"If you walk down the path that you believe is right, you cannot be wrong"

Fate/Brave Shine

Chapter 7: Ardent

Shirō took to most of her lessons like a fish to water. He displayed a profound willingness to try again and again and an uncanny ability to improve upon himself after each try. His strength was more than adequate for a human and his stamina was incredible considering his mortal constraints. Though he started out wanting to mimic Archer's twin swords fighting style, for whatever reason his preference switched to learning her own which made things easier for the both of them.

His reasoning for wanting to learn how to fight was something she initially disagreed with. He wanted to be able to fight by her side instead of standing helplessly on the sideline. In most situations, that would be something she found to be admirable. However, she was a Servant, and before that a King and a Knight, and he was just a teenage boy. She couldn't agree to teach him if it meant he would get a big head and try to fight a Servant head-on, so she limited what she taught him in the beginning.

She hadn't expected him to learn as quickly as he did, and she definitely didn't expect him to start giving her a bit of trouble in their spars. Before she realized it, she had started teaching him in a genuine manner, and he kept up better than she thought possible, absorbing nearly every bit of information she put out there and carving nearly all of her lessons into the deepest recesses of his mind.

However, there was one lesson she still hadn't been able to teach him. The very first lesson any would-be Knight was taught: If you want to protect others, you must first protect yourself. When given an objective to protect in their lessons, Shirō had a tendency to allow harm to come to himself if it meant protecting the objective. She tried to teach him that sometimes things were unavoidable in battle, and that the important thing was to stay alive.

"If the person I'm protecting is killed, what reason is left for me to fight?" Was his response, which angered her more than it should have, even though she could understand the sentiment, especially as his Servant. Her anger only truly came from his own confession that he feels like there's no real place for him in this world, and that someone like him who might not belong has a lower value than someone who does, that he placed his life beneath her own, even though she was a mere Servant of the Grail.

She knew that no matter what she said, he'd hold fast to that ideal, and he would continue to place others before himself. She had felt much of the same way when she was alive, even though Merlin had constantly tried to change her mind.

It was due to some reflection upon her own anger towards Shirō in the shower after one of their sparring sessions that she began to realize that she had feelings for him despite the vast amount of differences between the two. She had always put her Master before herself, as a Servant should, but she began to feel that he should come before even the Grail itself.

It had taken a bit for Rin to calm down enough for Shirō to start explaining what had happened with Ilya. It was long enough for him to make some tea, which even Archer seemed to enjoy. He hadn't been able to explain what really went down to Arturia yet, which meant he was in for a long day after a night of no rest at all.

Even after he had explained it to her, Rin hadn't bought it. "So you're telling me she just wanted to talk? After the two stunts she's pulled so far?"

Shirō sighed into his cup of now lukewarm tea. "She was my dad's biological daughter and held some resentment when he didn't come home after the previous war. I'm sure things would've turned out differently if I didn't have any of the answers she was looking for. I suppose I should count myself lucky that she gave me an option to choose whether or not to join her to win the war."

Rin scoffed at him. "The fact that you still think it's really a choice is amazing. The four of us combined probably wouldn't stand a chance again her Berserker, and I doubt the Einzbern heir is a second-rate Magus like yourself."

He shrugged in response. "She didn't demand anything from me and I made it clear that I'm only involved in the war to protect the people I care about in the first place, which means protecting her, too. So it's not like I declared myself her enemy or anything, I just told her I didn't want to go out of my way to hurt people."

As Rin looked into her tea deep in thought, Shirō passed a look to Arturia that told her he wasn't being entirely truthful with Rin. Though, to her, it all seemed to be similar to what happened before Merlin's actions brought them together again.

"Do you think she could help us with the Temple? Those things obviously have a limit, and that limit seems to be Berserker." Rin asked. Though Archer wanted nothing more to do with his past self, other than gutting him and tossing him into the harbor, there was no doubt in his mind that whatever had been attacking them was a bigger priority. Even as a Servant, his duties as a Counter-Guardian still had a pull on him and his actions. If they were somehow connected to what they would find at the Temple, that meant they were more than just an aberration and that something was seriously wrong.

Shirō pretended to think for a moment before answering. "I don't know. She said she had something she needed to take care of, so I'm guessing she'll be occupied until she finds me again."

This time, it was Rin who sighed. "I figured."

Rin had left Shirō's home after agreeing to meet later that week for a proper discussion about the Temple and the things attacking them. They were both tired, but Shirō couldn't get any sleep until he explained just what actually went on to Arturia. Predictably, she was less worried about Ilya and more about his encounter with Caster. They had moved from his living room to the bedroom, sitting on his mattress side by side, already in their sleeping clothes.

