A boy sits at the bank of a large, glistening pond. He rests next to the bank beneath an old willow tree. Another young boy sits beside him. Together, they stare out across the beautiful body of water. The other child, whose features are indiscernible, turns to him.
"Hey, so I've got a question for you." The child says.
"Hm?" The other hums in response.
"Do you know why they call this place Horizon Creek? I only found out the other day myself." The other boy shakes his head.
"I don't. I only found out this place is even here today." The other boy giggles, surely happy to know that he can impress his new friend with this nugget of information.
"Well," the boy begins "apparently when the sun rises in the east over there," the boy points to the far end of the lake, opposite of where the two sit "the water below reflects a perfect image of it, showing a horizon clearly in the water beneath." The other boy stares across the water as he explains.
"Huh." The boy states simply, unimpressed. However, his friend had yet to finish explaining the story.
"Annnnnnd," the boy continued "for some reason, throughout the rest of the day, the sun remains suspended in that one spot, even though it's constantly moving throughout the sky. However, you can only see this to be the case when you sit underneath this willow tree; the sun is shown forever frozen in a horizon from this angle until it disappears from the sky completely and it becomes nighttime. That is why it's called Horizon Creek."
The other boy perks up upon hearing this and looks more closely at the water. Surely enough, the water reflects the image of a dawn on the horizon perfectly, despite it being well into the afternoon.
"Woahhh!" The child proclaims, standing up in awe. His friend laughs, seeing he did indeed manage to impress him. "That's amazing! How did you know this?" The boy in question shrugs his shoulders.
"It's just one of those things you happen to hear, I guess."
I groggily open my eyes as the dream fades into obscurity, to the bright light of the ceiling shining down on me. Almost immediately, I fall into a fit of coughing and I'm urged to reach up with my left hand and clutch my chest.
"Shirou!" I hear my name get shouted at me and look to see Irisviel at my right, with worry imminent all across her face. I hold my right hand up at her while coughing, to show that I'm fine, that I just need a minute.
After belting out whatever was wrong, I graciously take the glass of water that Saber offers me. While downing it, I glance around at my surroundings. The three of us are all in my room; Saber and Irisviel are at either side of my futon. Irisviel has blankets bunched up around her on the floor and she's still in her pajamas, telling me she must've slept next to me last night.
Last night. Last night… I recall the events that transpired last night; me tailing the servant, fighting with them in that alley, walking home… then what? My memories after that are fuzzy. Currently, I find it difficult to breathe, and my head is pounding. I finally finish the water and drop the empty glass in my lap.
"Ughh…" I groan "what happened?" I've never had one, but I imagine this must be what a hangover feels like. Irisviel opens her mouth to answer.
"That's," Saber yells, stopping Irisviel "what we'd like to know!" I look at her in confusion, my head beginning to hurt slightly more from her shouting at me. "A few hours after you tell me you're going to bed, I hear something banging around the front of the house followed promptly by a loud 'I'M HOME!' I rush to see what's happening and find you in a sweaty, bloody pile, unconscious, in the kitchen." My eyes widen upon hearing her describe the condition she found me in. Jeez, I knew I was hurt last night, but was it really so bad that I lost consciousness?
"Shirou, dear, what happened?" Irisviel asks in a much kinder tone compared to Saber's. Kind as it may be, the worry laced in it panged me to hear. It's obvious I can't cover up my encounter this time, nor do I plan to.
"I uh… ran into a servant." Unsurprisingly, they both seem very shocked by this.
"A servant?" I nod at Saber. Irisviel fumbles to form her question and Saber pushes on with her own. "Well, are you going to explain, Shirou? You didn't just 'run' into a servant. Were you ambushed? Did you fight? Run? Why were you even out to begin with?" I nervously look around the room, half-listening to Saber's barrage of questions.
"I'll fill you both in on everything that happened, but first, where's my bow and arrow at? Were they with me where you found me in the kitchen?" She appears irritated by my question.
