It took some editing to finally complete this chapter but I'm glad it was finished.
XXX
"I know what your thinking," Kiritsugu said, "And I say we spend the rest of our time training to beat this Rin witch."
"You're right," Shirou muttered as he thought on how he was supposed to kick his crush's butt.
"Rin won by killing the Master. I have a hunch that will be her ideal way of killing you." said Kiritsugu.
Shirou no longer knew what he should think of her...
Cuirassier walked with Shirou to get him back to his training.
As Shirou practiced his sword fighting, he thought of how he was supposed to defeat the heir to one of the Great Three Mage families of old. He would be a sitting duck if it weren't for his servant and seasoned war veteran guardian. As usual, other people have gotten him to where he was now and he was pissed about it.
But this would be his final battle, so it would be him surviving that won the war. Did he really want to fight Rin though?
Rin sat in her room, staring at the picture of her lost family. Her father and mother smiled from behind a younger Rin and Sakura, who held onto each other for dear life as they smiled for the camera. "Father. Mother. What should I do?" she whispered as she hugged the picture to her chest. She had a duty to fulfill, one she didn't know would bring about so many conflicting feelings.
Archer actually cried hearing Rin talking to her family. Hearing how she questioned what she should do was enough to make a stoic warrior like him feel saddened with tears.
"Sakura... I'm glad you're not here to see your big sis like this," she whispered as she set the photo onto the table.
"I'm sure if she saw you now she would be very proud of you. You are beautiful not to mention smart and brave." Archer said.
Rin didn't know if he was truly feeling that was or if it was just to quickly get her to finish the war. She still has no idea on how to get a reading on her servant's mood and such since he was always enveloped with mystery and he would just dodge the question with a snarky comment.
"You best not worry about my life and focus on yours." She said.
She made a gem appear in her arm to surprise attack Archer. He blocked with his right hand.
"Come on, Rin. Now's not the time to pull silly stunts," he sighed as he walked over to her. "You know the Archer class is known for being more free to do anything they wish. I might just snuff out your life if it means helping me to fulfill my wish," he sneered. Dammit why on earth did she get such a jackass of a servant?
Archer wondered something similar to what Rin was thinking. He wondered how much she was willing to give up him just to make a fake life with Emiya Shirou.
She stood up and walked to the main door, pulling on her coat as she said, 'Come with me on a walk.'
"Should I be invisible for it or am I becoming your boyfriend for the day?" He asked.
She didn't answer him, so he just stayed visible while walking with her.
Somehow he managed to changed his outfit to look more civilian like although he still got stares from some passerby. Rin on the other hand walked on, her eyes trained in front of her.
A tall dark skin man seemed to cause no attention to anyone in the outside world. Maybe he could feel more comfortable because most of the servants had been defeated.
"Where are we going, Rin?" he asked as she pushed open the door of a tiny cafe, heading inside. "I need a parfait," she said as he raised an eyebrow. She ordered two for them and they were soon seated in a small booth overlooking the harbour.
"What are you thinking? Are we staking out the harbour to see if it will be a good battlefield for our last battle?" Archer asked Rin.
"Tell me Archer. What do you see?" Rin asked as she glanced out of the window.
Archer looked very hard out the window because he knew she was testing him with a rhetorical question. He saw a familiar face, and he was aghast to see that face they made.
"What I see is a city full of innocent people who do not know of this war. Any mistake we do will affect them. And I don't want Shirou to take any more lives than he has to,' she said as she clenched her hands.
"I couldn't agree more, master." Archer said. He turned around to face Rin. She was distraught, but he wouldn't tell her that.
"No matter what happens, don't lay a hand on Shirou. I will deal with him,' she said as she stuffed her spoon into her mouth.
"That's fine. I wanted to see who the better servant between me and Cuirassier was anyways."
Rin didn't answer him as she ate her parfait, thinking of how things will turn out and if she would still be alive in the next few days.
XXX
Emiya Shirou was practicing his agility with a game of who can dodge magic blasts faster, him or Cuirassier.
"You sure you don't want to stop?" Cuirassier said as Shirou fell on his butt. "No. Continue," he said as she sighed, walking over and grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and lead him to the nearest chair, sitting him in it hard. "Break. Now," she said as he gulped, eyeing the weapon strapped to her back.
"Yes Ma'am." Shirou said trembling at the tone of her voice and the sight of her weapon.
As he sat down, he closed his eyes and he ran through how the war had progressed in his head. As he remembered the images of masters and servants alike falling in battle, how he had ended some of their lives, he felt himself wanting to throw up when he felt something warm around him. His eyes flew open as he saw Cuirassier holding onto him, a sad smile on her face.
