I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor any other Servants depicted here.
To Save
With barely a sound, the door to the toilet opened without a noise. Slowly, Sakura stepped in and sighed. Her sleep was... she did not have a good night's sleep. As much as she kept telling herself that the ritual was necessary, her heart still ached at the thought of her Senpai doing it with someone else. Two others. Two other girls. She opened the tap and splashed water on her face, the cold shocking her awake. She leaned on the sink, her hands pressed against the sides.
"No, I can't do this. I can't be thinking this way. I mean, I already placed my trust in Rin," she mulled over as she closed her eyes, "I trust her. It shouldn't be difficult... getting Senpai... to..." Her cheeks began to stain red. She quickly slapped them, stopping her thoughts from going... there... Senpai... naked...
Thankfully, the door opened and halted that train of thought immediately. Her eyes were raised open when her former sister greeted her grumpily, "Good morning..."
The violet haired girl scooted out of the way, letting the latter take charge of the sink. Nobody said a word, even after Rin washed her face.
"Sakura..." started Rin. Not hearing any reply, she continued, "I... I guess you're wondering how it went. The ritual was completed without a problem. Yes, without a problem..."
Something was odd about what she said. Sakura couldn't really tell what, though. She did smell a little odd and she voiced that opinion.
"Er... ah... you could smell that?" the disheveled magus muttered as she avoided looking at her, "Well... it was the first time for the both of them... so I may have given some encouragement... physical encouragement, to them..."
"Wait... you... helped them..." the violet haired girl repeated in disbelief, her imagination going into overdrive. The red-faced Matou then continued to stammer, "But... you... did you..."
"No! I swear I didn't! The encouragement stopped at... well, I may have... given more encouragement nearing the end of the ritual just to be sure..." Rin replied, sporting a similar blush, "I mean, you saw how Saber was. It was more for her than for him. But, that was all! I didn't do anything else with them. I promise!"
The former stared at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Sorry, Rin. I placed my trust in you, yet I'm thinking such things," she apologized tiredly, her shoulders sagging and her head tilting down, "I just... I..."
The other girl turned and stared at her before flashing an understanding smile, "I think I know what you mean. You wanted to be his first."
"I don't think I can ever give him my first," she muttered softly, not looking up.
"Eh? What do you..."
"Hello? Is that you in there, Sakura?" called out Taiga accompanied with a knock on the door.
The both of them stood up straight in surprise, totally not expecting her off all people to be waiting outside. Still, Sakura was kind of glad for the interruption as she didn't want to give an explanation to her little slip-up. Not just yet.
"Sensei! Why are you out of your bed?" she replied quickly, deftly opening and closing the door, "You should be resting!"
"But I'm already feeling a bit better!" quipped the teacher with a grin, "There's no way a bit of nausea can keep me down."
"I didn't see that yesterday," she deadpanned as she turned the supposed invalid around and pushed her on her way by the shoulders, "You should get back to your bed, Sensei, just to be on the safe side."
"Ha... ok... If it makes you feel better," the older woman relented. She then asked, "So... was someone else in there?"
"Rin-senpai wanted to use the bathroom next, so it's her turn now," Sakura explained, hoping it would be enough.
"Oh? I guess I can wait for a-ah..." and the Tiger of Fuyuki let loose a loud sneeze.
"So... I guess you should go back to bed, Fujimura-sensei," she suggested politely with a kind smile to the now sheepish teacher.
Sakura took charge of the kitchen that morning. Breakfast went on with its usual fanfare, with her dragging Rin to the table and ignoring Luvia. Saber showed up that morning, eating her meal as if nothing out of the ordinary happened last night. Shirou, on the other hand, was a little fidgety and pretty much not wanting to look at his Servant in the eye. However, it did not help him in the slightest as Saber herself decided to take charge of his training after breakfast was over.
"Do you think you're ready for this?"Assassin asked the young man as the boy and his Servant stood opposite each other.
"I don't think I am... but I have to get better," he said"resolutely as he stood in a ready stance, "I must get better. Illya died because I wasn't good enough. I can't let any more senseless deaths happen."