"Yes," she begins "they were both with you. We left your bow on the table in the kitchen. As for your arrow… you should know where that is." I look at her inquisitively, not realizing what she means. I hear Irisviel clear her throat to grab my attention. I turn to see her pointing at my right shoulder. I follow the direction her finger is pointing. My eyes land on my arrow jutting out from beneath my shoulder, tucked in my armpit. This… doesn't clarify anything. I'm more confused now. I look to Saber to elaborate.
"You were practically cuddling with it all night. After I found you, I awoke Irisviel and got her to help me pick you up and take you to your room. Your bow was not far from you on the floor. That thing, though," she points at my arrow "was clutched tightly in your right hand. Try as we might, we couldn't pry it from your grasp, despite you being feeble and passed out." I look towards Irisviel for her to confirm this.
"It…" she starts "it made it a lot harder to heal you…" I suddenly feel ashamed.
After I get to the dining room with the help of Irisviel and Saber, we all sit at the table and I quickly skim through all the details of what took place last night; having went out to the yard planning to practice some archery, discovering and trailing the stranger smashing soda bottles, finding out it was a servant, and ultimately battling it. All while explaining, Irisviel kept looking progressively more anxious as though she was watching a horror movie and Saber… almost seemed to be enjoying the tale I regaled.
"One thing I can't understand though," I begin "is that my arrows couldn't hurt her." Irisviel slams her hands on the table.
"Obviously they can't, Shirou!" I recede from the table like a spooked kitten upon hearing Irisviel shout. She becomes aware of her sudden outburst and settles back into her seat. "S-Sorry… but you can't expect normal arrows to harm a servant. You should have realized after your brief exchange with Lancer, when your punches couldn't even stagger him, that normal means can't harm them." I nod my head while hanging it low in embarrassment. I suppose that should have been obvious…
"I see. Why is that so? The weapons of other servants can harm them. And from what I've gathered, so can a mage's magi- *ehrm* magecraft." Saber interjects this time.
"Indeed, these means can harm servants. I do not know much of the matter, but there are certain aspects to some weapons that give them this property; a foreign accumulated power that makes them able to harm the spirit cores. Magic innately has this aspect about it. It need not even be a holy or demonic sword, even common weapons and items could begin to acquire this aspect so long as they exist in that form for an extended period of time." I couldn't quite follow her explanation; she spoke far too quickly and used terminology I never heard of. It doesn't take her long to pick up on this.
"Simply put," she continues "my sword could be considered a holy blade. Upon its creation, it always exhibited the capacity to harm other spirits. However, let's say there's another blade a smith once forged. It is simply a normal weapon forged from iron and contains no mystical properties. It won't have the ability to affect a spirit as my blade does because of this. However, as much time passes, this sword could be passed down the family. It could become an artifact, a very important heirloom, a symbol of great power and respect; whatever you want to call it. This increased value over the years and the strong beliefs held in the hearts of these people will slowly fill this weapon with the ability to harm."
"I see." I respond simply, trying to process all the information she just relayed to me. It's incredible, the way this world seems to work. But if this is how these weapons come to harm Heroic Spirits… "Near the end of the confrontation," I continue "I managed to actually harm the servant's body."
"How so?" Saber immediately probed me with the question, her serious eyes filled with concern. I lift my arrow up from the floor next to me and set it down in the middle of the table.
"This… was able to cut through her; easily." I watch as Saber stares at it knowingly and Irisviel just looks at it in confusion.
"This cute little arrow you've had since you were a kid?" Irisviel asks, perplexed. I frown at her referring to it as cute and continue watching Saber as she reaches towards it.
"The arrow you showed me yesterday… do you mind?" I nod at her, giving the ok to grab it. She picks it up, just as carefully as she did back then, and inspects it once more. "When you say that you 'cut through her', what exactly do you mean?" After hearing her question, I recall slicing her abdomen and shooting the bolt through her head. Would they even believe me if I said that?