"It sounds like she was testing your strength, which means she's either been spying on you, or.."

"Or she's somehow connected to Morgan. I know. The fact that she made herself known to me says it's the latter. If she just wanted to test my strength she'd have Kuzuki-sensei do it instead of using a thought-projection." Shirō said, finishing Arturia's thoughts.

Arturia grit her teeth. Morgan had been one step ahead of them at every turn so far, and with Rin and Archer tagging along, Shirō couldn't use anywhere near his full potential. If she truly had aligned herself with Caster, their future endeavors would only become more and more difficult as time went on. They couldn't keep wasting their efforts on Rin's plan to assault the Temple if Morgan was there along with Caster. There's no telling how powerful she herself had become.

Arturia was roused from her depressing train of thought as Shirō wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her tight against him. "Shirō..?"

"If it comes down to it, I'll use Arcurant in front of Archer. I'd rather not, but we can't keep wasting time with those things. Something tells me there's more to Arcurant than I've been led to believe." Shirō said, his face contorting into a deep, thoughtful expression.

"What's given you that idea?"

Shirō's reasoning lied in Berserker. "Ilya wanted to know what I 'did' to Berserker, and then she wanted to see Arcurant up close. Even I could tell he wasn't the same as before. He was a bit more.. human, I suppose, than the animal-like beast he was before. Somehow, I think Arcurant had a hand in that. I just don't know what it did or why."

She thought about it, and came to the conclusion that he might be right. Merlin had said Arcurant was a 'part' of Shirō, that it was forged from his soul, but that explained nothing about what it was capable of. It had shape-shifting properties and resonated with her own heartbeat. The runes on the blade were older than those on her own Excalibur, and that was only what they knew of. It was still largely a mystery.

Arturia sighed softly, leaning against Shirō. Their struggles weren't over by a longshot, but now it seemed like a peaceful, happy future with Shirō was impossibly far away. Despite the vast amount of Mana that she had access to, she felt physically and emotionally drained. However, she felt guilty for feeling so, as Shirō's own experiences before Merlin's meddling were hundreds, if not thousands of years of pain and war and death. She felt as if she had no right to be tired.

She became startled when Shirō pulled her smaller frame onto his lap, holding her as a man would hold his bride. She looked up and saw a small, honest smile on his face and fierce determination in his eyes.

"We're going to be alright. I'm not going lose you again." He said, gripping her tightly, as if she might slip away at any moment.

Arturia smiled, happy to see that Shirō hadn't been beaten down by their circumstances. "I know." She said, before raising her head and meeting his lips with hers.

Rider was more unsure of what to think about Emiya Shirō than ever before. She had watched him follow that girl and her monster home without a single thought for his own safety and then witnessed something that should have been impossible for a normal human to accomplish. For a split second, she had lost track of Shirō's movements when he threw one of his swords at the ground near Caster and stood unflinching at the imminent threat of death from Caster's presence, thought-projection or not.

It would be a feat in and of itself for a Servant to be faster than she could track. No human, no matter how talented, should ever move faster than a slow crawl to her perception.

Then, there was the kindness he showed to the girl. She was his enemy, and that Servant of hers could have easily crushed him at any time, and yet he acted so friendly with her. As if his betrayal of Sakura wasn't enough, he had been holding that girl in his arms while she cried.

She didn't understand anything about him. He said she'd understand more as time went on, but the reality was that it was the complete opposite. At this point, she wasn't even sure if she could decide whether he was a threat to Sakura or not. Before, she had assumed that he would never hurt Sakura or allow her to come to harm, but after watching his interactions with his own Servant, and his friendly demeanor with that girl, she could no longer hold that belief. She didn't know what to think about Emiya Shirō, and that bothered her a great deal.

Morgan had decided to continue summoning her phantom-servants, but this time she had decided to summon one who could fight from a distance. They could easily overwhelm the boy and that woman with numbers alone, but she felt a twisted sense of glee to force someone to fight people they cared about.

"What was this one's name, again?" Medea asked, still channeling her energy into the summoning. Each summoning had gotten easier when it came to complexity, but at the same time each summoning had begun to cost more and more Mana. Medea wasn't sure whether that was because it simply demanded more, or if Morgan was holding back her own Mana.

"Tristan. Another one of her Knights, but he fought with a bow, rather than a sword or lance. He'll make things more interesting." Morgan said, a small and cruel smile on her face.