The Servant of Murder nodded, understanding the boy's determination, "I have been fighting you with a single handed style. She will be coming at you with a two-handed style. Do your best to avoid direct attacks."
The boy nodded and paid his attention to the Servant in front. Assassin then stepped back and announced, "Begin!"
"Prepare yourself, Shirou," Saber declared as she struck first, stepping forward and swinging downward. Shirou attempted to block but did not anticipate the force behind her attack. He ended up stumbling back but still on his feet. Saber kept up the offense and swung blow after blow, the boy narrowly parrying each one.
Assassin nodded with approval as the spar continued. The two separated and stared at each other. The young man was still on his feet, his breath becoming labored, sweat accumulating on his brow and trickling down the side. The Servant was a picture of calm, her breathing level and her face not even damp. Then, Shirou took in a deep breath before making his own offensive move. He seemed to do a little better in this regard, with more fluid movements as well as mixing it up between single-handed and two-handed attacks. Still, it felt a bit odd for him to improve this much.
"Might be a fast learner," the former Lord Protector mused in silence. Saber and Shirou kept up their pace, the spar once again shifting to Saber's favor as she proceeded on her counter attack until a rather heavy swing floored the boy. Saber then went to his side and knelt beside the boy as he caught his breath.
"You have improved," stated Assassin as he stepped up to them, "However, you should weigh your options more carefully. If against a more superior foe, remaining on the defensive and seeking escape would be a better option."
"I... have... to get... stronger," he huffed in between breaths.
The former scoffed and said, "If this were a real fight, you would be dead and unable to protect anyone. Instead, delay the enemy while the one you are protecting runs away. Then, retreat and live to fight another day."
"You should listen to reason, Shirou," chided Saber, "Foolishness is the enemy."
"Alright. Rest up," ordered Assassin before the boy had a chance for rebuttal, "I shall be your opponent for your next spar."
The car hummed and rumbled, with the air conditioning at almost full capacity. Luvia waited patiently for her Servant to return. She spared a look outside. The sun was shining with only a few clouds in the sky.
"Rider is certainly taking a while," she muttered to herself, "Granted I told him to park here while he went up ahead as a curious bystander. I suppose he decided not to arouse suspicion by not coming back here in that form." Then, the sound of a door opening and the shaking of the car due to the shift in weight prompted her to say, "So, Rider, did they find anything?"
"Nope. They didn't find a body anywhere," he replied as he looked at her through the rearview mirror.
"Tch, so we don't know if he still lives," she muttered with annoyance, "Without a way to prove he is dead..."
"Still think Caster would come for us?" he asked as he started the car.
"She probably would," she said confidently, though she wished it wasn't true, "She would be the kind to have full confidence in her abilities. Hopefully, Sakura put enough doubt in her mind for her to reconsider."
"And if she doesn't?" he asked as he started to drive off.
"If she is unable to scry or detect him, then she will go ahead with her threat," she summed up as she took to looking at the mirror as well, "Thankfully, Saber recovered. We should be able to win with our numbers."
"Hope so," he muttered as he made his way back to the Emiya house, "He might show up to. That girl's brother too."
"Maybe... but he might have died," she said thoughtfully, "If he was with the fake priest, he would have most likely died in the fire. There was no way he could have survived. He would have been completely unprepared."
"Again, no body," he reminded her as he stopped at a light.
"I know, I know," she groaned as she leaned back in her seat as she crossed her arms, "If only we had a way to find out what happened..."
"Huh, too bad Lancer can't help us," he quipped off-handedly, "She doesn't come off as a team player."
"Not unless it benefits her," she agreed wholeheartedly, "If I am honest, were I not taking part in the War, I would pity the Enforcer."
"Aaand, we're back at square one," sounded Rider as he drove into the road leading to the house. Then, he mentioned, "Huh, look what we have here..."
"Sakura?"
"Hmm?" she sounded as the two girls continued to make their way home after their food run.
"Earlier... you said something strange," Rin mentioned quite hesitantly. At that, the latter froze. The Tohsaka magus was puzzled and turned to face her.
