Disclaimer: Fate Stay Night is owned by Type-Moon.

Author's Note: Here it is, the second chapter. I hope you like it. For those of you getting impatient, and who want Saber to come into the story immediately...please be patient.

Begin the story:

Rin looked at me, and looked at the clock on the wall. Her face grew pale, and she fell to her in knees. I 'm guessing she made a mistake with the ritual. Well, she summoned a Counter-guardian instead of a normal Heroic Spirit. How badly did she screw up? I then chuckled quietly, but not quiet enough to escape her attention. She looked back at me, and said

"Well, what are you supposed to be?"

I then remember that this Rin, is not my Rin. She has no idea who I am, given that my age and height aside, my skin, hair and eyes are different from the Emiya Shirou that she knows from school. After years of friendship, comfort, and even love, I had forgotten that Rin could be haughty and somewhat arrogant herself.

Very well, I thought to myself. Rin had told me of her experience with Archer. He was arrogant right off the bat, and angered her so much that she used a command seal to force obedience onto him. I decided to do the same. I put on an arrogant smile, and told her

"Huh. That's the first thing you have to say to me? Well, well. It looks like I've been summoned by quite the unusual Master. Ah, shit. Did I draw the the short end of the stick? I have always had rather poor luck... "

Her eyes narrowed, and I knew I pissed her off. She sighed, closed her eyes, and put her hand to her head in defeat.

"So you are my Servant alone, and belong to no one else? I'd like to establish the Master-Servant relationship clearly, and right off the bat."

I decide to give her a hard time.

"Yes, I am in complete agreement with that opinion. However, where is the evidence that you are my Master?"

She then holds up her command seals, and says to me

"Here. This should be all the evidence that you need, right?"

I widen my eyes in surprise at her, and she looks a bit confused now. I press my attack.

"You have got to be kidding me. Are you serious, girl? It wasn't that meaningless mark that I wanted to see. I want to see if you are worthy of my loyalty."

"Excuse me, are you saying that I'm not good enough to be your Master?"

I stand up, and walk over to her. At this point in our lives, I tower over Rin. She looks up, meets my eyes anyway.

"Know this. I find you lacking. I am utterly disappointed, but I acknowledge you as my Master. But on one condition. In the coming war, I will disregard anything you say. I will decide how we fight our battles. I trust you have no objections?"

I smirk, and walk away from her. She has been seething in anger for quite a while now. It's coming close. Her voice is strained, and I get the feeling of a dam about to burst.

"I see. So you grudgingly acknowledge me, but you won't listen to anything I have to say? What is that? You are my Servant, are you not?"

"Oh, have I made you angry? Don't worry. Just sit tight in your room, and I'll win this war before you know it. After all, I was summoned to bring victory to you. Now go leave me be, and I'll take care of everything."

She shakes in a rage, looks at me, and begins to cast a spell. I take a seat on the broken furniture, and stare at her.

"You will have absolute obedience to everything I say!"

Her command seals light up, and one fades. I then feel a distinct pressure on my body, and the feeling goes away. I stand up, walk over to her and start to lecture her.

"Are you that impulsive, girl?You really used a broad command seal with so broad an order? Are you crazy?"

Rin begins to look embarrassed, and puts her head down. She realizes she lost control of the situation, or that maybe she never even was in control. She suggests we take this elsewhere. I agree. She guides me away from the trashed room, to another room. There are no lights or candles in this room, but the curtains are open, letting the moonlight slip through. Rin sits down on red couch, and starts hugging her legs. She starts to pout.

"I was well within my rights as a Master to give you that order."

"Yes, you were. However, it is next to useless at this point. A command seal's effectiveness lies in the specifics of the order itself. An order so broad as the one you gave..."

Rin's eyes go wide, and she hugs her legs tighter. A flush appears on her face.

"You mean, it was all worthless?"

At this point, I decide to butter her up.

"Well, it seems you aren't such a worthless Master after all. Normally, an order such as the one you gave would be useless. However, I feel such a strange compulsion to follow it. Very well, I apologize for treating you as a child before. I can tell that although you are young, you have great skill as a magus, and even greater potential. I will obey you, girl."