Medea simply nodded her head, finding her mind wandering to the boy. Though he was her enemy, she did find him quite interesting. His raw ability and skill that came with such cold, serious eyes reminded her of her own husband. She didn't even notice the boy had thrown his sword. Even accounting for the time lag between herself and her thought-projection, that shouldn't have been possible. She was intrigued by the boy and hoped to see more of what he had to offer before Morgan's plan succeeded.

A small part of her wondered what it would have been like if she had been summoned by that boy instead of her original Master. Would they have been a good match? Would he have taken pity upon her after hearing of her past? Could they have won the war themselves? The boy was certainly more capable than he let on, much like her current Master and Husband. Such calm certainty in his own strength that could be mistaken for arrogance, but was definitely not.

Medea cast those stray thoughts aside. Though she took no pleasure in Morgan's company, she had sworn to uphold her end of the bargain. She'd make her wish and be able to live with the only man she could ever see herself loving. She would allow nothing to get in her way. Not even Morgan, should she betray her. Agravain's words still echoed in her head, telling her that she couldn't trust Morgan, and they were something she thought about often.

Two days after their attempt to assault the Temple, they had reconvened to talk about another attempt, gathering once more at Shirō's home. Before their meeting, Arturia and Shirō had spoken at length of what to do should they run into the phantom-servants again. With Archer around, their options were fairly limited, but Shirō had told her that if it came down to it, he'd do what was necessary. Shirō initially wanted to try convincing Rin to rethink the entire ordeal, but Arturia was quick to remind him that every second they kept Archer in their vision was every second Shirō's future self was robbed of plotting a new way to kill him. They both knew that he'd go so far as to taking Rin hostage to force a fight.

"If those.. things show up again, it's going to be difficult to deal with them. When they get hit, they respond with an equal amount of force and speed. It seems nothing short of a single, crushing blow can stop them." Arturia said, trying herself to think of a way to deal with their obstacles.

Archer, unusually serious considering his previous demeanor when it came time to talk, nodded in agreement. "I can provide something like that from a distance, but you two-" He paused, pointing at Arturia and Shirō "- Are going to have to deal with them on your own until that happens." Internally, Archer frowned. He'd much rather leave the two of them to the wolves, but his duty as a Counter-Guardian was demanding that he find the source of those things and eliminate it. Something told him he'd find it at the Temple, which meant there was yet another anomaly from what he could remember.

Shirō and Arturia shared a look, but before they could agree, Rin spoke up. "I'm not going to let the two of you deal with five of those things on your own. I might not have the sword skills you seem to have, Emiya, but I can still provide enough support to help buy enough time." She said, looking directly at Archer, only sparing a glance to Shirō when she spoke of his skills that seemed to appear out of thin air. Her tone and gaze told Archer that she wasn't suggesting that she'd go along with them.

Both Shirō and Archer wanted to protest, but they knew it would be useless, each having their own experience to draw upon when it came to Rin's stubbornness.

Far beyond the Bounded Field that surrounded the Emiya compound, Lancer was watching. He had been instructed to find Emiya Shirō, and once he had his new Master had given him further instructions: Observe. Lancer wasn't quite sure what Shinji had meant by that, and he wasn't entirely sure his own Master knew what he wanted.

Lancer had his own experiences and theories about the boy he was observing, but had yet to tell Shinji about them. He was hesitant to trust his new Master after being forced under the servitude of Kotomine, who was a snake but worse in every way. For now, he'd obey Shinji's orders to the letter, but nothing more.

She could almost see things clearly now. She still didn't know who she was, where she was, or what she was, but she could start observing the world around her, even if she couldn't interact with it.

The people spoke a language that seemed familiar to her, and she thought she understood the words, but it all sounded garbled, as if it were coming out of a creature, rather than a person. This saddened her, as she ached to understand what people were saying, almost as much as she ached to know who she herself was.

Information had continued to fill her as if she were an empty vessel, mostly comprising of names and faces. However, one had rung out louder than the rest within her mind: Emiya Shirō. For some reason, his name and face were not only the first to appear in her subconscious, but they were also the clearest. Something was important about this young man.

She saw something else in her mind with clarity as well: A golden grail more elegant than any other which rested heavily upon the place it stood, and upon the world itself. It stood empty when, in her mind, she thought the one purpose of this grail was to be filled, though with what she had no clue. Wine, perhaps?

She also knew that this grail and Emiya Shirō were somehow connected. Did he possess the grail? Was he looking for it? She didn't know. All she knew was that in the matter of importance, the grail was infinitely more important than Emiya Shirō, though the young man obviously had some matter of importance to be connected to the grail.

One day later...