"You... heard that?" the violet haired girl muttered.
"I did," she affirmed, feeling a little concerned about her reaction, "What did you mean by that? Just because he... was with Saber... that doesn't mean you don't have a chance."
Sakura fell silent at that. Rin couldn't really tell how she was going to react.
"I... it's not that..." the Matou said softly, her face downcast, "It was just... my... that training..."
She blinked, slowly taking in what her former sister just said. "Sakura... why are you bringing that up now?" she asked, surprised that she would bring that particular topic up, "Years ago, you said you didn't wish to talk about it when I asked. What does that have to do with... what happened last night?"
"I... It's nothing," she replied as she shook her head.
"No... I don't believe you. Something must have happened," the former insisted, trying her best to recall what she knew from all those years ago, "Kariya-ojiisan said something about the Matou 'practice' devouring life... and that his father started on you already." She then noticed that the latter's arms and shoulders shaking, her head bowed down.
"Please... stop..." Sakura ground out, "Please, Rin. I.. I don't want to remember that... that..."
"Sakura... alright. I won't press you anymore," she said as she stepped up to her and placed her hand on a shoulder after swapping her plastic bags to the other. It was clear that whatever magecraft that was taught to her former sister at that young age traumatized her. After the past ten years, Sakura still hasn't gotten over it. Even if she wasn't family anymore, she still felt the urge to try and help. But she didn't know how. "Come, let's go back to Emiya's house. I need to prepare dinner... and you need to check up on Fujimura-sensei and that boy of yours," she finally said after that moment of silence.
"Rin," the Matou groaned after looking up, but her morose face had a relieved smile. It was then a very familiar car drove up to them.
"Hello, Rin, Sakura," greeted Luvia as she rolled down the window, "Do you need my help?"
"We don't need your help," she replied immediately.
"Sure," replied the other girl.
"Sakura?" she muttered in surprise.
"The sooner we return to the house, the sooner we can do what we need to do," reasoned the violet haired girl.
"Really, Rin," interrupted the blonde magus with a sly smirk, "You should be more accommodating. Like Sakura. Your life would be easier that way. Unless you like doing things the hard way..."
"... Fine," she ground out as she grit her teeth. As much as she disliked the Edelfelt, Sakura had a point. Things would move faster.
In the end, Luvia invited herself to dinner. Guessing that correctly and having bought extra, Rin was able to prepare dinner without much trouble. Safe to say, Taiga was happy even though she was confined to her room by Sakura's insistence. She liked trying out new foods, like Chinese cuisine.
"I have to admit, Rin. That was quite good," praised the blonde magus, "Perhaps I should hire you as one of my chefs."
"I refuse," the twin tailed girl retorted with a frown. The doorbell rang and the Matou excused herself from the room to answer it.
"I must thank you, Rin," spoke up Saber, interrupting the brewing argument, "It was refreshing to be on my feet once again."
"Uhm, it was nothing," the former replied with a blush as she looked away, "Please, do not mention it."
"Still, you have my gratitude," the latter affirmed. Turning to Shirou, "How did you find today's training, Shirou?"
"I... still have a long way to go," he admitted as he looked down at his tea.
"There is no shame in admitting your shortcomings," the Servant advised him with a smile, "There is always time to improve. We still have another day, after all."
"Good advice," said Noel as she came in, Sakura by her side. She was still clad in her police uniform, much to everyone's surprise.
"It is good to see you again, Noel," said Saber as the former Servant took a seat at the table.
"Oh! Good to see you've recovered, Saber," she replied. Noticing all the curious glances sent her way, she sighed and said, "My leave has been canceled yesterday evening. I had to come in and take up the evening shift after that explosion at the church. Mind telling me who did that?"
After the three girls filled her in on what happened the previous day, she groaned, "Caster? Really? And now you have one more day?" Getting nods from all of them, she continued, "And today, you were able to get Saber back on her feet and prepare for tomorrow. I really hope all of you are ready for this."
"With Saber taking on Caster, this should be easy," declared Luvia confidently, "Rin and I will take care of the bounded field around the fight. Sakura and Shirou should be able to 'take care' of Kuzuki-sensei."