"I cut her midsection with it. And I managed to shoot the upper-right section of her head with it." The two girls look quite shocked after hearing this and Saber places it back down on the table. As soon as she unhands it, Irisviel picks it up and starts looking at it curiously. What, is this show-and-tell now?
"Shirou!" Saber states sternly. I straighten up in my seat, feeling as though I'm about to be chastised. "I demand you tell me where you got this arrow." I feel slightly relieved that she doesn't seem to be angry, but I also frown at her inquiring about the origin of the arrow. Actually… wait, why is it I'm so hesitant to say anything about it? I remember I felt the same way back when Archer asked; I didn't want to tell him how I happened upon it. It feels odd… this strong compulsion to not talk about it…
I look at Irisviel. She too is eagerly waiting on the edge of her seat for me to say how I found it. Have I never even told Irisviel? Why… I shake my head to try and rid myself of the sudden haze of confusion that was fogging my mind.
"Ok, ok. I'll tell you, sure." Saber leans forward as though I'm about to whisper a secret amongst the three of us. "When I was younger, about a year after Irisviel adopted me, I had a habit of 'running away' from home a lot." Irisviel vehemently nods her head while pouting.
"That's right, he would always get so angry at the littlest of things and run off! He never left home for more than a day, but I was always running around town worried sick trying to find him. Thank God you grew out of that rebellious stage." I try to conceal my embarrassment from Irisviel regaling how childish I was back then and continue the story.
"Yes well… one of those days when I ran off, I went much farther than usual. I went to the east side of the city using the train and just kept walking. Why I did so, I cannot say. Because I don't remember why I did something so stupid. Regardless, once on the far side of the city, I reached the forest's edge and I ventured in. At first, there was a path… I-I think. And I continued down that path, but eventually I found myself to be lost, with no sign of the path. I panicked and ran all around the woods, not knowing which way to go. Back then, I didn't know how to use the sun to determine direction, and when I tried climbing a tree to find the city, I would reach the top just to see vast expanses of forest all around me." I pause when seeing Saber open her mouth to interject.
"How is it you went so far without realizing it?" I attempt to recall what my motive for doing so was but draw a blank.
"I-I'm not sure. I don't remember much from back then… Anyways, I continued wandering aimlessly until it drew well into the evening. At this point I just sat next to a random tree and hastily tried to figure out what the hell I'd do. Suddenly, I see a lone cherry blossom get swept past me by the wind. This was very strange because these flowers were not only not in season, but there were no trees that bore these flowers in the woods. Intrigued as to what it was doing out there, I followed it until it got caught in the branch of a tree. I climbed up the tree, grabbed the small flower, and dropped down. No sooner than my feet touch the ground I hear something running up behind me. I turn to see a man out of breath, slowly approaching me." The two suddenly seem very interested in the story, and as soon as I paused to take a sip of water, Irisviel hits me with a barrage of questions.
"Wh-What happened next? Did he try to kidnap you?! Did he try to hurt you?! WHY DO YOU MAKE ME WORRY?" She suddenly lunges at me across the table and I yelp as she tackles me to the floor. I struggle to push her off while she begs me to never run away again, with big crocodile tears pouring out her eyes.
"Irisviel, stop! Let me finish, he doesn't do anything bad!" She complies but remains seated next to me instead of returning to her side. I sigh and attempt to tug my arm away from her grasp before conceding after she tightens her grip.
"As I was saying, he came up to me out of breath and began thanking me. Thanking me for getting his flower. He told me he was a botanist/researcher and was out doing fieldwork. He asked me why I was out there. I told him that I was just going for a walk and had no idea how to get home, that I'd become lost. After contemplating for a moment, he told me that he wasn't done yet and couldn't help me get home, but that he still had to thank me somehow. So, he gave me an arrow," I gesture to the arrow "and told me that if I placed it on the ground and spun it, it would point in the direction of wherever I want to go." The two continue to stare at me expectantly. "What?"
"Did it work? Is that it?" Saber questions. I nod.