Shirō, Arturia, Archer and Rin once more began the trek up to the Temple. Ever wary of the doubtless impending attack, they remained vigilant. They would be down a front-line fighter if their plan held together, but that all hinged upon the number of things that they'd be dealing with.

Their plan fell apart the moment the phantom-servants made themselves known, their numbers one larger than before. The newest addition held not a sword or lance, but a bow. Both Shirō and Arturia knew who this was. After all, he was the only one among the Round Table that had been proficient enough with a bow that he rarely needed any close-range weaponry. Not just because of the speed of his draw, but the very nature of his bow.

In life, Tristan wielded a legendary bow, which resembled a harp with the number of strings it possessed, known as Failnaught. The bow didn't require physical arrows, instead creating what was referred to as 'vacuum arrows' that were devastating when they hit flesh, and could be fired in rapid succession without ever needing time to stop. Unless his targets could somehow alter time itself or was incredibly close to him, for which he had a slim silvered-steel sword, he would always hit his targets. However, that wasn't the only thing he could do with his bow. He could lay 'vacuum' traps which were nearly always lethal, and could even change the shape and size of his arrows by changing the position of his fingers and the number of strings he would use to fire.

However, these phantom-servants weren't what they were in life, despite the change in appearance for both Galahad and Gawain. Tristan's legendary bow was nowhere to be seen, instead using a basic looking bow, but that brought them little comfort. The lack of a quiver suggested he wouldn't be using physical arrows.

Like before, Agravain was in front of the others, with Galahad and Gawain to his immediate left and right, and directly behind them stood the other two otherwise nameless phantom-servants, with Tristan taking up the rear. Though his armor resembled nothing of what he wore in life and his face was obscured by the same helmet the other two wore, Arturia was sure it was Tristan.

"I don't think that plan is going to work" Shirō said in a low voice and a small, grim smile on his face. Already, he and Archer had the black and white swords in their hands, while Arturia held Excalibur tightly in front of her. Behind the three of them was Rin, now unsure of what to do.

Then, their enemies charged, targets selected. Arturia and Archer each fought a single nameless phantom-servant and one whose identity had been revealed. Arturia faced Gawain, and Archer faced Galahad. Meanwhile, Agravain focused on Shirō alone and Tristan was free to pick and choose his targets. Surprisingly, Rin was left completely alone. They didn't seem to consider her a threat.

Galahad and Gawain's attacks had more speed and force behind them than their nameless counterparts, and the difference in skill was completely obvious as well. This made it all the more difficult for them compared to last time, where Arturia was paired up against the two whose abilities seemed partially restored to them.

Meanwhile, Tristan shot Mana arrows at them, choosing to switch between targets, choosing whoever was more vulnerable at the time. However, without anyone attacking him, his own abilities were fairly limited, not getting the chance to 'imprint' upon them. Still, his arrows were no laughing matter, and several had nearly hit the mark already, grazing his targets and drawing blood. Even if he didn't ever hit his target, it would end up as death by a thousand cuts if the battle went on too long.

The longer the battle went on, the closer and closer Shirō got to calling upon more than the married blades in his hands. They couldn't win with him holding back, especially now that they had a ranged fighter. Even if he didn't hold back, their chances of winning when they didn't even know nearly as much as they would have liked about these phantom-servants weren't exceptional.

Shirō winced as another of Agravain's downward slashes tore into him, this time slicing across his right arm. If he had poisoned his blades beforehand, he'd be long dead by now. He took a quick moment to thank that he hadn't for whatever reason. Like before, his attacks and movements were much more robotic than the first time he faced the Assassin, suggesting that he wasn't working upon free will.

Agravain faded into the blackness of the night once again, circling Shirō. Shirō had a hard time tracking him, furthering the credit to his own legend as Camelot's lone Assassin. He could understand that they'd only need the one if he was this good.

Feeling a presence behind him, Shirō spun on his heel and brought his twin blades up in a cross-guard, blocking another attack from Agravain. Despite the emotionless look on his face, he seemed almost surprised that Shirō blocked his strike, giving Shirō enough time to make an attack of his own, stepping forward after parrying Agravain's blade, keeping the cross-guard form, and slashing outward with both blades, cutting through the black armor he war and into Agravain's flesh. Agravain hopped backwards and Shirō knew he made a mistake.

Arms outstretched, he was wide open for the arrow that had just been released from Tristan's bow. He urged his body to move to avoid being hit, but knew he was too late even if he were to use Time Alter. In the back of his mind, he could almost hear something taunting him for not using the most powerful weapon in his possession to end the fight before it had even begun as the arrow got closer and closer to him.

