"This place is too good to be true."
Neither suspicion or doubt filled Archer's mind when he found himself in Chaldea. Not even surprise could describe the shock he lived. Memories from his copy who fought in the Holy Grail War on Fuyuki City overcome his eyes, and the answer gained in battle against a younger self clouded his sight to the outside world.
"H-Hello...?"
The world screamed: that nervous girl who didn't know if was safe to look at him in the eyes was his Master. And, most surprising, the other girl who was not human, but a Servant, stood right behind.
Swallowing the storm who conquered his head for a few moments, Archer noticed some similarities between a boy from long past and his new Master. Nothing that helped him maintain the line of defense against the storm.
It wasn't hard to be noticed that the pink servant didn't represent any danger. Master was comfortable beside her, and the Shielder looked scared too.
"Archer-class Servant. I have been summoned and come at your request."
And so began his journey with Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash Kyrielight.
Ask anyone about Archer and they would say that the man was a strange and unique existence, even within the insane environment called Chaldea. And right after, they would ask: what period are we talking about? Mainly because took a long time for Ritsuka and Mash to break the ice wall formed around him. Each step advanced in making him more open with everyone was possible to identify the way he acted by the name he carried at that time.
At sunrise of the adventures when Ritsuka and Mash were still innocent and naive, the servant dressed in red didn't tell them his name.
"Call me by my class. That's good enough," he said.
The air around Archer was always sad, but never stopped him from teasing the girls. Ritsuka and Mash eventually understood that cynical manner of his were just the way he found to cope with life.
When called Archer, he was somewhat hostile. And a bit confused too. It was hard for anyone to connect to him. And, sadly, this was extremely necessary since he was the first servant summoned. It needed to work.
Never was his intention to cause Master trouble, but it was a difficult time. As a Counter Guardian, that man job was to end thousands of lives to save billions more. Fighting for humanity killing them.
At least, Master has several servants now. And many more powerful than me. She will eventually get tired and give up, sending me away. I can't blame her... girl is still afraid of everything and I scare her. That's what he thought preparing to be expelled from Chaldea.
To Archer's surprise, not only Ritsuka but Mash discovered what a Counter Guardian was. Not only the girls understood, but empathized with him to the point of deciphering how it affected him. Archer felt like an idiot for underestimate... no, diminish his Master, even more so when he realized that was letting himself be affected so strongly that he didn't notice that even scared, she never stopped calling him to missions, even when angry with his teasings.
It was around this time that he became Nameless since there were so many Archers in Chaldea.
And as Nameless, he was a little less cynical. To compensate, his teachings became more rigorous. It was during these teachings that he made a comment who (he throught) garanted the hate of the girls, but they later said that even though Nameless was strict, the times with him were the few that both felt safe.
"Nameless...?"
"Senpai...?"
Ritsuka and Mash were surprised when he suddenly stopped walking.
That day was the first time they saw Nameless smile.
"When I was young and foolish, I had a dream... I wanted to be a hero of justice."
Fast as ears running away on the days where Elizabeth signs, Nameless finally told the girls a little about himself. And they listened to it, as if it was THE SECRET to overcoming the seven singularities in one minute.
"How can I say this?" Nameless crossed his arms. "I've been so used to an existence of my dreams being humiliated that now that I have the chance to actually make them true..." An indecisive deep breath stopped the confession. But seeing hopeful eyes on him, such embarrassment was defeated easily. "It's something I've been struggling with for a long time. Not letting the feeling of a dream come true overwhelm me. And that's part why I try not to connect with Chaldea."
"What's wrong with that?" Ritsuka ceased the cardio exercise the three of them were doing in the forest.
"..." Indecision was again visible on Nameless face. And that's something, considering he was unexpressive most of the time. "If I let that feeling overwhelm me, my performance on combat will suffer greatly."
Mash was just as confused as her best friend.
"What I mean is that I'm going to be scared of being defeated."
And defeated was the nice way of saying "killed".
"Remember that this is a BIG IF, but... what if I wish on one of these Grails to you be free of being a Counter Guardian?"
Shakespeare would curse himself for all eternity for not being able to write the shock on Nameless and Mash faces at hearing that.
