Chapter Twenty-One
The Maiden Underneath
Saber bit her lip as Archer's fingers fumbled for a moment before latching on the doorknob. Normally those long, callused, bronze digits had a deftness and care to them that would have never missed something as simple as a doorknob. However fine tremors ran up and down long , muscular limbs that were starting to look pale under their normal dusky hue and with each movement tiny crimson rivulets trickled down unnoticed. Black fabric clung wetly to injured skin, the darkness of the fabric camouflaging the extent of Archer's injuries.
"You're worse than you were letting on," she said with a frown before staring up at him and adjusting her arm around his waist. It would have been a simple thing to force her well of prana into her limbs and carry him to the nearest bed. Just after that she had no idea on how to treat his injuries. She had been a king and a knight, and things such as caring for others or tending to wounds was something utterly foreign to her.
Merlin, how I wish you were here, Saber thought as Archer's unfocused eyes looked up at her. He said, "It would have worried Sakura, and she would have told Rin, and Rin would have been pissed."
"I know you care about your surrogate family, but to fight Gilgamesh even at a Servant's level is a fool's errand, and you're mortal again," Saber said with a glare as she eased him against the wall.
Archer chuckled and said, "Bastard pissed me off."
"Yes, while I admit that I am glad that you can be made irate by someone, I wish that next time you'll control your temper," Saber said as she reached up and rested her hands on his shoulders. A frown crossed her features as he went down with no aid from her own energy, just the inherent strength in her muscles. In fact, he went down rather like a sack of bricks and she cried out before catching him.
Muscles trembled under the weight until prana was forced into them, tempering and strengthening them. She sighed as she let him onto the floor and he could sit up without pitching forward. "Hmph, I'm still an idiot," Archer said in a soft voice.
Saber bit her lip before opening the door to the basement and all but flew down the stairs. Power hummed around her and her stomach tightened in response to it as her heart raced. There was little light here, but she could have had her eyes cut from her head and she would have found them. Hairs on the back of her hair and neck rose as her skin seemed to tingle in response to the treasures kept in the basement. Saber's breath caught for just a moment before she steeled herself to look at an all too familiar shape wrapped in heavy cloth.
Small hands were oddly steady as the heavy items encased within the cloth were revealed. She did not look at the golden and blue adorned sword with its gleaming blade, and but her eyes narrowed at the gilded and sapphire sheath lying beside it. Avalon. Her hands clinched into tight fists before she grabbed the sheath, cradled it to her chest, and ran back up the steps.
Somehow she wasn't surprised that Archer had fetched them from their watery prison. After all, it seemed very much like something he would do; he seemed to appreciate things that others didn't pay attention to and didn't like something going to waste. However, how did he even find out that I threw them there? Saber thought with a frown as she placed the hand on the sheath as she knelt in front of Archer.
"You might stop aging again if you activate that," he said in a soft voice as he looked at her.
Heat filled her cheeks at that and she replied, "I will make sure you are healed no matter what."
"Saber, you don't owe me this," he said with a slow shake of his head, his voice hoarse.
She looked into his steel gray eyes and said, "I owe you much more than this, and even if you had a death wish I would not let you indulge in it."
"I just wanted to see you happy because I failed you," he said in a soft voice before his eyes closed. Saber's heart seemed to stop as the breath left her body, but his chest was rising and falling steadily. She sighed before placing her palm on Avalon's comfortably warm surface and focusing. The gilded sheath glowed like a small sun and hummed ever so slightly as she held it up to Archer.
His body jerked and he gasped, his eyes flying open as he looked at her. Then the radiant glow faded as it went quiet, however Saber could feel the pulse coming from it like a heartbeat into Archer. "I will get you into a bed," she said.
"I can walk," Archer said as he started to stand up.
Saber glared at him and said, "No you will not." Then one arm around Avalon, and the other around him, Saber lifted Archer to his feet, then over his shoulder. She winced as she was afraid he'd hit the floor because he was so much taller, but she was able to carry him over her shoulder with relative ease.
Then she went to find the nearest bedroom.