"It is always a burden to shoulder the lives of others especially those you have to take," she whispered as he thought of how a girl is currently hugging him tightly with her huge chest against him.
Cuirassier did the only sensible thing she could think of remembering her big chest and it was hugging Emiya with her flatter chest.
"So what have you come up with, Shirou?" Kiritsugu asked as the two of them sprang apart. He was looking ready to yell as he thought of how he had to repair his house and it would cost as much as he had bought it. But the place reminded him of his family and he wondered what had happened of Ilyasviel after the war ended. He found it odd that the Einzberns didn't take part in this war and he was sure she would have been chosen as the representative.
Shirou was still reminded of how staying in his house at the time Thor and his master attacked was what caused the damages.
"Let me call Tohsaka," he said as he got up, pulling his ancient phone from his pocket and dialing a number he never thought he would dial.
"Hello. If this is that person I played golf with yesterday, the sun just got in your eyes." A voice on the other end said.
"Geez. What are you up to know?" he asked. "Just trying to figure out how to get out of this mess," she fumed over the phone. She was currently standing at the railing of the harbour, looking out at the setting sun in front of her. The plan she wad was cowardly but that was the only way to sort things out. "Let us have our servants duel each other. Whoever kills the other first will have their master crowned as the champion," she suggested.
Archer liked the sound of that idea. It sounded like something he could stand behind.
Shirou didn't like the idea of having to let Cuirassier do all the work but that was the only option. "We meet at the docks at sundown," he said as he cancelled the call. That was the battlefield where Saber fought Lancer and Berserker in the previous war and memories of his wife and servant flooded into Kiritsugu as he remembered.
Shirou knew inside Rin there must be knowledge of that fight, otherwise she wouldn't have picked the docks for their fight.
Anyway they soon found themselves assembled there. "Just wondering if I am allowed to take part in this as well," Rider asked. "Go ahead," Shirou muttered.
Rider pulled out his weapon and thrust it in the air. He was like a riled soldier preparing for a big battle.
"Let the battle commence,' Rin said. She looked at Shirou with a pained look in her eyes as Archer charged. Cuirraser did the same and both of then clashed blades.
Archer was leaning closer to Cuirassier as sparks skidded off her halbred. It was with her quick think she moved to the left and slashed her halbred on Archer's back, but he spun around and blocked her halbred.
Rider slammed into the middle of the fray, his sword swinging in an arc that would behead both servants if they made a wrong move.
Cuirassier knew Rider's movement fast enough to jump back while Archer swung his blades at Rider's.
Rider ducked under the flurry of blades as he landed a kick at Archer, sending him staggering back as he swung for his torso, getting him nicked at the side. Blood bloomed as he staggered.
Rin entered the fray the same way Archer did. This time, she was using magic to try healing Archer's wound.
That gave the opportunity for Rider to go after the master, swinging it at her to end her life. Shirou on the other hand got in the war instead and yelled in pain as his arm fell to the ground. "You moron!" she screamed as he lay in a pool of his own blood. His stupidity knew no limits.
Rin took revenge for Shirou, she used a gem and with her skills she sliced through the Servant.
Rider yelled in pain as he stumbled back and he collided with Cuirassier, who didn't hesitate to dig her halberd into his body. She was returned the favour as something connected with her arm, leaving it useless by her side. Things were getting more bloody by the minute as masters and servants clashed with one another.
Shirou knew he would have to use some of the new training he learned from Kiritsugu and attack the one he considered to be his enemy.
He made a dive for Archer, the older man not anticipating the move as Shirou slammed his sword into Archer. As Rin cried out as her servant fell, Rider swung his sword to meet Shirou once more.
Shirou used his magic to catch the sword Rider swung before it severely hurt him.
"Can't you just die already?!" Archer yelled as he snatched him by his remaining arm and slammed him into Cuirassier, sending the pair toppling over. Rider was bellying badly and he felt he needed to finish this once and for all.
He had no Master to give him more strength and his life force was dwindling.
"At least I die a warrior to the end," he smiled to himself as he raised his sword high. "As the rider of the skies, I summon you, Ryu!" he shouted as a roar filled the air, a dragon appearing in the sky. Its roar tore the clouds apart and sent lightning striking at them.
Shirou rubbed his eyes to make sure this was reality and not a dream, after all Kiritsugu never said Servants could do that.
"Dammit that Rider class!" Archer shouted as he snatched Rin away from being hit by a bolt of lightning. Shirou nearly got sizzled as Cuirassier took the blow for him. He cried out as she slammed to the ground, still alive but barely as her body sizzled.