"I mean, Dr. Romani said that for your guys Heroic Spirits being summoned in Chaldea is like a second chance. To live a new life, correct mistakes and whatever." Ritsuka didn't take her eyes off the ground, fearing the judgmental upon her stupid ideas.
"Yes, they are theoretically dead... but the fear of death still exists. Because it doesn't just mean putting you in danger, Ritsuka. It also means their life here in Chaldea will come to an end." To each Romani word spoken from his mouth, Da Vinci nodded in the background.
"And the closer we get to ending this singularities problem… t-the closer this second chance of yours is going to be over…" Ritsuka wiped away the tears that started to form in her eyes. The fact she sniffed didn't help that mission. "S-s-so, I thought using one of these Grails might solve this problem..."
"Master..." Mash understood Ritsuka's impulsive feelings, but disagreed. She wouldn't say anything though, that's something who should be answered by Nameless.
"..."
All that silence made Ritsuka look so intently at the ground that she could break the forest in half at any moment, and the same silence made Mash fear that Nameless's response would be more severe than any scolds they received before.
But to the girls relief, he laughed. Neither a strong laugh or a happy one, but one sincere.
"You really are something else, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Messing with any of these Grails is a mistake. Your goal is to get rid of them, and that's all. Don't forget that." The words were not kind no hostile. "But... thank you..."
Later on that same day, Ritsuka and Mash were picking up some sweets from the box that Nameless always took some to give as dessert after lunch and dinner. They took advantage of the distraction that came from the man's strong focus on cooking.
"Emiya."
The girls almost had a heart attack when Nameless suddenly said that, but fortunately, he didn't turn around. Mash put her hands filled with sweets behind her back and Ritsuka nervously stuffed all on her mouth, plastic wrap and everything.
"Emiya?" Mash asked as soon as she realized they weren't going to be scolded.
"You can call me Emiya."
Ritsuka and Mash stared at him in silence, processing the sudden information.
"Emiya?" They looked at each other. "Emiya!"
Said man finally took his eyes off the pots and saw the smiles. The girls are happy, after a long time they finally figured out his name.
"Next time you think about smile, remember the sweets in your mouth, idiot." Emiya sighed.
"That's not what you think it is, Emiya-" Ritsuka tried to make up an excuse, but this made more candy fly out of her mouth.
"Nameless said good morning to me today… what the hell you guys did to make him nicer!?"
"Not Nameless, Dr. Romani, it's Emiya now!"
Romani's surprise was understandable, an achievement Ritsuka would never stop bragging about. It was truly a mission that failed successfully. Because of that grow between the two, Ritsuka and Emiya's performance in combat were a lot better.
Unfortunately, Emiya wasn't very lucky and other factors interfered with his pleasant experience in Chaldea.
Always present at the summons in Chaldea to ensure Master's safety, Emiya didn't trust any of the new servants that could be summoned. The first to join was Heracles, the berserker who didn't speak at all and only seemed to wait to be called into combat. Emiya's Unlucky Journey began when the greek cleary recognize him. Somehow.
Cú Chulainn of the Lancer class and Medea of the Caster class later arrived at Chaldea.
Emiya was recognized again and Lancer immediately became hostile, the two cursed the other and walked in different directions. Ritsuka and Mash were confused.
In Medea case it was so bad that new rules were created about servant summons. She not only recognized the man but also attacked.
Such hatred and bloodlust emitted from Caster caught Ritsuka off guard, the girl fell on her ass, legs shaking. In the future, when the girl would have a body full of scars and a mind strengthened from several battlefields, something like that wouldn't bother her, but not in those times. Chaldea was her safe room, so feeling the danger of be killed there almost break the weak and fragile heart.
Upon seeing Ritsuka paralyzed like a child, feeling her terrifying fear for the link they had as Master and Servant, Emiya stopped holding back and was swallowed by rage. It took three servants who were passing by to stop Archer and Caster from killing each other.
After this event, the number of servants who stayed with Ritsuka during the summons increased and were usually figures that did not have a great chance of causing wrath in any servant that could appear. On the other hand, Ritsuka was a little sad when Emiya stopped coming.