Archer was lying on his back with Avalon beside him and Saber on the floor. She had carried him to what use Rin's parents room and laid him upon the bed. Then she made sure Avalon was secured against his side before lying on the floor with her hand reaching up so she could keep her hand on it. He began to shift and she said, "Do not move."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep if you're on the floor," Archer replied as he looked up at the ceiling. A sort of strange, numbing warmth was flowing through him that vaguely reminded him of being drunk but was strangely familiar at the same time. His body seemed to welcome Avalon's magic, which didn't surprise him considering everything, but didn't expect the extent that his body responded to it. He felt oddly whole, as if part of him had been missing for so long, and light and airy, but there was one thing hindering the euphoria trying to coarse through his system.
There was a rustling on the floor and Saber said, ". . . It wouldn't be proper if I joined you on the bed."
He blinked at her response. It had been so different than her adamant speech about how a Servant always needed to protect her Master all of those years ago. I wonder what made her change? Or . . . maybe what Gilgamesh tried to do damaged her more than I thought. Or maybe . . . She's talked about being aware of being a girl now, and maybe that's what's making her nervous.
"You have nothing to worry about from me," Archer said before chuckling, sending a spike of pain through the warmth flooding him, "I assure you I'm not in a position to do anything."
There was a pause before a whisper soft voice said, "I know you are honorable Archer. Truthfully, I'm not worried about you."
"Things aren't going to get any better on the floor. Besides, you'll be closer and the sheath will respond better," Archer said.
Silence stretched for many moments before there was a rustling from the floor and the slightest bit of pressure added to the bed. He could feel warmth radiating dangerously close as Saber's unique scent of spring water and lavender from the soap she used filled his nostrils, and underneath that there was the sharp, metallic spike of steel even though she was not wearing her armor or carrying a blade. He turned his head to look at her lying stiffly on her back and gripping the blanket.
"I'm sorry," he said as he began to sit up, "If you're more comfortable, I'll sleep on the floor."
Saber turned to him and placed a hand on his chest. Eyes like the finest emeralds blazed as she said, "Not with your injuries you are not." A faint flush crossed her cheeks as she pulled her hand away and gripped the blanket again.
Archer looked at her and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I am ashamed," Saber said in a soft voice before looking away.
He frowned and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push, but I really wouldn't be able to sleep if I knew you were on the floor because of me."
"I don't know if I find your reaction endearing or vexing," Saber said with a slow sigh.
Archer smiled and said, "You can find it both."
"There would have been a time where I would have scoffed at it," she replied in a whisper soft voice.
He nodded and replied, "Of course, you thought you had to due to your duties."
"If it would have been anyone else I think I would have too," Saber whispered.
Archer blinked and asked, "What do you mean?"
"How did you know about Avalon and Excalibur?" Saber replied.
Because my name in life was Emiya Shirou and we fought side by side in the Grail War when I was a teenager, he thought, but the words did not come to his lips. Because I failed the Saber in my time, and I want to save you because I couldn't help her. Because the woman I respected so much cursed me because I betrayed her like my father before me did. Because I was an idiot and didn't do all I could to save her.
Instead he answered, "Because Issei saw you throw them into the river and told me about it."
"He did?" Saber said with a frown.
Archer nodded and said, "Yeah, he's had quite a bit of insomnia after helping me with an exorcism this spring. He went out early one morning because he couldn't sleep, just was sort of wandering around and just happened to see you toss them into the river. And he told me about it because he sensed that they were special."
"And you could not let something like that just be thrown away like that," Saber said with a shake of her head.
Because I wanted to give them back to you. "Of course not," he replied, "Something so precious and well crafted deserves my absolute respect."
"You sound rather like some of the blacksmiths I had in my acquaintance," Saber said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.
He replied, "You wouldn't be too off the mark."
"Well, after what happened I will admit I am glad that you retrieved them," Saber said.
Archer tilted his head to look at her and said, "I answered your question, now answer mine."
"Because I . . . I am feeling things I have never felt before and it troubles me," Saber said, her voice tumbling over the words.
He blinked and asked, "Like what?"
"Shameful things," she mumbled.
Archer felt his eyes widen at her confession. Part of him wanted to press and ask what sort of shameful things she was feeling, and then encourage her to act upon those feelings. The other part of him that sounded both like his younger self and the Old Man demanded that he reassure Saber, comfort her, and deny his libido.
I'm pretty sure my left hand will be in fine working order for tomorrow's shower, he thought dryly, Like it's been for the past year.
