AN: Hey guys, I am writing my fanfic/wishes for what happens after the events of the Fate route with Saber x Shirou. It made me happy that they eventually had their happy ending in Avalon, but I wish to give life to the idea of them reuniting before then. I will do my best to keep true to each character's beliefs and personalities. For all the amazing lore buffs out there, I just want to apologize ahead of time if I get any details wrong, or don't write in any personalities correctly, if this happens feel free to let me know.
"Shirou..." an all too familiar voice called out to him, and his eyes lifted from the field beneath him to her, just as beautiful as the first day he saw her. Emerald eyes, her bright blonde hair, let down and flowing in the wind.
"Saber!" he shouted back, as she stood twenty feet away. For some reason, he recognized this moment, the feeling of dread began to fill up in his chest, weighing him down. He started to run towards her, using all the strength he could muster. Saber just looked back at him with a smile, which was a rare sight for her, and always left him with a weak sensation in his knees.
"I love you, Shirou." she answered back to him before closing her eyes, and she began to dissolve into the bright golden mist.
I won't let you go this time...
He told himself, but even he didn't believe it. He's been here before, a hundred times, and knew what was going to happen, but he tried anyway. He would try a hundred times again, and more. Shirou was only feet away now, and he reached out his hand, hoping to save her from her fate, but just as his hand was about to touch her, she vanished.
"SABER!"
Shirou's momentum kept him stumbling forward as his body ran through the space that was once filled by Artoria, causing him to stumble. It didn't help that a moment after she disappeared, his vision went black. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, surprised by the cold stone floor that he collided with, expecting the grass of the field he was just running across.
It wasn't long until a voice called out to him, one that wasn't familiar at all, "After all this time, you're the one?"
The man's tone was one of disbelief, and maybe even annoyance.
Shirou rose to a knee, blinking as he gazed into the darkness hoping his eyes would adapt, "The one what?" Shirou asked in confusion, unable to pinpoint where exactly the other voice had come from.
After a few moments of silence, a torch was lit on a stone wall to his left, about six feet away, basking the room in dim light. However, the man was sitting only a few feet away from Shirou directly in front of him, on top of a ledge that was no higher off the ground than an ordinary chair. The man wore a white robe with black pants and had a staff in his right hand which was planted on the ground, and he twirled it idly.
It was still hard to see, but he saw a subtle smirk forming on the man's lips, "Well, the one Artoria wanted more than being a great king."
There weren't many things that could get to Shirou, but this stranger's remark stung him for some reason, and he narrowed his eyes at the robed man, "Who are you? And where the hell am I?"
"Sit." the man replied, and Shirou looked around for a chair, but just as he was about to inform the man about the lack of any chairs he found himself suddenly sitting in one, a rather nice one at that.
He blinked a few times and looked over at the magus silently.
"My name is Merlin, and welcome to my home."
This made Shirou go wide-eyed in disbelief, "Merlin? I was expecting something different..."
Merlin smirked once more and stood up straight, leaning some of his weight on his staff, "And what was that? An old man with a beard and a pointy hat?"
Judging by the stern look on Shirou's face, it was clear to Merlin that he was in no mood for humor.
"Why am I here, is this even real?
"Yes... And no."
"Well... That doesn't help much."
"You are here because I can reunite you with her."
Shirou felt his heart skip a beat, he can see her again? No way this was real... But if there was a chance...
"What? How... How do you even know about any of this?"
Merlin heaved an overdramatic sigh, "I guess you don't know who I am then, do you boy? I saw the whole war from here... I can see just about anything I want, I just can't leave."
Shirou furrowed his brows, and scratched the back of his head, "Why not?"
"I've been trapped here... The magic that contains me here even surpasses my power. But I can see past these barriers, and as you can see, I can even contact others."
"If you are stuck here and can't get out, how are you going to help me?" Shirou asked, and his hope began to fade.
"You are going to help me get out, of course. Your projection magic is far beyond anything I've ever seen. And you already possess the ability to travel here."
"There's the catch... I don't think whoever it is that trapped you here will be too happy that I will be trying to break you out of wherever here is." Shirou said in a bit of defiance.
Merlin rolled his eyes, and turned to look at the wall behind himself, "This is true, and a dangerous enemy she is. Though if you were to learn the entire story between her, myself, and Artoria you may not care as much... Anyways..." Merlin drifted off as he conjured a projection on the wall, an image of Artoria slumped against a tree after The Battle of Camlann.
"Saber..."
"I believe you have more than enough reason to help me. And you will not be risking the lives of anyone else to do so. Are you really willing to pass up this opportunity?" Merlin said smugly, absolutely confident that it was going to go his way, and he was right.
"Fine... How do I get you out of here?"
"The same way you've defeated some of your strongest foes, of course. I'm sure you can figure it out." the white-haired magus said with more confidence than Shirou had in himself at the moment.
Shirou went to speak reply but was swiftly cut off by Merlin
"I'm afraid our time is up... If you ever wish to see Artoria again. Find me, and free me from this prison Shirou."
Merlin smashed the bottom of his staff against the stone floor and everything went black.
Shirou opened his eyes and sat up, he was breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but he recognized where he was.
In his own bed.
Was that a dream? Or a nightmare?
He wondered as he laid back down in the bed. It all seemed too real, felt too real... What was he supposed to do to reach him?