With the summon of Sasaki Koujiro who also clearly recognizing him (but didn't giving a shit), it was clear to Emiya that the servants who had been summoned in his war came with that memories just like he did. And unfortunately for him, the hurt and anger of those who didn't like him, and who also cared about Master, spilled over into their relationship.
He didn't know what they said, but was sure they told Ritsuka about the way he acted in that war. She started to avoid him.
Ritsuka was still innocent and full of judgement when those stories reached her ears. At the time Cú Chulainn was summoned, he recommended that she stay away from Archer because he had offered his own master to a psychopath who had nothing but bad intentions for the girl, besides attacking and wanting to kill that same master's ally. Upon hearing that she chose to ignore Lancer.
But Medea had given an almost identical version of the same story.
Looking at things as black and white, Ritsuka Fujimaru walk away from Emiya. And the man seeing her afraid of him, finally understood that the fear she felt in the past had been misjudged by him. When he was just Archer and distant, her only fear was letting him down.
"Ritsuka, if you want to judge a servant, try to look at him as he is now and not as what was in the past. Unfortunately, this world of heroes is earned on the blood and suffering of the defeated side."
Emiya had to thank Romani later. He was the one who stopped Ritsuka from ending the relationship with Emiya, created with blood, sweat and tears.
The doctor called the girl to talk and explained that the Holy Grail War were terrible events that were based on seven magi killing each other for a wish. A lesson that became one of the best pieces of advice that Ritsuka received in her life, at that point she decided that would open her mind to the figures she would meet in the future.
Ashamed, Ritsuka took a long time gathering courage to go to him, ask for forgiveness. When the courage appeared, a powerful march could be heard from the empty cafeteria who had only him (a feat built by Tamamo who got tired of seeing her Master staring from the entrance and running away because there were still people present).
"EMIYA!" Ritsuka yelled.
Emiya nearly threw the frying pan at the ceiling.
"I-I am so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" She took a deep breath and bowed. "Forgive me for judging you and get cold out of the blue! None of us are pure angels, so I was wrong!"
Emiya meet Ritsuka's determined eyes - a flame shared with tears streaming down her cheeks who said she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"But but but but you owe me an apology too!"
"Eh?"
"No more keeping secrets! You don't have to say everything at once, but I want to know you. I like you! You always take care of me and Mash, and you food for my life is like Gundam for Mecha. I love you, even when you was nothing but a dick!" Ritsuka noticed what she just said and coughed. "Let me rephrase that: when you were going through a tough time, you were still really nice and you cooked really well!"
Emiya listened Ritsuka carefully, and also noticed the presence of one more person at the entrance, spying on them. Mash was covered in anxiety, nodding in agreement with each thing her senpai said. She would probably be standing there saying the same thing, if only had the courage. Mash would probably speak in a more polite way though.
"But that wall you put between me and you, it hurts. It makes me want to knock it down and punch you in the face. And I don't want to do that, because I like you a lot and you cook very well!" The tears wouldn't stop. Ritsuka was a very emotional girl. "Got it? I... have more to say alright... but... but waaaaaaah!"
Mash started crying too.
Emiya was there... surprised and confused.
"Mash, you better get over here before I start talking." He called with a giggle.
Embarrassed, she came slowly and stopped next to Ritsuka. Mash turned her face away when received a judgmental look from Ritsuka saying "you here the whole damn time? I needed some emotional support!"
"I owe both of you an apology. It was never my intention to hurt you, but... this "wall" you said is something I put up between everyone who tries to connect to me. I've already lived an eternity just causing pain to others, in the few moments I had to be human, I preferred to avoid them... to not remember that I was human..." Emiya looked around, searching the empty place for words to help him describe himself. It was never an easy task. "I had a dream when I was alive."
Looking at the girls, he noticed how they were like statues, frozen there paying all the attention of the world, even though both already knew what his dream was. He smiled, even someone like him could see the affection they felt for him. So they deserved the truth.
"When I was little, I inherited my father's dream. To become a hero of justice. I never understood how foolish I was to believe I could achieve something like this, or even try. But I tried. I tried to save as many people as possible. And at the end of my life, I knew I had lived a life worthy of that dream."
Outside the cafeteria, unnoticed by the trio, some servants were there listening.