"Gáe Bolg!"

A red spear cleaved the Mana arrow in two mid-flight, causing it to dissipate, and stuck itself into the ground. Time sped back up to a normal level and a blue-clad man landed beside the spear, plucking it from the ground.

"What.. What are you doing here?" Shirō asked.

Lancer spared a glance at Shirō before looking back to Agravain and Tristan. "My Master said to help you out, so that's what I'm doing. Don't ask why, because I don't know either." He said, taking up a defensive position.

Shirō regained his composure and took up a defensive stance as well. "Well, if you're going to help out you should know that these.. things are like a mirror. They respond with an equal amount of force and skill when you hit them and there doesn't seem to be any real limit to what they can respond to."

"Tch." Lancer scoffed. He wasn't sure about Shirō's own abilities, but he knew that humans and Servants had completely different ideas of strength. Still, after observing the other two fights before he stepped in, he could tell the other two Servants were holding back for some reason.

Both Arturia and Archer had taken notice of the new arrival, but didn't have time to investigate. So long as he was on their side, it was fine with them. However, yet another person arrived on that battlefield, and the newest arrival caused a pause in the ongoing battles as he emerged from the darkness, drawing attention from everyone there. Another phantom-servant, this one wielding a sword. However, this one Arturia knew from the way he carried himself, even if he had nothing else to reveal who he was. She had spent the vast majority of her life sparring with him. She had been raised with him and was her adoptive brother for most of her childhood and even then well into her kingship.

Kay.

Arturia tensed up, a flood of memories long since buried rushing through her mind, each one shared with Kay, who was one of the only Knights she had full and complete faith in, and was one of the only people who she confided in outside of Merlin.

Shirō could tell something was wrong from the way Arturia was reacting. Her guard slipped, her hands loosened, and her breathing became irregular. This meant even through the black armor she recognized who it was and was obviously someone important to her. Someone close.

He grit his teeth, his small hope from Lancer's arrival already dashed by this new phantom-servant's appearance.

Merlin stared uncharacteristically wide-eyed at his 'guest', who not only had the power to enter his prison in some form or another, but to dismantle his spell and call his staff, which he made with his own two hands, to her. The light radiating off of her was slowly dimming, but he still couldn't made out any facial features, her defining characteristic at that time being the white dress she wore and her equally white hair.

"Who are you? Why are you here? How are you here?" Merlin demanded, though his tone was more that of wonder and less of anger or fear. He struggled to his feet, his back still sore from the impact upon the cave wall.

"I'm like you, Merlin. I'm someone who is actively participating on the plan to defy Fate." She said in a light, playful voice.

Merlin, despite not feeling any fear, took a step back. As far as he knew, only he and Vivian were aware of what the full plan was or had any active participation in it, though he had suspected that Vivian had contacted someone. Was this who she contacted?

"I came here to fulfill my side of the bargain, but decided to come a bit early to explain some things to you about the plan." She said, walking to the middle of the room.

Explain some things about the plan? He knew the plan. He was the one who came up with it, wasn't he? What was she talking about?

As the light continued to dim, it slowly revealed two crimson eyes that looked at him with a curious sort of fascination.

A/N: My neglect of Physical Therapy, even if it were only a day here and there, came back to bite me in the ass. Between Michael's Rangers, Elite Dangerous: Gemini, and this, along with storyboarding two more stories that I eventually want to write, it's been difficult finding the strength to do anything after PT lately. As I write this, it's 1:00AM and I have an entire day's worth of things to do waiting for me. I've since gotten a bit better and I'm actually living on my own without assistance again, so that's nice.

This chapter turned out to be shorter than I thought it would be, but that's due to what will be happening in the next one or two chapters. I won't ruin anything, but I will say that if you liked chapter 2, you just might enjoy the hell out of the next chapter or two. In this chapter, we've seen a few things continue to build up towards something spectacular and watch Arturia be confronted with her adoptive brother. We also got to see more of Lancer not getting killed, which is always nice. Then, there's Merlin's 'guest'. You might have some ideas about what she is, who she is, or her motives, but I can tell you that you're all in for a treat when she makes her next appearance after little chat with Merlin in his oh-so-lovely prison of stone and darkness.

Slight hint for the next chapter or two: For those of you who have played Elite Dangerous, have you noticed how the further away you get from an intense light source like a star, the more definition the rest of the galaxy seems to have? Maybe you notice things that were otherwise washed out by the light from the star?

Anyways, thank you all very much for your continued support, from the reviews to the PMs worried about my health. I appreciate it very much and hope you'll all continue reading and enjoying my stories.