"Yeah. It took me well into the night, but I finally got home. Remember, Irisviel?" She nods in agreeance.
"Mhm, it only took a day full of frantic crying and searching and you came home." I avoid eye contact and try to mask my guilt with a weak laugh.
"Yes well, just like he said, when I followed the direction it pointed after spinning it, it led me home. Since then I've grown very fond of it. It's what made me take up archery. I'd occasionally shoot it, but not often." I decide to keep the whole "always hitting its mark" thing to myself, thinking it won't really add to the story.
"That's…" Saber states "the most intricately idiotic story I've ever heard." Wh-what? I'm confused why she seems so heated about it. Does she think I'm lying? "None of it makes sense. The flower, the random creep in the middle of the woods, and especially him giving you a magic compass!"
"Arrow." I correct her.
"Whatever it is! Why was it in the possession of a botanist?" I shrug, having no idea myself.
"It's just as confusing to me as it is to you, trust me. I'm not claiming it's a sensible story, but it's the one that happened." Despite Irisviel seeming to believe the story fully, Saber continues to rub her head in confusion as she tries to make sense of it.
"I just can't understand. What did this 'botanist' even look like?" I recall the visage of the man and remember how, back then, I was under the impression he was even more amazing than the arrow itself.
"Well… he had the clothes of a stereotypical botanist. A big white coat and a pair of black slacks and shirt underneath. He had long, white hair that seemed to spring to life under the sunlight… lavender eyes that dug into me like a knife. Even though I never got close to him, there was a strong scent of perfume and flora practically wafting off of him." After giving a thorough description, both of them don a shocked expression.
"Sh-Shirou!" Irisviel pipes up first. "The way you described this man… don't tell me… you swing that way?!"
"NO DAMMIT!" I ignore Irisviel after realizing she was shocked for a completely different reason than Saber. Saber appears deep in thought.
"Shirou…" she finally mutters "is there anything else strange about this man that you can recall? Besides how he looked?" I try to recall anything else strange. I think long and hard, having trouble remembering anything noticeable besides his characteristics and the arrow. I suppose it was strange that he was chasing after a flower… flower? Oh yeah!
"The only other thing I could think of that was strange was the fact he was chasing a cherry blossom. He must've been collecting them or something, for his research I guess; because when he walked away after giving me the arrow and taking the flower, even more fell out from his coat and scattered around his feet as he walked. I still have no idea where he was finding cherry blossoms at that time of year though…" Upon mentioning the man's inability to keep ahold of his flowers, Saber's eyes flash with realization, despite her face morphing into shocked disbelief.
"He's… no, impossible. There's no way…" Irisviel appears concerned towards Saber's confusion.
"Do you know someone matching that description, Saber?" Irisviel softly questions her while she regains her calm expression.
"Yes, I once knew a very irritating man who matches that description almost exactly. However, it couldn't have been him. That was long ago… Did this man give you a name, Shirou?" I shake my head.
"No, we barely even spoke. He basically thanked me and briefly told me about the arrow before leaving. All he said was that he was a botanist researcher doing some field work." She seems comforted by my answer and nods.
"Yes, I'm sure I'm making a mistake. It's just a giant coincidence." I'm interested to know who she's talking about, but I don't press further. It doesn't seem like she wants to talk about it.
We continue talking a while longer about the servant; characteristics, how badly I damaged her, what direction it looked like she went, what class she could be, etc. While talking, I begin inspecting my right arm that had new bandages wrapped around it.
"Um, Irisviel?" She turns her attention to me after calling out her name. "I took off the cast you made for me without getting the ok first… so, sorry."
"Oh, that? I mean, it's ok, I suppose. Did it feel as though the bone was mended properly?" I shake my head.
"It did at first, but during my fight with the servant, it started aching really bad while I used my bow. The bone must've healed back unevenly or something… What about the stab wound the servant made? Were you able to fix it?" She nods.