"But that life meant abandoning everyone who was important to me. I did it without a second thought. And so, with the contract done, I became a Counter Guardian. I thought I would continue my dream, but as already explained to you, guardians are not the heroes I dreamed to become." He gave a dry laugh, it was visible how it hurt him to recount that.
Ritsuka and Mash felt their throats tighten and their eyes watering.
"I became a monster. And I realized that my life was a mistake. I had friends, a family and even a woman I fell in love with. But I abandoned all that for my stupid dream, and in the end, when I realized what I was doing, I understood that I had failed in that too." He sighed and looked up, still searching for the right words. He was never good with them. "I prayed every day inside that hellhole. A way to break this eternal cycle. And I believed I found it when I was summoned as an Archer in the same war I fought as a Master."
Ritsuka and Mash sniffled.
"Killing my younger self became my goal. Maybe it would create a paradox, maybe it would cause my existence to be erased. That's what I wanted to believe. And so I did everything to kill the boy, even if I had to use the life of my master and others." Emiya stopped. In his mind, he corrected himself: I didn't fight to kill him, that would be a consequence of the destruction of his ideal. A necessary step. "Of course if I could move things accordingly to my master being victorious in the end, I would be happy, but it wasn't my priority..."
Emiya stopped once more. Now would come the most important part and he wanted to get across clearly as possible.
"In the end, I battled the idiot. And I lost."
"Really!?" Ritsuka burst throwing herself on the counter, startling the man. "Did you battle like... hand to hand? Human vs Servant!?"
Mash's eyes also lit up with the idea.
"Something like that..." Emiya responded with a half smile. "But the fight wasn't about physical strength. It wasn't a sword fight, it was a fight of ideals. And he won at that."
"Holy shit!" Ritsuka muttered, gaping. "Go on, go on!"
"Language."
"S-sorry."
"I want to hear more too, Senpai!" Mash asked.
"Okay, okay..." Emiya chuckled.
There was that man talking about painful things about his past and the two girls salivating as if they were reading an epic fantasy. The eagerness to turn the next page to find out what would happen next was visible on their faces.
"His victory made me realize something. Following that dream really doesn't lead to the best life. And a lot of my decisions were really dumb. But... I wasn't wrong."
"Ooooh!"
"If you found out about my actions in the war, I imagine it was explained how a servant's memories work when summoned again, wasn't it?"
Ritsuka nodded yes.
So it was really Caster. Cú Chulainn wouldn't go into that kind of detail. What a complicated woman...
"When the war ended I continued with my missions as a Counter Guardian. I had no memories of the war or that answer. All that was useless. The Archer who received his answer was a copy of me and that very answer died with him. But when I was summoned here, those memories came along with me for some reason. Maybe because of the context of it being another Grail War. I don't know and I don't care. What I do know is that I started to find that these servants I fought against apparently has memories from the same war. This situation is so sudden that I'm still getting used to it. And I didn't want to disturb you two."
Ritsuka and Mash blushed when they were patted by Emiya who reached over the counter to comfort them. They looked down awkwardly.
"I have a lot of things to sort out with myself and these servants. Accepting that I'm going to have a good time without slaughtering innocent lives, actually fighting for my dream in a dignified way for the first time... is painful somehow. But I promise I'll deal with it, Master, and I apologize to both of you." Emiya sometimes chuckled, sometimes smiled, but for the first time the girls saw a real smile from the man. "I also promise that I will destroy this "wall", but I will still need your help on this."
That smile made Ritsuka and Mash blush again. They weren't blushing because of attraction or embarrassment, the only thing they felt now was the warmth that came with relief and joy.
"EMIYA!" "SENPAI!" The girls leapt across the counter, grabbing him, hugging him. The man laughed. And these servants outside went back to what they were doing... with a slightly changed opinion about the Red Archer.
"How was your war, Emiya?"
"Sorry, master, I don't remember this much."
"Not even your own servant, Senpai?"
"My servant...? Yes, Mash. I remember her."
"Her? She was a girl!?"
"Yes, Ritsuka Fujimaru. She was a girl. From the Saber class."
"Who was it, Senpai?"
"Jeez... King Arthur."
Emiya immediately regretted having mentioned Artoria.
