Chapter 14
"... Hello, Archer."
Ruby couldn't help but shiver as icy fingers trailed along her spine. The way Shirou spoke, the tone behind his voice scared her. Ruby glanced at her friends and saw they looked as tense as she did. The atmosphere of the crumbling ballroom and the events they had just witnessed within it had not left their minds.
"I wish I could say I'm surprised you came, but truly you had no choice, did you? Shirou Emiya."
Ruby swallowed. Archer had a deep voice filled with gravitas and lanced with such condescension that even though she knew he couldn't see her, it made Ruby feel two inches tall.
Shirou clenched his first tight enough that his fingernails broke through the skin of his palm, and he stomped forward.
"Why?!"
The question hung in the air like poison, choking everyone who heard it. Artoria looked from Shirou to the shadowy form of Archer sitting above them on the stairs. Unlike when she saved Ruby and Yang, she looked unsure, with worry lines carved into her alabaster skin. Her armor rattled, and Ruby swore she saw something clenched in her hand.
Archer chuckled without warmth or amusement.
"Why? Why what, Shirou? You'll have to be more specific."
Shirou's face turned red, and the muscles in his neck bulged.
"Why didn't you say anything? Did you betray Rin? How are you here?!"
After a long second, Archer stood and took a single step forward, pausing at the edge of a pool of moonlight pouring in from the damaged roof.
"I betrayed Rin because of her foolish attempt to instill a command seal on me so I couldn't hurt you. I never cared about the Holy Grail — useless as it is. So when I found myself summoned, I made killing Shirou Emiya my sole reason for existing."
Archer strode forward, revealing himself for the first time.
Ruby heard Yang's breath hitch, and Blake let out a quiet hiss.
Standing tall and imposing, Archer emanated a quiet intensity that demanded attention. Sharp angles defined his chiseled features and a stern expression, revealing a man of unwavering determination and unyielding will.
But it is his clothing that truly sets him apart. Clad in a sleek, form-fitting outfit that seems to hug every muscle and contour of his body, he exudes an air of sleekness and deadly efficiency.
Everything about the man said, no screamed, hero. Ruby would have been in awe if she hadn't heard why the man's apparent reason for existing.
Artoria had heard enough. She strode to stand in front of Shirou protectively, bringing her hands forward as if she were baring a sword.
"Why are you, Archer? I've had enough of your word games and condescension."
Archer smirked, a blatant slap at Artoria's aggravated tone.
"I don't like this guy," Blake said. "He has to be the Nightmare. Yang, give me the knife, and I'll try to get close and surprise—"
"Stop."
Blake's teeth clamped together with a sharp click. It was instinctive, the single word carrying an air of authority that Blake had not expected to hear from Shirou. With a firm hand resting on Artoria's shoulder, Shirou glared at Archer with an intense fire in his eyes that Ruby could only interpret as hatred.
"So, you figured it out. I would praise you, but your deduction is pathetic after so long." Derisive, Archer clapped his hands. "The Throne of Heroes is a place outside of time, where nothing is linear. Souls of ages long past free to mingle with those yet to be born. When Rin summoned me, she thought of nothing but calling the Servant most suited toward her, but that's not how it works." Arching reached up, and from under his armor, he pulled out a sizeable blood-red gem cut in the shape of a heart. Artoria blinked and lowered her sword, glancing back at Shirou as he pulled out the same gem.
"A unique item passed down the Tohsaka line for generations. When Rin used it to save your life, you carried it with you until your death, as a reminder, a memento of that night." Archer said, as he let the chain attached to the gem slide through his fingers.
Artoria let out a gasp as she figured it out, all the pieces clicking into place.
"You are...?"
"Yes, I am the Heroic Spirit, Emiya."
Ruby gaped, looking from Shirou to Archer and back again. Magic already seemed weird enough, but she could exempt that. Time travel, though, made her head hurt.