Rin breaks out into a smile, and I can tell I've won her over. But then she frowns -

"Girl? Why do you keep calling me girl?"

I stare at her. She then realizes she never introduced herself properly.

"Ah, I apologize. That was beneath me as a Tohsaka. Let us start over. I am Tohsaka Rin. As for how you address me, you may call me whatever you like."

I smile, and let the familiar word roll off my tongue as I answer.

"I will call you Rin, then. Yes, Rin. The sound of it suits you."

She begins to choke on the tea she had just been drinking, and her face flushes in embarrassment. I keep smiling. We will have a good Master-Servant relationship. Even in the past, years after the Grail War, Rin would always tell me that her Archer had a special place in her heart.

After the Holy Grail War of my past, she spent a whole night crying for Archer, who had sacrificed himself to let us escape, killing six of Berserker's twelve lives in the process. Things will be different this time around. Rin then takes another look at me, noting my attire.

"Do you not have a sword?"

I laugh internally. Oh Rin, if only you knew...

"Were you expecting the Saber-Class Servant? I apologize. I am of the Archer-Class."

She frowns again, all traces of her earlier embassment gone.

"Ah, I should have expected as much. I should have taken greater care when setting up the summoning ritual."

"Let me state this now. I will prove my worth as a Servant to you. And when you see my strength, you will regret your behavior right now. And you will apologize to me for this."

Rin smiles, and looks straight at me.

"Alright Archer. When that time comes, you can make me go on my hands and knees and beg for your forgiveness."

We leave the room, and go into the hallway. Rin tells me it's late, and she needs to get sleep for school tomorrow. On the way to her room, she says to me

"So, which Heroic Spirit are you? What land do you come from?"

Ah, it's about time this came up. Until the point comes when I can no longer hide who I am, I will feign ignorance. Hopefully, she doesn't use a Command Spell to force the knowledge out of me.

"I apologize, Rin. My memory is hazy. I cannot remember who I was in life. This might be another product of the summoning ritual being conducted improperly."

Rin grimaces, and turns an annoyed look to me.

"Alright. Well Archer, I'm going to sleep. That room that you messed up on your arrival? Make sure to clean it up by the morning. And wake up me up for school, please."

I break out a heavy sigh. Cleaning? At least it's something I'm good at. But then, I start to feel passionate. It clicks. Somewhere inside me, a fire lights up as I remember how much I enjoyed cleaning in life.

"Very well. Good night, my Master."

Rin then goes to sleep, and I set upon my task. I had always enjoyed cleaning, even before I set upon the path of the magus. As I worked, my memories seeped in. This house, was full of memories of Rin and I together. As I repaired the furniture, and reinforced them, I would see Rin. Not the younger Rin upstairs, but the ghost of the Rin I once knew.

I've lived such a long life, and known so many losses. All the way until I was the only one left with a noose on my neck.

The morning comes sooner than I expected. I go to Rin's room, and knock on her door. There's no sign of a response. I go inside, and try to wake her.

"It's time to wake up, Rin."

She shifts slightly in her sleep, then puts the covers over her face. Another memory replays in my mind, and I act it out as I remember. I swiftly pick her up in half asleep state, and carry her to her drawing room. She's a bit dazed while she's sitting on the couch. She still doesn't realize she's already out of bed. I quickly prepare some tea, the way I know she likes it. I place it in front of her, and snap her out of her stupor.

"Are you finally awake, Master? You need to prepare for your day."

She startles awake, and looks around her. She's a bit surprised to find herself no longer in her room, and with tea in front of her no less. She greets me, and takes a sip of the tea I prepared.

"Delicious!" She's amazed, and looks at me with wonder. I can read her thoughts from her face.

This Servant not only knows how to prepare good tea, he knows which tea set I prefer to use!

I smile as I won a small victory. Just remembering how many tries and lecture from Rin herself to prepare tea correctly had frustrated me as I prepared the tea. I feel validated somehow, knowing how to prepare tea after not having done it since I was alive. Rin however, catches this smile of mine.

"What are you smirking at? Since you obviously know how to prepare tea, is it safe to assume you've remembered who you are?"