In that same month, Ritsuka started throwing Bedivere and other Knights of the Round Table into the summoning area to serve as catalysts.
"What's up, handsome, did you hit on her?" Ritsuka giggled and winked at the man.
"Senpai!" Mash scolded. "I want to know too!" said her face but not her mouth.
Emiya shrugged.
"I admit that I did had feelings for her, but things didn't work out. I couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand me…" He explained. "We won the war and went our separate ways, looking for something unreachable."
Ritsuka losed her smile hearing that depressing ending, and regretted bringing up that topic in the first place. It was stupid of her to disregard the fact that most of that man's stories ended in sadness. So she had decided that she would summon King Arthur at all costs.
And, luckily, Ritsuka's determination was an enviable attribute even for the gods. With Lancelot dead in the background, Bedivere lying beside the summoning circle, and Tristan playing Round Table's favorite songs... the long awaited day has finally arrived. Gawain, who was helping Lancelot get up, threw him as soon as he saw who appeared, finishing the killing of his companion.
"I ask you," said the blonde woman, beautiful as the rising sun, "are you worth of being my master?"
"DO YOU REMEMBER THE ARCHER WHO BETRAYED YOU IN THE WAR, FOUGHT A YOUNGER VERSION OF HIM AND LOST!?" Ritsuka immediately yelled at the new servant of Chaldea. "HE HAS WHITE HAIR! AND BROWN SKIN!"
Saber blinked a few times in shock at her new Master's unexpected reaction. And it didn't help that, as she looked behind the girl, she found her knights.
Fortunately Saber did indeed have the memories of that war.
Instead of laughs, fireworks and kisses on the check, Ritsuka saw the situation complicating after the summon of Artoria Pendragon.
First, Saber had to deal with her knights and the problems left behind with them, and when she finally had time to meet with Emiya, the reunion between the two was embarrassment on superior level. Mordred's laughing in the background didn't help... at least until her brain finally processed that the person standing there was actually his father and not some crazy alternate version.
Emiya had helped Saber, Shirou and Rin as much as he got in the way. Ritsuka feared that the discomfort between him and Saber would develop into something worse, perhaps animosity. But although the discomfort continued, Saber never showed hostility towards him, in fact her visits to the cafeteria became more and more frequent.
"What an idiot..." Boudica sighed seeing Emiya not noticing that Saber only ate away from her knights' table when was his day cooking. "She wants to talk to you, idiot!"
Boudica, Tamamo and hell itself was not enough to changed the way he acted with her. So something worst then hell come to his door:
"Emiya, be a man and stop with all this shit!" Ritsuka yelled in his ear, kicking his leg.
They were in a forest with the rest of the team right ahead of them.
"Langua-"
"Fuck language! You know what I talking about, you bastard!" Ritsuka kicked the other leg. None of them did anything more than tickle the servant, but they delivered the message that the girl wanted.
Emiya frowned and turned towards the rest of the team, aiming to join, but Ritsuka wouldn't allow it and jumped on his cloak.
"You guys make that dumb faces in front of each other, everytime! You look like two teenagers who get scared to hold hands!" She was holding the cloak with all her strength as he kept walking and dragging her. "And I know you guys want to talk, so talk godammit! The "wall" remember? Punch the wall and make connections, Emiya!"
He stopped marching and turned to her, seeing that the only way to end this matter was answering.
"Master, I understand what you're saying, but it's not that simple."
"Course is!" Ritsuka stamped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms. The scene would be funny from afar, a girl half his size with twice the presence. "If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for her. She's suffering, y'know?"
Ritsuka sighed and looked away.
"Look, man, you had the nerve to explain to me who you are and what your relationship is with her. I know it's hard to get that close to your past like that. But, Emiya... isn't this a battle worth winning? Just like you did for me and Mash... do it for her."
Iskandar should be careful with his title of "King of Conquerors" because Ritsuka was running to surpassing him.
Defeated, Emiya took a few more days to reunite the so called courage.
On the promised day the cafeteria had only a few servants. Emiya cleaned the kitchen counter and Saber calmly finished her meal. At safe distance, in one of the tables, Ritsuka and Mash had newspapers hiding their faces. At one point, the red-haired girl winked at Emiya, encouragingly the man before hiding again.