Artoria maintained better control of herself and continued to stand at the ready.
"If you… then why is it you desire to kill him? I would feel sure that the opposite should be the case."
Archer cocked his head.
"I'm surprised you have to ask. It should be obvious. Neither of us can accept the differences between the other. It is as simple as that."
"That doesn't... I still need to understand. Of course, you are different. A life lived versus a life just beginning. Why would you kill Shirou for these differences?"
Archer swept this hair back in one aggravated motion, frustrated but still willing to talk.
"Unlike you, I didn't become a Heroic Spirit through my merits alone. I simply traded one afterlife for another."
Artoria flinched, and a note of sympathy entered her voice.
"You became a Guardian."
"Yes, one of Alaya's vaunted defenders, a protector of the balance. One who acts as the deterrent force against the evils of this world." Archer snorted. "It's all a poor joke. Would it surprise you to learn it's all a lie, Artoria? Guardians don't protect humanity. We act as janitors, taking out the trash when it becomes overfull…,"
Pyrrha swallowed. Something in the way Archer said those words made the hair on the back of her neck stand — The implications weighed on her mind.
"... But I suppose I did become a hero. Not a hero of the people, but a hero of justice."
Shirou's breath left him in a gasp, and Artoria glanced back, concerned.
"A hero of... justice?"
"Yes, and that's what opened my eyes to the fatal error of this failed reality. The fact of the matter is that Shirou Emiya's life is worthless." Archer's attention left Artoria and fixed on Shirou with terrible intensity. "Deep down, you know this, so I will offer you a chance to right a great wrong."
A sword appeared in Archer's hand, plain and unadorned, a simple weapon meant to do a single thing. He flicked his wrist, and the blade in his flew in a lazy arc, landing at Shirou's feet with a clatter.
"Do this world a favor and kill yourself."
The harshness of those words, delivered with such callous disregard, made Ruby's stomach churn. How could this be Shirou's future self? Nothing about him reminded Ruby of the boy she lived with, and she had to bite back a whimper.
"You dare!" Artoria said, her face tight and livid, but before she could lunge forward, Shirou stopped her.
"Shirou?"
"Please, Artoria, this is my fight."
Artoria looked like she wanted to argue, to carry Shirou to safety before returning and slaughtering this shell of a hero who preached of empty ideals. However, under Shirou's pleading eyes, she backed away but did not retreat. She had to know more.
"Why are you like this, Archer? As a Heroic Spirit, you embody Shirou's hope and dreams."
"Because they're meaningless."
Artoria didn't flinch under the weight of Archer's response, committed to having her question answered.
"Meaningless?"
Archer nodded.
''Shall I show to you the result of Shirou Emiya's life? The culminate end of a lifetime spent saving others.''
Archer's lips curled, and his eyes darkened with wicked intent. His arms remained rigid at his side, somehow stired up the surrounding air until a blinding sphere of blue light illuminated the room. Artoria stepped back, her instincts screaming as dark, malefic energy swelled around him in a deep azure hue.
"See for yourself what it means to be the embodiment of justice."
The floor under Archer's feet cracked and splintered, and blue fires raced forth in streams as the air broke with electricity, making Ruby's hair stand on end.
"I am the bone of my sword."
Archer's voice seemed to reach straight into Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha, paralyzing them with the sheer power of his words alone.
"Unknown to life nor to death."
Yang almost fell to her knees, a weight unlike anything she had ever experienced before crushing her.
"My whole life has been Unlimited Blade Works!"
At that moment, as the final syllable of Archer's chant reached their ears, the world changed in a blinding flash of blue flames.
Blake, her eyes the most sensitive, cried out and wiped at the tears that fell in a thick wave until she could see again.
She almost wished she hadn't.
"What?... Where are we?" Pyrrha said, turning in a circle. She brought her arm across her stomach as her cheeks turned a sallow green.