"No. However, rest assured. My fighting abilities are all up to par. I remember how to perform tasks, as well as how to fight, but cannot remember my identity."

"Alright, I'll figure out what to do about your amnesia later on. For now, get ready to go out, Archer."

The rest of the morning goes by without incident. Rin then tells me that to better prepare for the War to come, she will skip school today and show me around the city. I debate whether or not to stop her from doing so, since I already know this city, as well as how the Grail War to come will play out. I decide not to, and so she shows me around the city as I follow her in spirit form. She begins to teach me about Fuyuki city, its history in context with the Holy Grail War, as well as the other Magus family of the city, the Matous. The day ends without us seeing any other Masters or Servants. As I figure it's time for us to return home, Rin then says to me

"Archer, we have one last place for us to go. Follow me."

She takes me to the highest skyscraper in Fuyuki city, and I see that I have a great view of the entire city.

"I can see how many tiles are on that bridge from here. It would have been better if you had taken me here first. We wouldn't have had to walk around all day."

"You can see that far? That's almost four kilometers away!" Rin then begins to smirk, and I can tell what's coming. "The Archer-Class is amazing...Truly, it is made up of archers." She says with a smile on her face.

"I get the feeling that I'm being ridiculed."

"Of course not! I wouldn't do something so base as that."

A moment passes, and the sounds of the city are all that we are left with. I decide to ask her about her wish.

"Rin. I need to ask you something. It's obvious you were raised as a Magus. However, did you know about the Holy Grail War since you were a child?"

"Yes, that is correct. It's been the dream of every Tohsaka for generations to win."

"And you followed along with this, without complaint?"

"Yes, that's right."

"One more question, then. I need to know this. Can I ask you what your wish is? Unless I know this, I cannot entrust myself to you."

Rin looks up at the stars, and begins to speak.

"To be honest, I'm not so interested in the wish, as I am in winning the war. I want to win. I need to win." She becomes quiet as she gets overcome by her conviction.

"I see. You are my ideal Master then. Truly, I could not have been summoned by a better Master. There can be no doubt that we are perfectly suited for each other."

Rin starts up with a "Hey-" but immediately becomes quiet, blushes and turns away. She then turns back to me, and smiles.

We go back home, and Rin tells me to make sure she wakes up in time for school tomorrow. I accede to her request, while she sleeps, I dream of Saber. If my analysis of the timeline is correct, she will be summoned tomorrow night, and I will see her again. My heart aches for a bit. Even with all the other women in my life, I've been haunted by her and consumed by loneliness.

As I ruminate on how I'll react to seeing her again, I remember that I'll see Illya again tomorrow. After the Grail War, we were the only family the other had left. Illya couldn't travel back to the Einzbern Castle after failure, so she stayed and lived with me as my sister. We became very close, and it felt good to have a semblance of a real family again since my father had died. But in the end, I was left alone again. The last time I saw her, she had finally started to look like a young woman instead of a little girl. She was also close to death. Her homunculus body, although of natural birth, had never been designed to live a normal human lifespan. She had just turned twenty-nine when she passed away in my arms. I close my eyes, and I hear her voice.

Even close to death, she had cared for me and tried to console me. I was holding her in my arms in our house, when she put a hand to my face, and said

"Onii-chan... Are you going to be okay when I'm gone?"

"I'll be okay, Illya-chan. Even without you, though I'll be sad...I'll make it somehow." I said this, though tears were running down my face. Illya was the only family I had left in the world.

Illya then smiled at me, and I realize I had never seen her look so fragile as in that moment.

"But Onii-chan...No one is alone the way you are alone. I know you love me, and I love you too. But even while we were together...she still wasn't there."

I begin to cry profusely at this point. I didn't want Illya to know that I still felt incomplete in our little family.

"But it's okay Onii-chan. I never resented you for that. I love you."

Illya then closed her eyes, and her hand slipped away from my face. My eyes grew wide. Her body became slack.

"Illya?! I love you too, Illya!"

….I remember myself and where I am. I'm going to see her tomorrow, as well as my Saber. Both won't know who I am. I wonder if I'll break.