"Compared to the pretzel arm Lancer gave you, healing that hole in your arm was easy. There's no need to keep the bandages on anymore." I smile in relief and pull the bandages off to unveil my right arm, seemingly unscathed. Jeez, that healing magecraft sure is something… Irisviel giggles at the awe I'm displaying at her handiwork. "Don't worry, Shirou." She scooches closer to me and grabs me by my head. "I'm going to be sure to spend all day nursing you back to health." She slowly pulls my head down, despite me strongly resisting, and lays it onto her lap. "Just to be sure you're all better and healthy!" I glance at Saber with pleading eyes while Irisviel sifts her fingers through my hair like I'm a toddler.
"Not so fast, Irisviel." I silently thank her as she begins to chastise Irisviel. "You can't be afforded the luxury of pampering him all day. Don't forget, we've yet to go examine the locations Rin instructed us to. You as well Shirou; you promised her you would go check out the lake." I jolt up to my feet and nod in agreement while Irisviel pouts and boos.
"Fine then. However, let's hurry and go if we're going. We've lost a lot of daylight after having to wait for Shirou to wake up and then listen to his story." I frown at Irisviel. I didn't make you have to listen to what happened.
Irisviel and I leave the kitchen to go change into some clothes suitable for our trips. After a few minutes, we all regroup in the kitchen. I put a pot of coffee on the heater, wanting to bring a thermos with me for my trek.
"Well then," Saber begins towards Irisviel "shall we go?" Irisviel glances at me and turns to Saber.
"Saber, do you mind going ahead of me and waiting outside? I'll be just a minute." Saber appears confused at her request.
"For what reason? You said yourself Irisviel, we haven't much time-"
"Please, Saber." Irisviel interjects in a polite tone. "It's a request from your master." Saber nods without hesitation and begins walking out.
"Yes, my master." Once we hear the front door open and shut, I look at Irisviel in confusion.
"What do you want to discuss that's so important you had to make Saber leave?"
"I want to further discuss the injuries you received." She answers.
"My injuries? What about them?"
"Well, I suppose not the injuries specifically, but the healing process. I suspected when Lancer broke your arm, but after the wound from this other servant…" I become worried at her words.
"Wh-what's wrong? Am I going to die?" She shakes her head quickly at my assumption.
"No, no, it's nothing like that. Like I said, I was able to easily heal you. The problem is… Do you remember how I managed to save you from the Fuyuki fire?"
"No, not exactly. I recall you pulling me out and getting me to an ambulance. Did you use healing magic on me back then too?" She shakes her head.
"It wasn't healing magic. As I'm sure you've gathered, Saber was the servant of my late husband Kiritsugu in the previous war. We used a catalyst to summon her back then. It was an artifact that belonged to her long ago, an object that held immense healing capabilities. I cannot tell you the name, as it will most likely reveal her true name to you, which she has asked me to keep secret."
"I see… You used this artifact to heal me?"
"Essentially, yes. However, Saber was no longer contracted as a servant at the time and had been sent back to the throne." Throne? "This made the healing abilities very limited. To be able to save you, I had to break down the artifact and mend it into your body." I followed along so far, but there were a few blanks I'm drawing.
"If that's the case, why'd you dismiss Saber just now. Shouldn't she be present considering this object is her's to begin with? And why are you bringing this up now?"
"I dismissed her because we kept the possession of her artifact a secret, she still doesn't know we even had it. I wouldn't have a problem telling her now, but the current condition of it is why I'm hesitating." Current condition?
"What do you mean by current condition?" I ask, worried.
"That's what I want to ask you, Shirou. Now that Saber has been summoned, even though you aren't in a contract to be her master, the healing capabilities of the relic should be stronger than ever. And yet, your broken arm didn't mend on its own at all, even after healing it myself you said the bone never corrected itself, and it couldn't close the flesh wound the servant made last night. In fact, as we carried you to your room, I could feel your conditioning worsening by the second. With Saber being right next to you, the complete opposite should happen." The realization dawns on me of what she's suggesting.
