could not go back for them. He could not change their fates. Even with a miracle like the Grail — had it actually been untainted — he would not have tried to alter the events that had led them to where they were. It was cruel, perhaps, but even if they cursed him for it, Shirou would not change his mind. He would carry the weight of that decision upon his shoulders.
On that day, in that hell, with so many crying out for salvation, only Shirou had been saved. As the only survivor of that tragedy, it was the responsibility of Emiya Shirou to carry that weight. As the only one to be saved, it was Emiya Shirou who must bear that burden.
And so, with one single swing, with one single attack, he would save the world, and he would save those tortured souls lying in that basement. He would destroy Kotomine Kirei, he would destroy Gilgamesh, and he would set them free of their torment.
"Are you ready?" he asked Saber.
"Yes, Shirou," she said. She took a step forward and Excalibur in all its golden glory appeared in her hands. "Please leave this to me."
"What?" Shirou protested. "No, Saber, I should be the one —"
"I understand your feelings on this, Shirou," Saber interrupted him. "However, should something go wrong, then it would only be to our disadvantage if you used up so much energy to destroy the church. Therefore, as I am your Servant and recover my energy more quickly, I shall destroy the church for you."
Shirou's mouth snapped shut. He hated it, but she was right. He hated to admit it, but she was right. With the Servant-Master bond properly made, she could leach all the energy she needed from him, and with her fantastic recovery rate, even that wouldn't be too much. If she attacked the church, then she could recoup her energy within a few minutes, especially now that she had Avalon. Shirou had no such luxury — if he destroyed the church but didn't kill their targets, then he wouldn't have any method of recovering the energy lost.
"…Alright," he conceded reluctantly. "Then I'm trusting you with this, Saber."
"Please stand back, Shirou."
He took two steps back and watched as Saber turned her full attention to the church. The sword in her hand lit up and began to glow with an intense golden-white light. Saber squared her feet, faced her body towards the church, grasped Excalibur with both hands, and lifted it high above her head.
"EX —"
She swung down.
"— CALIBUR!"
A flash of gold leapt forward. The ultimate slash, the bullet of light and Prana equal in strength to a god's magic, sped forward as a beam of white-gold. The church, the unholy house Kotomine Kirei used to trap the orphans from that fire as food for Gilgamesh, was consumed and annihilated.
In one blow, the Fifth Holy Grail War was ended.
In one blow, Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, Cúchulainn, Ireland's Son of Light, and Kotomine Kirei, the last surviving Master from the Fourth Holy Grail War, were all killed.
Shirou let the tension in his shoulders ease and breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, then. The Grail War was over. Cúchulainn, Gilgamesh, and Kirei were all dead. He didn't have anything else to worry about except for disposing of the corrupted Grail. He could relax —
The air froze. From the smoke and debris of the church, a blue figure leapt skyward towards the sun. In his hands, a long, red spear glinted in the muted sunlight. The figure, Cúchulainn, pulled back his arms and aimed his lance to strike like a missile.
Shirou's mind was already moving, even though his body remained rooted to the spot. Almost on instinct, two blueprints were pulled to the forefront of his brain, and in the space next to his head, two spears appeared, loaded with Prana and ready to strike.
Cúchulainn's voice echoed across the courtyard. "GÁE!"
"BOLG!" Shirou finished.
Two red spears shot through the air — the first left Cúchulainn's hand and shot down as a rain of light towards Shirou and Saber; the second soared upwards as a counter rain towards Cúchulainn. Whereas Cúchulainn's spear was aimed at Shirou and Saber, however, Shirou's spear was aimed at the rain of light produced by the first spear.
Both rains met in the air and collided, then exploded and dissipated. Two attacks of equal force and power met, clashed, and canceled out.
For Lancer, that was it. His attack had been stopped and his energy was spent.
For Shirou, that was only the beginning.
The second spear, a black spear with twisted vines etched into the shaft just below the blade, shot off towards Cúchulainn at the speed of a bullet.
"Gungnir."
Gungnir, the Declaration of the Elder God, one of the predecessors to Cúchulainn's Gáe Bolg. In the same sense as Gáe Bolg always hit the heart by reversing cause and effect, Gungnir always hit its target, no matter the skill and strength of the wielder.