"But Edelfelt-senpai, I'm not sure if we could..." reminded Sakura, stealing a glance at the only male Master there.
"You mean you're not sure if he would want to do it..." muttered Rin, understanding what she meant. Turning to him, she asked, "Emiya, would you be willing to... kill..."
"No! We can't do that. There has to be a way to convince Kuzuki-sensei to give up being a Master," he vehemently protested.
"Did you see him ever question her decision while he was here last night?" asked the blonde, all trace of mirth gone from her face. Getting no answer, she continued, "That much is clear. There is no way the convince him otherwise. He is committed to helping her."
"I know you want to prevent unnecessary deaths, but I think this is the one time that you can't do that, Emiya," said the twin tailed magus.
"I... don't believe that. There has to be a way," he objected.
"Emiya... you can't save everyone," Noel spoke up with a somber tone, "Even if you don't want anyone to die or be killed, there will always be someone else who would make that decision for you."
"But..."
"You are a fool if you think you do not need to choose, boy," cut in Archer as he materialized in the corner, "Every hero has faced this one time or another. There is no escaping it."
"We could just knock him out if we can't convince him. We could save him that way," he still insisted.
"Caster will have to rely on her Master to protect herself now that Avenger has died. You wouldn't have a chance to do it, not that you can do it in the first place," the Servant of the Bow told him, the boy falling silent. Turning to Luvia, he continued, "It would be a mistake to discount that move. She is sure to have some protective spells in her arsenal."
"Kuzuki-sensei? Fight? Are you sure?" said Rin in disbelief, "He doesn't have any martial arts in his background that I know of."
"That you know of," the former repeated, "Who knows? Maybe he can fight but doesn't show it."
"That will become another hindrance," mused Luvia with a frown as she took on a thinking pose, "Hmm, I'm afraid I do not know anything about him either."
"Instead, why not find a way to stop Kuzuki-sensei from helping her? I might be able to do it," spoke up Sakura.
"That may work... if you prepare it beforehand," the twin tailed magus agreed with a smirk, "You are coming into this quite well, Sakura."
"It does sound like you have everything covered now," said Noel with a hint of gladness, pausing to take stock of the time, "I think I should take my leave now. I need to work tomorrow."
"Wait... please... one question," Shirou suddenly announced softly, "Mackenzie-san, were you ever forced to kill anyone?"
The former Servant stared at him for a moment before replying, "...Maybe... I rather not talk about it. Sorry, Emiya."
"It... it's fine," he said. Then, he continued aloud, "What about Rider and Assassin? Were you ever forced to kill anyone?"
"Well... a few times," Rider stated calmly as he materialized, "I hate to say it but Archer's right. Sometimes, you are forced to choose who to save. I can't say I like it but that's the life of a hero."
"No... I do not think I was ever forced to kill anyone," said Assassin as he appeared, "Although, there are many times when I wanted to kill my enemies but didn't."
"Why?" the red head asked in confusion.
"Sometimes... the situation has gone already to hell," replied the Servant of Murder. Getting confused looks, he explained, "There was a plague in the city. If I added any more bodies to the already growing pile, it would have made it worse. There was enough panic. No need to add more. However..." He stared at everyone at that pause, "Even though I left them alive, my enemies probably wished they were dead by the time I was done with them."
"Wh-what do you mean?" the boy asked.
"Hmm, let me tell you a story about a family," the Servant explained, "Three brothers in this family. They owned many silver mines, mines that brought the family great wealth and standing within the city. They had power, with the elder twin brothers having seats at the Parliament... but they wanted more. Everyone had fallen on hard times, including their family. However, the way that the twins decided to regain their better times was to support a conspiracy to assassinate the Empress. The assassin was successful and blame was put on her bodyguard. They were also tasked with keeping her daughter in secret after her kidnapping. I saved her... and when I was done with the twins... well, last I heard, they had their heads shaved, their eyes put out, their tongues cut off and were busy working in one of the mines that belonged to their family."