Archer said, "It's part of growing up. Avalon's kept you all but immortal since you've pulled the sword out of the stone right?"
"Well, of course," Saber replied.
Archer asked, "And how old where you when you pulled it out?"
"It was before my sixteenth year," Saber answered Archer's question in a soft voice.
Archer said, "And it's been almost two years since you've become alive again without Avalon. You're growing up, getting older."
Saber blinked at his words and ran her free hand through her hair. His words did ring true. There were things here and there, such as she noticed that her breasts had grown and become more sensitive since she had returned to life and that she was having regular monthly cycles again. Archer's voice was soothing as he continued, "Hormones. They drive everyone crazy. You don't have to be ashamed of it. You're a normal, healthy seventeen year old girl. Well, physically. Mentally . . ."
"I was well past my second decade when I made my pact with the Grail," Saber said as she met his gray eyes, "And I have fought in the Holy Grail war more than once."
Archer said, "Right, you're mentally mature but your body's now telling you stuff that it didn't before. It's bad enough being summoned as a Servant and having all the wants and needs of your mortal body coming back, but to never gone through it as a normal person and be mentally mature going through it now has to be hell."
Saber nodded, his words making sense. However, why are you the only one who affects me like this? Even now her body was hot, her heart racing, head spinning, and there was this aching emptiness that she couldn't put into words. It was something she had not felt until recently, and she had been around other men. She lived with Emiya Shirou, regularly saw his friend Issei, some of the patrons of the Glass Slipper had not been remotely homely, and then there was the matter of Gilgamesh.
"If it was simply my body's natural reaction to procreate as you say, then why didn't Gilgamesh make me feel this way?" Saber replied in an even voice, "Even Sakura admitted he was attractive. He is wealthy, powerful, and attractive. Would these not be things I want in a mate?"
Archer chuckled and said, "It doesn't work exactly like that Saber. Besides, Goldy's such a raging asshole that no one in their right mind would want him." Then his voice was dark as he added, "And what he attempted to do to you was unforgivable."
"That was just a rhetorical question, Archer," Saber said.
He sighed and replied, "I know."
"If I would have been a man and you would have been in the same situation, would have acted the same? Or did my gender play a role in your actions that night," Saber asked.
There was a slight pause before Archer answered, "Part of what made me so angry was the fact you weren't defending yourself. You just gave up and that pissed me off. I hated seeing you like that."
"Why?" Saber asked as she watched his jaw flex as his face hardened.
He answered, "Because you were so proud and strong that I was in such awe the night the boy Summoned you. Because you were someone I wanted to be like so much a long time ago, and seeing that threw me off balance."
"So you didn't tense because I was a woman?" Saber asked.
Archer sighed and said, "That was part of it, but not for what you think. I was awestruck and the sight of you would have been engraved into my mind even when I'm in the deepest pits of Hell. You were . . ."
"I was what?" Saber said in a whisper as her body tingled and her heart was thundering in her ears. Each breath was getting harder and harder to take, but she had to hear his answer.
Archer sighed and answered, "You were this radiant and magnificent being, beautiful and powerful and deadly all at once. It almost hurt to look at you."
"And I am not anymore," Saber said before biting her lip again.
She could see the quicksilver smile that blossomed across his face that was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. "You were tonight," Archer whispered.
She blinked and asked, "What?"
"It's an idiot's musing, don't worry about it," Archer said with a shake of his head.
Saber swallowed and asked, "What do you mean?"
"When your hand reached out for mine after you said you needed to help me," he said, his jaw tensed and his eyes were as hard as steel as they met hers.
She drew closer to him, Avalon pressing into her side as she was mere centimeters from him. His warmth was surrounding her and it made her lightheaded as her heart continued to thunder in her ears as it threatened to break its cage of her ribs from within. Yet her hand did not shake as she reached up to touch his cheek, his skin like a brand against her finger tips.
"I have another question of you, Archer," she said as he his eyes went as wide as saucers as he looked up at her.
His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat and there was a hollow sound as he swallowed, but yet he tilted his face against her hand as if he was seeking the contact. He nodded and said, "Go ahead."
"If these feelings were only due to my body's natural reactions, then why do I only feel this way around you?" Saber asked as her eyes locked with his.