"You're saying it doesn't work anymore?" She shakes her head.
"That may be a possibility, but I think it's something else. I tried using my magic to sense its presence within your body after healing you… and I couldn't. In light of this, I want to ask you if at some point something has happened where someone was in a position where they could've extracted it from you or if you've given it away." I look at her, dumbfounded, not knowing what to say.
"Irisviel, I only just found out that you put this thing in my body. How would I know if someone's taken it or if I lost it? From a quick analysis though, no I don't feel like there's chunks of broken-up magic healing rock inside of me." She giggles a bit and stands to her feet after my sarcastic joke.
"You wouldn't be able to feel it inside you, silly. It's not in a physical form at the moment… Oh well, I suppose I have to forget about it for now. However, we should discuss it extensively later; it's high priority that we figure out why it's not working or if you even have it anymore." I nod, still finding it difficult to swallow all this info.
Irisviel gives me a quick hug and turns to go meet Saber and head off to wherever Tohsaka asked them to. Before walking off she glances back at me and fidgets a bit.
"Is something wrong?" I ask. She faces me and pokes her cheek gently with her finger.
"How about a quick goodbye kiss?"
"Wh-" I frown at her and shake my head while pointing at the door.
"Shirouuu, don't be like that. With all these servants running around it's really dangerous out there. What if I don't make it back? The last memory you'll have will be denying your poor, sweet, caring-"
"Oh, jeez, alright!" I quickly butt my head forward and place my lips on her cheek for a split-second before yanking it back and turning away so that she couldn't see my raging blush. "There. A kiss. Go. You're making Saber wait for you." I hear her begin skipping out the room while laughing. Repeatedly, I curse myself for being made the instrument of her impish amusement once again.
The train ride is quiet, as there aren't many people riding it in the middle of the day like this. Usually, they're all at work or school at this time. School… I realize that not only have I been missing archery practice, but I've been neglecting to even go to school on top of it. I don't plan to go back anytime soon. Gotta stay close to Irisviel until this crazy thing is finally over. I unscrew the cap of my thermos and take a long, drawn out sip of the coffee, ending with a content sigh.
The walk through the forest is much less pleasant than the train ride. Partially due to the bugs, partially due to the overgrown forest floor, but mostly because there isn't an actual trail or path to get to Horizon Creek; you can only find it if you know where it is. This is the reason it isn't very well-known; the people who know about it don't like talking about it and they make no efforts to make it more accessible. Wait… why do I know so much about this stupid lake!?
I begin to get worried I wouldn't be able to find it, especially since I don't even know if I've actually been there. My worries soon dissipate when I begin to see gleaming ripples between the trees ahead of me. I hasten my step, and soon the line of trees ends, and a clearing opens up to the medium-sized lake. Actually, it'd be more appropriate to call it a pond… it isn't that big. Though, I suppose "Horizon Pond" doesn't have the same ring to it as "Horizon Creek".
At this point, I'm standing next to the bank, not exactly sure what to do. Dammit, I don't even know where to begin looking. I guess Tohsaka knew what she was saying… I feel a familiar jolt up my spine and turn to see Archer materialize a few feet behind me.
"Oh boy, look who's here. What, did you follow me?" He nods while walking up and standing next too me at the bank.
"Indeed. All the way from your house to here." I give him a disturbed look, feeling that to be a little creepy.
"What, were you eavesdropping on us?"
"No, not exactly, though it's hard not to hear what you guys are saying when you talk so loud and obnoxiously."
"Are you here just to roast me?" He laughs and shakes his head.
"No, I figured you'd be fumbling around like an ignorant baby when you got here, so I decided to come lend my assistance and help look for clues." What a strange mixture of appreciation and irritation I'm feeling.
"Did Tohsaka send you?" He shakes his head.
"No. After checking out a few places throughout last night, she passed out on her bed this morning and told me to let her sleep in. When I asked her if I was to stand by, she told me to do whatever I want. So, here I am." Wow, I'm so overjoyed you seem to like spending all your free time stalking me.