Ruby retched, unable to hold herself back — the stink of decay, ash, and rot was too much to handle.
They stood in a lifeless wasteland that would have stretched forever except for the hills.
'They aren't hills.'
The realization hit Yang like a truck; she had to cover her mouth to force the bile down.
"Those are piles..."
Bodies piled atop one another, forming hundreds of artificial hills, each corpse having at least one sword jutting from their flesh, a permanent reminder of how they died.
"No," Shirou said as he fell to his knees, staring up at Archer, who stood atop the closest hill.
Artoria stumbled back, looking around herself, trying to understand what she beheld.
"This is..." Artoria looked at Archer, eyes widening with realization. "A reality marble?"
Archer's alone, unaffected by the horrid landscape, nodded from on high.
"Very good, Artoria. This rotten land is the sole magic available to Shirou Emiya, a reality marble. My very soul projected upon reality. So tell me, what do you think of it?"
'His soul?'
The sheer perversion of that thought made Yang light-headed. How could a place like this exist? How could someone's soul become so tainted, resembling an endless battlefield of death and despair?
Artoria couldn't find any words. She just shook her head, blinking away tears.
"Yes, even you, someone who forged a legend upon the battlefield, look like you're about to vomit. Yet, this is a fraction of the hell I've wrought." Archer pointed down at Shirou, lips curling in a snarl. "Shirou Emiya! Look upward, and share in the wonders I've seen."
Yang didn't want to. She didn't want to see anymore. Even so, her chin tilted back and knees shaking with dread. The sky roiled with ashen clouds, and for a moment, Yang didn't understand until images played across them.
"Most of my memories faded long ago, despite that, there were those so profound, they internalized in my very soul as permanent reminders."
War, endless bloody war, played across the clouds.
Yang saw a young Archer... But, no, an older Shirou appeared, and wherever he walked, swords followed, and people died.
"Guardians are nothing more than exterminators. We put down all those who threatened the balance without hesitation. Whether they were soldiers, civilians, men, women, or children didn't matter. It taught me something. The seats of happiness in this world have limits, and there are people destined to experience nothing but misery. My role became to release them from that suffering. It's ironic, is it not? I wanted to create a world where nobody had to cry, but in pursuing that desire, I caused more than my share of heartbreak. In my pursuit of justice, I killed, and I killed without ceasing. Because every life I took meant thousands more would survive."
Yang forced her eyes down, unable to continue bearing the horrors Archer had lived. Shirou, she saw, continued to watch, tears streaming down his face.
"No... No, this can't be, right? This can't be... I just want to save people."
Yang felt her heart shatter at the desolation in Shirou's voice, the crippling pain he felt seeing what his future would bring... The actual cost of his dream.
"Do you see now, Shirou? The heart of a hero of justice isn't in you."
Artoria fell beside Shirou and pulled him close while glaring at Archer, her green eyes poisonous.
"If that's the case, Archer, then neither do you."
"Yes, you're right. I can not deny that."
Artoria flinched, taken aback by the readiness of Archer's admission.
"As a Heroic Spirit, I'm cursed to continue this existence forever. Which is why Shirou Emiya has to die to ensure that a life such as mine never again exists."
'He wants to die.'
The realization felt like a punch to the gut for Yang. Archer, a being who had escaped the natural order of life and death, had no choice but to continue to be the thing he hated. However, if he ended his life before it ever began...
"Were you so betrayed by your ideals? You would think to end Shirou's life in some twisted way of atoning for your sins."
Archer let out a chortle.
"Betrayed? Yes, people have betrayed me many times. I was always willing to lay down my life for others, asking for nothing in return. No one understands a man like that. In the end, someone framed me as the mastermind of a bloody conflict..." Archer's eyes flicked upward, and Yang's followed, unable to stop herself from mirroring the action to see a body hanging from a noose. "... and executed me. When I allowed that, whatever grand force that exists wiped my sins clean."