"For what it's worth..." Emiya started, surprising Artoria to see him starting a conversation for the first time, usually it was always her initiative. "I disappeared a little after you did. I saw the conclusion of the war. That idiot handle Gilgamesh well enough and Rin won the war. They both came out alive. You don't have to worry about anything."
Saber swallowed the new information slowly, tasting every bit. She smiled at the end, satisfied.
"I'm pleased to hear such thing, you have no idea. When I left that world, I had confidence those two could win, but confidence isn't certainty. Thank you, Archer. Really."
Emiya felt a little embarrassed, he almost choked hearing that, an attitude he only had when he was very young. In the distance Ritsuka stifled a laugh and Mash glared at her.
"Well, knowing that idiot, he must have wasted the war victory on some nonsense. And Rin must have followed him…" He finished with a frown.
Saber let out a chuckle and crossed her hands, watching him prepare coffee with that standard lone wolf manner. With everything she had heard from the other residents of Chaldea about Archer and how he acted there, taking on many responsibilities and even helping to fix things around the place, the woman could no longer take that attitude seriously.
"Would you accept a confession from me, Archer?" Saber asked suddenly, adjusting herself in the chair.
"As long as it's not romantic." Emiya replied in a fake serious tone.
Mankind would be extinct before the discovery of who was more shocked by that provocation: Saber who almost flew out of her chair, Ritsuka who choked on her coffee or Mash who almost caught fire from blushing.
"O-Of course it's n-not!" Saber exclaimed, blushing. That drew a small smile from him. "I'm trying to be serious, don't tease me!"
"Okay, okay. Go on."
Saber seemed to take some more time to mull over what she would say. Her head hung, eyes a little vacant, maybe lost in memories.
"My reason for participating in the war and seeking the Grail was very important to me. I would fight for a hundred years if necessary. But I eventually found out that I was wrong. No. Maybe not wrong, but it wasn't something I should carry on." She lifted her face and exuded an enviable lightness. "The fight between you and Shirou gave you an answer. And I should thank you because it gave me one too."
Emiya stared at her not knowing how to react. That truth joined the same place in his heart where Chaldea also live: a world where the guardian received reasons to be happy and are allowed to relish them, but those very things also caused pain. In this case, the confession had reminded Emiya of his failure with his Saber.
"Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but the Saber you fought side by side didn't find her answer, right?"
Emiya lost gaze became one of surprise at Saber's sudden mind reading, a new ability he hadn't known she had. He smiled sadly, seeing her serious.
"No, she didn't. When we said goodbye after winning the war, she was still determined to look for the Grail and I was even more desperate to become a hero of justice." He stared into nothing for a while. "Will you accept a confession from me too, Saber?"
"As long as it's not romantic..." She flashed a vengeful smile.
Emiya chuckled.
"Every time I remember her, I also remember all my failures, because maybe she was the first. I imagine... she found suffering at the end of her journey too."
Saber understood the message behind that confession. Living with you reminds me of her.
"Looks like we're more alike than I thought." Saber closed her eyes and sighed. "When I look at you, I feel afraid that Shirou will follow the same path and I hope every day that Rin stops him. But I also feel a little pain because there was someone like me who couldn't overcome her own pain and cursed us both." Saber got up from her chair causing Emiya to readjust in surprise. "Being by your side brings me joy and sadness at the same time."
"The feeling is shared" is what went through Emiya's head who felt that this conversation was leading to a sad outcome, but Saber cut these fears more majestic than using Excalibur: she reached him across the counter, offering her hand.
"You see your old servant in me and I see my old master in you. We're not wrong in doing this, but it's not something that should keep happening. You're not him and I'm not her, that's the truth we have to accept." Still waiting for him to return the gesture, she flashed one of the most beautiful smiles Emiya had ever seen and continued, "Let's put the past behind us, what you think?"
Perplexed would be the best description of how he felt at that moment; incredulous too because he never expected to feel again something just felt when he fought together with her. But none of that mattered. Emiya returned the gesture without a second thought.
"I accept the proposal." Emiya smile became as sincere as possible.