It was not the same as Gáe Bolg — Gáe Bolg, the Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death, which reversed causality so that the strike came before the thrust. Gungnir was the spear that always hit its target, going through defenses and armors like paper. Once the target was decided, the spear interfered with destiny to actualize its attack. Sufficient Luck could allow one to avoid it, but otherwise, there was no way of dodging its blow. It was a missile that sought its target and didn't stop until it hit. Between Gáe Bolg and Gungnir, the principle was similar but the effect was different.
Gungnir hit Cúchulainn, and then Cúchulainn hit the ground.
The tension in Shirou's body seeped away again, but he didn't allow himself to relax entirely. If Lancer survived the attack, then there was no reason to believe that Kirei hadn't —
"By the power of this Command Seal," Kirei's voice echoed across the courtyard, "Cúchulainn, kill them both."
A blue blur sped back out of the smoke and debris left behind of the church, a blur too fast for Shirou to dodge, too swift for him to avoid. Despite the gaping wound in his chest, Cúchulainn rushed Shirou at full speed, and there was no time to get out of the way.
Then, just as Shirou thought Cúchulainn would deal the killing blow, another blue blur crashed into him, stabbing a golden sword — Excalibur — through his side and pushing him away. Cúchulainn flew across the courtyard and tumbled over the ground as Saber skidded to a halt in front of Shirou, her sword still poised in the final motions of her thrust.
But even that wasn't enough, because Cúchulainn still stood up and still made to attack. Shirou pulled Gáe Bolg from the hill and threw himself in front of Saber as Lancer bore down on them again.
"Gáe Bolg!"
Causality reversed, and the Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death struck the already damaged heart that had been pierced by Gungnir. The force of the blow flung Cúchulainn back again, but this time, Shirou didn't wait for Lancer to pick himself up off the ground. Gáe Bolg dissipated and was replaced with another spear, a different spear, but one of its predecessors all the same.
It was not the Finest Yew of the Wood, it was not the Gáe Assail, it was not the Slaughterer; the spear that Shirou pulled this time was the Five Roaring Stars, named Brionac in Japan, one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
The final spear was flung, and the tip split into five, and from each tip came a light that could kill five enemies at once.
That was how the Lancer known as Cúchulainn died: obliterated beneath the attack of one of his father's spears.
There was a moment of silence through the courtyard, not out of respect for the fallen Servant, but out of a tense fear that he might stand up yet again. After five seconds, however, and then twenty-five seconds, and then a full two minutes, there was only the silence, and Shirou allowed himself to relax because Cúchulainn had finally been defeated.
"Come on," he said at last.
He turned away from the church and back to the city, mentally mapping the shortest route he knew to get back home. With the church gone but Kirei and Gilgamesh both alive, there was only one thing they would be after, now.
Both Kirei and Gilgamesh wanted the Grail, after all.
"Shirou?" Saber asked.
"If Kirei's going to make a move, there's only one place he'd go," Shirou told her.
There was a moment of silence as his words hung in the air, and he absently imagined the look on her face as he gazed out at the town — a short moment of confusion, then surprised realization, then knowing acceptance.
"Ilya," she said quietly.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
A shiver swept down Shirou's spine as he stepped through the front door of his home. It was a bad feeling, a premonition, an omen. He didn't need to see the drops of blood splattered in a neat, dotted line on the floor. He didn't need to smell the tangy, coppery scent of freshly spilled blood. He didn't need to see the dried red stain leading to the living room.
He didn't need to…because he already knew what had happened.
His feet started moving before he even realized what he was about to do, and a scant moment after stepping foot inside, his feet were pounding like thunder as he raced towards the living room. In his ears, his pulse was like a set of snare drums beating wildly.
The scene he came upon when he entered the living room was familiar — Rin, bloody, motionless, leaning up against the wall with one arm wrapped around the huge red stain on her belly and the other lying limply to the side at an odd angle. The wall behind her and to the side was smeared with red — she must have slammed back against the wall at the instant of the attack, then slid sideways as she crumpled to the ground.
"Rin!" Saber gasped.
Rin's eyes blinked open.