Reactions ranged from horrified, shock, surprise and reluctant acceptance. Assassin sighed and said, "It is getting late and story telling is over. We should turn in. Good night." He shifted back to his astral form. Seconds later, Rider and Archer did the same. Then, Noel left and Sakura followed after to send her on her way.
"I suppose I should go as well," said Luvia as she took her leave as well, "Truth be told, at least we have a plan instead of going in blind. The finer points can be sorted out tomorrow. We have another day, after all."
Rin sighed and got up to leave as well. "Good night, Emiya, Saber," she said at the doorway, turning to look at him and the remaining Servant, "Get some rest."
"Shirou, are you alright?" asked Saber when all that was left in the room was the both of them, "Were you going to ask me the same question?"
"I... I'm still in... I still can't believe what Assassin said," the boy admitted haltingly, "That he did all those things to those twins."
"Do... you think it was right for him to do so?" she asked him, "Or do you think death was the better option."
"I... I... I don't know. I really don't know," he muttered, a sense of despair creeping into his voice, "I want to say he did the right thing by not killing them, but... I don't know..."
"Come, Shirou. You should return to your room for respite," she said as she coaxed him to his feet, "Tiredness will become the enemy if this continues." Slowly, Saber was able to guide her Master to his room, in spite of his depressed state.
Commentary:-
Hello again. Welcome to a new chapter. Now, some might be expecting a ritual, but there isn't. I have an aftermath instead. A very awkward aftermath. And the awkwardness continues on through the day. Plenty of it to go around. There's some in the bathroom. There's some in the dojo. There's even some outside on the road. However, the most interesting part comes to us after dinner... where we broach the subject of killing. Of course, our resident third rate magus is against it. In the end, a compromise was reached, but not without words being spoken. Especially from Archer. And finally... a very interesting story. I'm sure those who have played Dishonored know of which story this is referring to. And, crisis. Was Assassin in the right for sparing them? Was he right in dishing out his brand of poetic justice? Shirou doesn't know, nor will he ever know. A very troubling thing for him.
Well, to be honest, would he really react this way? That is my question. It is said he doesn't like senseless deaths and that he would save everyone at the cost of his. In the end, I went with this since he would have to question whether he would still save someone if he knew of their history beforehand. Whether if he should save someone without knowing who that person is. If it was a bad person, should he save them out of hope of redemption?
And, before I leave...
"Master, Rin, retreat. Now," the Servant of the Sword ordered as she went in front of them, "I will hold Assassin off as long as I can."
The dark Servant let off a chuckle. "It seems you have gained a sense of humor, Saber," it stated, "As I recall, you were having great difficulty fending me off ten years ago."
She said nothing, but gripped her sword even tighter.
"If you think you can best me now... let us put it to the test," it continued as it gestured with its hand.
Saber leaped back as a shadow snake burst out from the ground. She charged forward, lopping off the snake's head as she made a beeline to the opposing Servant. With a yell, she stabbed it in the stomach. Much to her surprise, it simply burst into dust. Her senses screaming a warning, she spun around to catch sight of Assassin rising up behind the two unaware Masters.
"Shirou! Rin!"
Both sets of eyes widened and the Master's spun around. It made to attack them, but glided backwards as Archer materialized and swung her spear at the chest. The spear disappeared and a wooden bow appeared in her hands.
"You had better leave now, Master," she said calmly as she notched an arrow and drew the string taut, "Saber, take care of my Master."
"Stay safe, Archer," the twin tailed magus said as she looked at the Servant. Clad in studded leather and furs, the trimming streaked with blue and red. Her hair went all the way down her back, was pulled behind and braided. She stood there, fearless as ever. Turning to Shirou, she said, "Emiya-kun, we better leave now."
"But..."
"No, we have to go," she interrupted, "This is the same situation as Berserker. Go... or do I need to drag you there? Perhaps Saber could have a turn doing it."
He frowned. "I don't like it... but..." he grumbled but ran with her anyway, Saber following after them.
I'm not sure if anyone can guess this. Thank you to Doc Holiday for suggesting Omake Archer to me.
This is the end of the chapter. Please read and review, yeah?