"We can start by changing this habit of calling each other by class. It's making difficult for us to interact in combat." Saber spoke. "I would like to ask that from now on you just call me Artoria."
"Well, you can call me Emiya like everyone else already, so..."
They finished the gesture and closed a pact of friendship, but continued to stare at each other for a long time until the sound of Artoria's belly woke them up.
"I think I should go back to the kitchen, right?" Emiya commented.
"A wise decision on your part!" Artoria replied by returning to her seat.
Ritsuka and Mash made a high five, smiling. The mission had succeeded and after that day the pair of servants spent most of their time together, talking now and then, happy to enjoy the comfortable silence find only in each other presence.
That's when they also discovered that the only person who could scold that man and make him listen was Artoria Pendragon; as a result, he became even more open to the rest of Chaldea, even letting his hair down for a while.
"Emiya is one hell of a guy. When I can't fix some mechanical things in Chaldea, he always appear to help me. Just one damn look and he knows the problem, and how to fix it. The guy is a hero even outside of combat."
"My favorite weekends in Chaldea are the ones where Tamamo and Emiya decide to compete on who is better in the kitchen. I honestly don't care about the conclusion, I just know that the food in these competitions is magnificent!"
"Emiya is such a strange guy. Usually the Heroic Spirits doesn't pay much attention to us employees, who take care of small things in Chaldea, but he doesn't care about that and is willing to listen our drama. The women love to talk to him and men are always looking for dating advice. In fact, he must had a lot of headaches with women when he was alive. Serious, the love advices are great!"
Unknown to him, Emiya had risen to become one of the most famous servants in Chaldea. Not because of combat abilities or historical impact, but because of what he did inside the place. He didn't notice it, but it wasn't uncommon to hear his name on the lips of employees and servants at least a dozen times a day.
"Boudica, we're going to top our menu from last month!" Emiya announced loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Only if we start now," Boudica replied.
"Can I join?" Martha asked. She had become an apprentice there.
"Of course." He replied. "We are a team, after all."
Martha smiled.
"Right, Raikou?" Emiya looked at the rest of the team. "Tamamo?"
"While you're wasting your time now, we came up with some great ideas yesterday." Tamamo chuckled.
"We're moving forward like a bullet train!" Raikou agreed. "And we will have a section on the menu focused just on children!"
Jack, Nursery Rhyme, Jeanne Alter Lily and Abigail raised their arms in victory.
"Looks like I'm going to have to try harder and focus on dishes that blast a wave of flavors on the customer's tongue!" Emiya smiled as he saw himself challenged.
Artoria raised her arms in victory.
"Redhaired!" Cú Chulaiin called from one of the tables. "Where's the beer!?"
"In the corner of the canteen, along with dog rations, you insatiable bastard!" Emiya complained.
The nickname "redhead" given by Lancer was a mystery to everyone there. The only ones who understood were those who not only knew Archer's identity but had lived with a younger version of him.
"C'mon, Mom, I want beer too!" Mordred said beside Lancer.
That nickname served not only to annoy the man but Artoria as well. Speaking of which, she was so hungry that she didn't even care like she usually did.
"I'm not your mother! And you guys are exaggerating! At this rate our supply will run out in half the predicted time!"
Servants burst out laughing at these interactions. Emiya sighed, but it didn't stop him from smile. His gaze met Ritsuka who even being hugged by Kiyohime and almost out of breath still returned the smile to him.
All of this, he owed her.
The farewell day felt like the end of a long and pleasant dream. It was a very painful experience for Emiya.
With Goetia defeated and pseudo-singularities destroyed, Chaldea's existence was no longer necessary. Ritsuka would return to her family and the servants would return to the Throne of Heroes. Their mission was over.
But no one intended to leave without celebrating one last time. The night before the morning where the servants would be dismissed was madness. A festival where no one held back and everyone had fun.
Ritsuka finally gave up and let herself be dipped in alcoholic drinks by Shuten who only stopped when Raikou appeared threatening to kill her.
The Round Table began a circle dance, pushing Artoria to the center where she and Merlin began to dance awkwardly. Gareth pulled Mordred and Jekyll into the middle of the circle and the three performed a more pathetic dance than the previous King and Mage, making everyone laugh when they saw it, even Artoria.