"Oh," she wheezed. "You guys are finally back. Geez, Shirou. Don't you know you're not supposed to keep a lady waiting? You were gone so long that I was just about to fall asleep."
"Damn it," Shirou swore and rushed to her side. Kotomine was too fast — no, it might have been Gilgamesh, too. The distraction of fighting Lancer had given them enough of a head start to outpace both Shirou and Saber.
"Don't bother," Rin told him as he went to check her injuries. "I've already treated the injury — I can at least do that much, you know."
She tried to take a deep breath, but stopped midway with a wince. Shirou cursed his own inadequacies — he should've been the one to destroy the church. If he'd swung his sword at its full power, then it wouldn't have mattered if Gilgamesh had a shield that could take the raw attack — the only thing that could counter Chaos was Truth.
"I'm sorry, Shirou," Rin apologized breathily. "I thought I could take him, but I guess I just wasn't strong enough. He came here and took Ilya."
"I know," he told her. "I already know, Rin. Don't talk — Saber, some towels, some bandages, some hot water, and a bowl."
Saber nodded wordlessly and left.
"I thought I could beat him," Rin said weakly. "I thought I could win. But he was just too fast and just too strong. Heh — I guess the student hasn't surpassed the master just yet…"
"Don't talk," he said again. "Just stay there and rest. I'll treat your wounds."
"You'll have to face Kirei yourself," she told him. She rummaged around with her other hand — so it wasn't broken, good. "If Gilgamesh is his Servant, he'll already know about your sword, so you'll need a surprise, too."
She pulled out the Azoth dagger and presented it to him.
"You already know how to use this, right?" she asked rhetorically.
He hesitated for a second, but took it, inspected the engravings on the hilt for a moment, then sheathed it in his belt.
"You gave it to me last time, too," was the only explanation he gave. By the weak smirk that curled her lips, it was all the explanation she needed.
"One last thing, Shirou," she mumbled as her eyes fluttered closed. "When you fight Kirei…you'd better win. Understand?"
And then, her head dropped and she was asleep.
"…Yeah."
He only said it half-heartedly, an agreement to her terms as reluctant as he'd been to take her dagger. No, in the first place, he wasn't sure that it would be him to face Kirei at all.
In the grand scheme of things, the wiser decision would be to send Saber after Kirei and fight Gilgamesh himself. That was the reason why he'd taken up his sword, wasn't it? That was why he'd done everything that he'd done for the past week and a half. So then, didn't it make sense that he would be the one to fight the King of Heroes?
But his heart didn't seem so sure.
They didn't go after Kirei and Gilgamesh right away. After Saber returned with the towels, bowel, bandages, and hot water, they'd treated Rin's wounds, put her to bed with a still-sleeping Sakura, and eaten a quiet dinner on what remained of the dinner table, then cleaned as best they could in silence.
When everything else was done, when the sun had set and the moon had risen, when the clock struck midnight and the guarantee of secrecy became fact, Shirou slipped into his room and dressed in his armor — red and gold cloth cascaded over his body and fit to his form. When everything else had been belted, buttoned, and buckled, he pulled on the overcoat, buckled the belt that went over it, and slipped his hands into the brown leather gloves.
Saber was waiting for him when he stepped back into the living room, seated calmly in her usual spot around what remained of the dinner table. She looked up at him, her face carefully blank.
"You are ready?" she asked solemnly.
"Yeah," he declared without a single doubt.
"Very well then," she said. "There is one last thing we must settle before we go to the Temple. Shirou, which of us is to fight Gilgamesh, and which of us is to fight Kotomine Kirei?"
"I —" he began, then stopped.
I don't know, he thought.
Logically, tactically, Shirou was the appropriate choice. His Unlimited Blade Works was the perfect counter to the Gate of Babylon, and his sword was the only weapon in their combined arsenal that could go toe to toe with Ea. Avalon could deflect it and defend against it, but Avalon was only a defensive tool, and one mistake with Avalon would mean Saber's defeat. In the long and short of it, Shirou was uniquely suited to fighting Gilgamesh.
If it was a matter of advantages and disadvantages, Shirou was the obvious choice.