After spending a bit more time with our passive-aggressive bantering, we finally get down to business and start searching the area. It at first seems pretty mundane, just a pretty body of water with average surroundings. Upon closer inspection however, things prove to be quite strange.
Just as Tohsaka said, there are skeletons of wild game such as boars and rabbits picked completely clean. They're not scattered around, either. They're all in a deep pit, next to a circle of arranged stones that clearly functions as a makeshift fireplace. No bad odor is being exuded from the remains, which indicates they were thoroughly cleaned in one sitting, not broken down and degraded over time.
It doesn't take long before Archer finds another interesting clue. Up in a tree, directly on top of a canopy of leaves so that no one can see from the ground, are the hides of the animals in question, strung across the branches. Most of the hair has withered away and some are even stuck onto the bark. These were left up here to dry, but whoever put them seems to have neglected to ever pick them back up.
Within a nearby, hollowed tree, I find a strange stash inside. A bunch of old comic books and a few bags of chips, even some candy. I turn to Archer who's joined me in staring at the little stash. "Well, what do you make of this, Archer?"
"What I 'make of this' is that this is nothing more than a hobo camp that seems to have been abandoned years ago." I nod, agreeing that we haven't seen anything explicitly out of the ordinary so far.
"Well, didn't Tohsaka say something about broken trees and craters in the ground? Maybe we should try and find those." Archer nods and looks to the other side of the lake.
"We've looked in this area quite thoroughly; if such evidence is here, it will be on the opposite side." I nod and follow the speedy servant after carefully putting the old belongings back in the tree.
It took quite a bit more detective work to find these craters and shattered trees, and that's because they've almost been completely covered up by nature. There are indeed craters, but we had to pull out weeds to find some of them and identify the now-puddles as the remnants of the rest. The shattered trees were equally hard to find because the fallen upper trunks had become logs that'd begun to wither from age, while the lower halves were rooted in the ground with new sprouts jutting out from the splintered trunk. Basically, it's hard to consider what we found "craters" and "shattered trees" anymore. I look at Archer in confusion.
"Uh, how long ago did Tohsaka hear the rumor about all this?" He shrugs his shoulders while walking away from the pitiful evidence and back out to the clearing by the lake.
"It had probably been circulating and my master only just caught wind of it recently… Honestly, she should look into things more before sending people on a goose chase. Let's just hope the same didn't happen with Saber and Irisviel." I nod in agreement but can't help thinking about the remnants of what we found.
"Still though… they may be old, but it's quite obvious when you look closely that something caused all that damage back there. It looks like a miniature meteor shower hit the place. Do you think it was caused by humans?" He shakes his head.
"I don't think so. Quite honestly, it looks like the aftermath of a servant battle. Albeit, a servant battle that took place years ago. In short, no servants in this war could've caused it. However, that doesn't make it an improbable notion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Grail War took place here before about 10 years ago, yes?" I confirm his question with a brief nod.
"Yes, according to Irisviel."
"Well then, that must be our explanation. A tussle between the servants in that war must've broken out here." Yes, that must be it. That makes sense… but it still sucks that we didn't learn anything from this.
I look across the lake after standing in silence with Archer. The body of water was unnaturally clear, and I didn't see any reflections atop it, instead I saw straight through to the rocky bottom. "You can see a horizon clearly reflected", huh? I decide it's about time we should head back. However, before I turn and take my first step, I stop myself when I see a tree that stands out from the rest, right on the bank of the lake. A willow tree?
Curious, I walk towards it, to which Archer questions what the hell I'm doing. Ignoring him, I crouch beneath the long, ribbon-like leaves and arrive at the trunk. I plop down against the base and lean back, before finally staring out across the water through the veil of leaves. …wow.
At this point, Archer has walked next to me, looking at me like I'm an idiot.
"Care to explain what you're doing?" I laugh weakly at his question, not really knowing myself.