"Good news, Rin." Archer said with his callous smile. "Thanks to that feeble minded servant, you and I are guaranteed to win this war."
"That's not the point!" she yelled as she threw up a shield, deflecting a bolt as it slammed into them. Rider lay on the ground, too drained to control his creature as it went on a rampage.
The dragon destroyed walls and houses with a rampant swish of its tail and a strong thrust of its claws.
"This is getting out of hand!" Rin shouted, desperate to stop it. "Can't you call it off for crying out loud, Rider?!" Shirou yelled at the servant, who grinned as he started to fade away. "At least I go with a bang," he muttered as he looked at his hands. "I may have been one lousy warrior in life but I did something here, eh?" he grinned as he lay on his back, watching at the dragon lay waste before he disappeared.
Shirou needed to talk to Rin. Through this disaster gone wrong even as stubborn headed and the turmoil of their relationship through this war, they needed to work together.
"Any bright ideas?' He yelled. "Working on it!' She shouted as she chanted under her breath. In all the books she had read, she had never came across a scenario like this before.
Shirou had something even a smart and strong girl like her didn't have: a way. He had a way to stop the dragon.
He felt it resonant gin his bones as he chanted the words. Archer's eyes went wide as he saw the light engulfing the boy and the words forming on his lips.
I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my body and fire is my blood.
I have created over a thousand blades.
Unaware of loss,
Nor aware of gain.
Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival.
I have no regrets. This is the only path.
My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works.
Rin had no idea where he learned that enchantation, but it was building to something very powerful.
Archer on the other hand yelled for him to stop as they were engulfed in a ball of light to find themselves in a desolate wasteland with large cogs spinning above them. "What the hell is this place?" Rin blurted as they heard an almighty roar. The dragon had been brought in with them and it was trying its best to get out to no prevail. At least they were able to keep the city from getting more wrecked than it already was.
Cuirassier was there. That's right, Cuirassier. It didn't look like her at all-she looked more mighty and wearing expensive armor. Her halbred was not a normal weapon but a dragon/Berserk slayer.
"Holy shit with the upgrade," Rin muttered as the dragon charged at them from the skies.
Cuirassier leaped up. Unlike how she moved in the old days, her leap was farther up than even if she flying up.
She drove the halberd into the dragon's head, sending it howling as it smashed into the ground. As it writher, Archer summoned his weapons and began to hurl them at the dragon, pinning it to the ground as Cuirassier diced it up. Shirou helped as well as he formed weapons and flung them to Cuirassier who preceded to rip it to shreds.
The dragon was defeated and no longer a nuisance to both the contestants and the innocent people of Shirou's town.
"How did you manage to do this?' Rin demanded. Archer was murderous as he brought his blade to Shirou's throat.
"Wise people taught me many things about this game, but my heart was what helped me use this power." Shirou said.
"I just wish I can just kill you already,' Archer growled as his sword refused to budge. "Archer, stand down,' Rin shouted. One of her commands seals remained on her hand.
Rin surrendered the only way she knew how: she fell on her knees and exploded with tears from her eye sockets. All that she strived towards was just being the second place survivor of the Holy Grail War.
"Tohsaka..." Shirou whispered as Archer chuckled under his breath. "I never knew you were such a loser, Rin," he muttered as he swung his sword upwards, aiming it at Shirou's chest. Rin screamed as the sword connected with flesh. "You dare defy your master, Archer?" Cuirassier yelled as her arm fell limp at her side but she hurled her weapon with all her might at the other servant. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" he muttered as he kicked her from under. She screamed as she felt her bones break.
Shirou and Cuirassier were the ones who made this fight look like they were going to win, but now the victor would be Archer unless Shirou manned up and helped her.
"Do you know why I hate you so much?" he snarled as Shirou slammed his remaining arm into him. "I have no idea. Do enlighten me about it," he said as Archer kicked him flat. Before Cuirassier could help out, he slammed a sword into her leg, pining her to the ground. Rin clamped a hand over her mouth as she watched her servant turn into a murderous being.
"Is it your pride or are you secretly in love with Rin?" Cuirassier asked Archer.
He made a scowl with his eyes at her.
"Let's just say its a bit of both," he said as he raised his hands, swords forming in them as he hurled them at both master and servant.
If one of them was killed then the game was over for all of them.
Rin thrust out her hand, screaming the words, "Archer, I order you to surrender!" As she did, her commands seals disappeared, taking away her position as a master in the war.
Archer was completely surprised by how she wasted all her command seals on Shirou.