Ishtar, Gilgamesh and Enkidu put their quarrels aside that night to drink together. Ereshkigal and Osakabehime took a break from their ServanTuber career to record a long farewell video of each servant sending a message to Ritsuka. Nero and Elizabeth sang until they couldn't anymore and nobody bothered to stop them.
Even Emiya and Cú Chulainn put their rivalry aside. Together they drank a good beer and had a good conversation with Fergus, Beowulf, Kotarou, Siegfried, Achilles, Chiron, Musashi and many others in a circle.
The Red Archer was one of the last to return to the Throne of Heroes, he decided to clean up all the mess made by everyone, and this gave him enough time to appreciate that last memory of Chaldea. His biggest question was whether the Chaldean system would allow him to return to his standard job with the memories created there. He wished so.
"It was fun while it lasted..." Boudica was beside him, both looking at the cafeteria and, in the distance, the kitchen where they had spent the last few years.
"It really was." Emiya stared at the place trying to memorize as many of its details as possible. "Where is Tamamo?"
"She already returned to the Throne of Heroes. From what Master said, she didn't want to cry even more when saying goodbye to us..." Boudica replied sadly.
Emiya cracked a small smile. Tamamo had a similar development to him, she was a very cold servant with everyone at first, but over time she opened up and revealed herself to be a great company. And it was interesting to hear stories about the war she fought in a virtual world, where bizarrely he found out that there was another version of Rin Tohsaka... honestly it seemed that where was trouble that girl would be there to help someone.
"Well, I can understand." Emiya hated goodbyes. Such irony considering his ideal resulted in a whole life made up of goodbyes.
Boudica took a deep breath, stretching and deciding it was time to leave. She turned to his companion and held out a hand:
"It was nice working with you all this time, Emiya. And thank you for always listening to me when I needed to cry my frustrations."
Emiya returned the gesture.
"I have to thank you too."
"There's no way you can stay here, Emiya?"
"Unfortunately not, master. But I appreciate the offer."
It wasn't what he wish for, but his last memory of Chaldea was the tears of the two girls who had become so close to him.
I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unknown to Death,
Nor known to Life.
Have withstood pain to create many weapons
Yet, those hands will never hold anything
So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works.
Maybe he would forget all that, maybe all those good memories would disappear under the corpses he would create from there, but even so he wouldn't let their last memory be completely depressing.
"Shirou Emiya."
Ritsuka and Mash were confused one more time.
"That's my full name. Forgive me if it's so sudden. I thought you deserved to know."
With that, the farewell had been made and the time for him to depart had arrived. The last view the girls had of Emiya was his back. And the last sight he had of them was the same tears as before, but now shared with sincere smiles.
Being summoned to Chaldea was a gift of fate for someone who thought would live only in hell for eternity. It would be something he would cherish even when his mind start to break and his body turn into Alaya's puppet. If someone asked him if he wanted to return to Chaldea after that farewell, honestly he would prefer not to. Emiya knew what his return would mean.
So when he opened his eyes once more on Chaldea, he didn't feel an ounce of joy. Unlike the last time where he had to be helped about what was going on, things were so bad this time that information about the Lostbelts arrived immediately.
His last memory from old Chaldea was smiles and tears. His first memory in Novum Chaldea was empty smiles and tired faces.
"Are you okay, Master...?"
"Don't worry, Emiya. I'm better than ever!"
Finding out that both Ritsuka and Mash were getting their hands dirty with blood of thousands of innocents made his heart break.
Finding out that the girls fought years to defeat Goetia to be rewarded by more powerful enemies and a harder journey made his blood boil.
Witnessing the smile that didn't reach Ritsuka's eyes when she replied that was fine made him remember a foolish boy who believed that would only find happiness by following his father's ideal.
When she returned from Olympus her state was deplorable, even a blind man would see that the girl was at her limit and it wouldn't take long to break. To make matters worse Ritsuka started to avoid him as well, and unlike other occasions Emiya simply didn't knew or understand why. And no one was able to help him because the girl evaded any questions.
Around that same time, specifically a week after Olympus, the girl suddenly started to get better. And three weeks after Olympus a new singularity emerged.