Shirou let himself think about this for the rest of the night, and he was not surprised he was not able to get any sleep. Which caused him to think through the mornings rising sun as well.
It had been over a year since that Fateful day Saber had destroyed the grail, and every day since then was a reminder of what he had lost. His life had been peaceful, but mundane before Artoria had arrived. She gave him something he had not been able to find on his own, something he truly wanted for himself, and that was her. He had thought that doing the right thing would give him peace, and it did for a while, but this was a case where time did not heal the wound he was given that day.
After a few months, he began having the same dream. She would be standing there, as she was on the day she left, and he would run for her, but he would never get to her in time. Every time he tried his hardest, his hope being if he could reach her in his dream, he could pull her back into his life, and way from the horrible fate that she was left to in her time.
The image Merlin had shown him in this, dream, or vision, whatever it was did not help him.
"Is everything okay, senpai?" Sakura called out to him, a look of concern clear on her face as she watched Shirou stare into his breakfast blankly.
Shirou shook his head as he was pulled from his thoughts, and forced a smile as he looked to Sakura.
"Oh... Yeah, heh... I'm fine. Just had a bad dream was all." he said as he looked back down to his breakfast, he felt bad but he was just not hungry.
"Oh... Okay, did you want to talk about it?"
"No... it's fine... I don't think I'm going to be going to school today either, Sakura, I'm not feeling too well either."
Shirou wasn't really lying, but it didn't make him feel any less guilty about it.
He sat at the table with her until she eventually gathered her things to head to school, she asked him once more before she left if he was going to be okay on his own, but with some reassuring, she eventually left.
He shut the door behind her and turned to lean his back on it. He ran his hand down his face in exasperation, the dream which resulted in his utter lack of sleep, and now robbing him of his breakfast had him stressed.
But while laying in bed on hours with nothing to do but think, he had already come to his decision. If there were even a chance that he could see her again, and that this dream or vision was real. He would try it.
Shirou pushed himself from the door and marched through the compound, towards the building where he originally summoned Artoria in the grail war, figuring that if he were to succeed in whatever it is he was supposed to do, that would be the best spot. He pulled the door open for the first time in months, the building pulling the strings of his heart too strongly every time he entered, so he eventually stopped coming. Dust swirled and the light revealed several cobwebs that had developed due to the negligence of the building.
He knelt, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath as he thought on the matter once more. Merlin's words echoed in his mind.
The same way you have defeated your most dangerous foes.
Visualize...
"Trace... On."
Judging the concept of creation...
Shirou paused, unable to think of what it could be to take him where he needed to go... Hoping that it would just come to him as he began, but his mind went blank.
"Again..."
Visualize it
He strained as he shut his eyes until he finally cried out in frustration.
"What am I suppose to do?!" and unlike himself, he was about to give up already, chopping the whole thing up to some hopeless dream. But then the image Merlins showed up came to the forefront of his mind. A wounded, dying Artoria laying against a tree, the woman that sacrificed her future twice to save all those around her. Perhaps death would grant her peace in her time, but if he was able to save her from this Fate, and give her a new life of happiness, he would do it, and he will not give up so easily.
"Trace, on."
Visualize yourself at your strongest...
Judging the concept of creation.
The summoning circle in the room began to glow, and the area around him began to swirl with wind, evident as dust and cobweb flowed around alike.
Hypothesizing the basic structure.
A sudden ball of light formed between Shirou's hands and his body began to feel as if it were on fire as his magical circuits began to surge with mana.
Visualize...
Duplicating the composition material.
The light began to slowly rise, creating a wide golden line in its wake.
Imitating the skill of its making.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
Visualize it!
Excelling every manufacturing process.
Shirou opened his eyes, and he was nearly blinded by the bright divine light that was floating between his hands.
"Avalon..."
Without another moment of hesitation, he reached out with both hands, and grasped Excalibur's sheath with both hands. The sheath's light quickly engulfed him, and he was indeed blinded for several moments before he felt a cool wind blowing through his hair, and the sun on his face.
He opened his eyes and found himself kneeling in an open field with a clear blue sky, a small forest off to his right, and a large tower to his left. He still had no idea where he was really, but somehow Avalon sent him here, perhaps this was Avalon... He shook his head and stood up, he had a mission he needed to complete, and Merlin was likely in that tower. Wanting to waste no more time, Shirou broke into a sprint towards the tower. He must ran for a solid two minutes straight before he finally arrived at the base of the stone structure.
This must be it he thought, the stone being the same kind of stone from his dream. He walked around the tower once, then twice. Then scratched the back of his head in confusion. There were no doors, or windows of any kind along the exterior of the tower.
Shirou closed his eyes and traced an ordinary sword into his hand. At this point, this kind of magic had been easy for him. He took a firm grip of the handle and was ready to test a theory he had in his head. He swung the sword at the stone wall of the tower and a powerful blast of energy blew him back and shattered the sword in his hand.
He landed several feet away on his rear, staring at the tower in shock. Well, he wasn't surprised really, he expected something of the sort to happen, just not to that extreme. If this tower were to hold a mage such as Merlin, who by legend alone was known as a strong magus. Surely there would be more than just stone to keep him contained. Now, perhaps something of equal strength could cut this barrier open?
"Trace, on..."