"Archer?" I call out his name and after a brief pause he hums in response. "Do you know why they call this place Horizon Creek?" I hear him sigh in annoyance, clearly not interested in the name of it.
"No, I didn't even know it existed until you and Rin discussed it yesterday."
"Well," I continue "apparently when the sun rises in the east over there," I point to the opposite end of the lake "the water below reflects the image of it, showing another horizon on the water."
"Yeah, great. Whoop-dee-doo." I glare at him and his apathetic stance to what I'm saying.
"AND," I continue "for whatever reason, throughout the rest of the day, the sun remains stuck in that one spot, even though it's been moving across the sky all day. However, you can only see this if you sit underneath this willow tree and look; the sun looks like it's frozen in a horizon from this angle until it disappears from the sky completely and it becomes nighttime. That's why it's called Horizon Creek."
I look up again at Archer who, despite scoffing at what I said, has leaned down slightly so that he could look at the surface from the right angle. His eyes widen in shock, but he quickly stands back to his feet and straightens out when he notices me watching him.
"So…" he starts "so it would seem… Where did you hear about that?" I gaze across the water, remembering the dream and the vivid scene between the two boys.
"It's just something I heard once." He sighs and kicks a pebble on the bank into the water in front of us.
"Well…" he states "it's a very interesting mystery. I-I guess."
"And it's complete bullshit." I respond.
"Wh-what?" He asks, slightly taken aback.
"The myth originated one day from a fisherman who brought his girlfriend out here on their first date. He had frequented this spot before and was one of the few who knew about the lake. One day, he spent the entire day fishing beneath this very tree." I gesture upwards to the branches of the willow. "He noticed that early in the morning, and late in the afternoon, a specific spot on the water" I point to the reflection showing the dawning horizon "appeared almost exactly the same with it's reflection of the sunset as it did with its reflection of the sunrise." Archer now looks slightly irritated that I managed to trick him with something that simple. Oh, just wait. It gets worse.
"The fisherman" I continue "decided to make up a story about how the lake was magical and that it captured the reflection of the sun at dawn and kept it there all throughout the day until nighttime, but you could only see it if you sat beneath this willow tree. He then strategically planned a date with his girlfriend right at sunset, then fed her the bit to try and get her to join him under the willow tree and make it all very romantic so that he could get in her pants. It worked with great effect. So, he shared the idea with all his buddies and ever since, it's been a closely guarded secret used to bang naïve girls." I look up at Archer to see a brutal scowl on his face.
I expect him to begrudgingly applaud me for pulling one over on him, but instead he flicks me on my eye.
"AHG! DAMMIT!" I shriek, cradling my eye and spasming on the dirt. I look with my, newly-made, good eye to see his frown had evolved into a smile. "Screw you!" I shout.
"Oh, calm down, I didn't flick you that hard. From what I heard, you did something much worse to that servant's eye." I pause my angry tirade to stare at him in confusion, wondering how he knew about that. I then recall that he was eavesdropping on us when we were discussing that this morning, and my angry tirade resumes.
"Ugh, how much did you listen in on?!" He ponders for a moment and begins walking away while dematerializing before answering me.
"I think I stopped listening in when you gave your mommy a goodbye kiss. Because I fell off the roof from laughing my ass off." I lunge at him and swing at his smug face just as he completely vanishes. After my fist is met with nothing but air I turn and hit the willow tree instead, suddenly feeling pissed off at it too. I shake off my anger and begin walking across the clearing to leave the stupid date-bait pond.
After walking through the forest for a while, I finally see the gravel road that leads out of it and into town. Throughout my walk back, Archer never reappeared, probably because he heard me declaring how I was gonna slug him the next time I saw his face. When I step out onto the gravel road, I realize the sun had almost finished setting and I would soon be out of daylight. I hasten my pace to arrive at the train station and occasionally glance at the sunset as I do so. I wonder though… I knew the story about the name of the lake from that dream… but how'd I know the story about the fisherman and why it's a hoax?