However, had he not just learned that he wasn't alone in this fight? Had he not just learned, had he not just been reminded, that he could, in fact, rely on Saber? Had he not just been reminded that he didn't need to shoulder all of the burdens he carried by himself? Everything that had occurred in the War had led to this moment, this decision, but how much had he accomplished on his own?
Saber had always been by his side. Saber had always been there to protect him, to fight with him and for him, to give him strength when he needed it and to defeat the enemies that he could not. There was nothing in him that could replace her. The throne of his soul, the seat which had remained empty for ten long years, had been filled by her. Everything of him was with her.
Saber might be disadvantaged against Gilgamesh, but she had beaten him before. Shirou knew it as surely as he knew that he loved her. She could win. It might be hard, it might be difficult, it might be the most uphill battle she had ever fought, but she could still win. She had stood by his side through the worst the Grail War had to offer, had accepted that he had lied to her without complaint, and had loved him as fully and completely as he did her. Couldn't he trust her to fight Gilgamesh?
No, of course. There had never been any reason to question it. It was only natural. There was no other way it could be. In the end, despite how long it had taken for him to realize it, there had only ever been one choice. The only one who could fight Gilgamesh was —
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
To be continued:
Normal End - Chapter 15: A Prayer Named Glory
Good End - Chapter 17: Everything In These Hands
Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night.
Don't ask about Gungnir. That thing gives me so many headaches that there's no way I'm gonna use it again.
A surprising number of people want to see Shirou beat Gilgamesh first. In other words, a lot of people wanted to see the Good End first. But I didn't post the poll to decide which end came first; I posted it to see what the fans wanted out of the final battle. Normal End is coming first, so even though that'll make some of you feel like your opinion counted for nothing, that's just how it is.
Escalvatine has been revised, by the way. In fitting with its theme as "the combination of Excalibur, Excalibur Galatine, and Arondight," its maximum attack power is now 450 — that's three times as powerful as Excalibur, but roughly a tenth as strong as Ea. You might want to check it out on the bottom of Chapter 11, EMIYA. It'll probably go through a few more minor revisions later on, but everything that'll have an effect on the plot is already decided, so those tiny details will only be important to sequels and spin-offs.
At this time, I'm considering putting Escalvatine's power back up where it was (1000) and saying that Shirou will place constraints on it after the Grail War (like Proto-Saber's Excalibur). Any thoughts on the subject are welcome.
Also, I'm instituting a new practice, starting now. Every fiftieth review (50, 150, 200, etc.), starting with 700 (because reviewer 650 was a Guest), one reviewer chosen at random of those fifty will be eligible to have one question about the story answered as completely and honestly as I am able, spoilers be damned. If you are the one whose review is chosen, then you will be contacted and I will ask you to PM me your question. Every fiftieth review for a chapter will also receive the opportunity to ask a question, so if you wind up chosen for both the fiftieth review and the fiftieth review of the chapter, then you'll have a total of 2 questions you can ask. When we reach one thousand, five random reviewers and reviewer 1000 will each get two questions.
This is the catch, though: I will not answer questions regarding future projects, not even this story's sequels, and the review that wins must also have more substance than "Good chapter, update." Other than that, just about everything else goes.
I realize that it's a little late in the story to be starting this, but the questions can be about nearly anything in the story, past or future, so if you want to know when Saber finished seeing Shirou's memories of the War, or what Shirou gets up to after the War, I can answer that, too. I'll also be continuing this practice in future stories, so there's that, too.
Of course, you all can still ask questions like normal, but from now on, I'll be avoiding spoilers in answering those questions as much as possible (which I haven't really done before, actually).
Review count, as of right now: Ch 1: 52
Ch 2: 56
Ch 3: 57
Ch 4: 38
Ch 5: 36
Ch 6: 36
Ch 7: 50 Twigon Halolover
Ch 8: 39
Ch 9: 38
Ch 10: 80
Ch 11: 47
Ch 12: 50 Twigon Halolover
Ch 13: 63
Ch 14: 49
Ch 15: 42
700th review randomized winner: Arcane Alchemist
Do you have enough swords, King of Heroes?!
James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes
James Daniel Godric Alan Fawkes(Signature best viewed in Wendy Medium font style)