Ruby buried her head into Yang's back, great shuttering sobs shaking her petite frame, the brutal realities tearing at her and her own dreams.
"I'm tired of cleaning up after humanity, and now my opportunity is here."
Artoria whipped her head back and forth with a growl.
"That's foolish, and you know it, Archer! You already exist outside the reach of time. Killing Shirou will do nothing to end your suffering."
Archer shrugged.
"I agree, but there's still a chance — minuscule, may it be, but enough of this talk. Shirou Emiya! You've seen what your future holds. If you can not live with this reality, kill yourself and end it!"
Shirou's eyes, still clouded with tears, looked at Archer for a long minute.
Yang's heart pounded against her ribs. Of course, she knew this was the past, but even so, the tension felt thick and heady.
"Archer." Shirou pushed himself up. "I have one question."
Archer raised an eyebrow in a curious gesture.
"In your life, as you waded through blood, war, and death. Did you ever lose anything?"
'What?'
Yang didn't understand. Out of everything Archer had revealed in the last few minutes, all Shirou wanted to ask was whether he had lost anything.
Archer's reaction felt more profound, and for the first time since Yang laid eyes on him, he looked... old. However, his posture remained proud and resolute, even as more weight seemed to settle on his shoulders.
"No. I never lost a single thing."
Shirou nodded, and against all logic, relaxed before turning to Artoria while still speaking to Archer.
"I understand. You had nothing to lose, right? It didn't matter how much you suffered. As long as I saved lives, you could go on. That's why no one could understand you. And it's how I know I'll never become like you because, unlike you, Archer, I have something to lose. So I have a reason to continue moving forward beyond the need to save people." Shirou touched Artoria's cheek. Wonder and tender care expressed in the action. "I'll never have to fight alone."
Artoria looked radiant as she smiled and leaned into Shirou's hand.
"You understand, at last?" Artoria asked.
Shirou nodded with a smile and turned back to Archer, holding his chin high, back straight and unyielding.
"Even here," Archer said, waving his hand. "You refuse to see. You still don't understand. I should have expected that." Archer walked down the hill of bodies without respect for those he'd slain as he trod upon them.
"Trace, on."
Shirou's favorite blade appeared in his hands, with Artoria standing at his side.
"You think your feelings for Artoria will change things? That a single person can stop you from being who your are? Shirou Emiya is more foolish than I thought." Archer said, spitting to the side.
Shirou remained unflinching, Artoria positioned to attack at a moments notice, her hands clasping something no one could see.
"It doesn't matter what you believe, Archer. Now surrender this fight. You can't beat us both."
Archer's face twisted, rage emanating from him as he shot forward with a boom. Artoria met him with the harsh clang of steel, locking him in place regardless of her more petite frame.
"You have lost, Archer."
"If you believe that, you have forgotten where you stand."
With a shout of exertion, Archer disengaged and launched a kick so fast Ruby's eyes could just make out his movement.
Artoria grunted as her armor prevented harm, but she skidded back, digging furrows into the cracked earth as she did.
"Artoria!"
She followed Shirou's eyes and saw blades, black as night, screaming toward her from the sky. She readied her sword. No matter how fast they were, she would have little trouble deflecting such a paltry number.
"Trace, on!"
Hearing Archer use the phrase felt jarring — but seeing the result left Yang gaping.
The swords descending on Artoria flashed and tripled in number before slamming into the ground with a distorted crunch.
"Artoria!"
"I am fine, Shirou!"
None of the blades had hit Artoria. Instead, they had slammed into the surrounding earth, forming a steel prison. However, although Yang could see her straining, she appeared paralyzed, locked in a ready stance.
"What is this, Archer? Why can't I move?"
"They're called black keys, forged by the Catholics to bind sinners for punishment."
Artoria snarled, and stained harder until one sword broke, and another followed almost immediately after. Archer's confidence never wavered as he turned to Shirou and smirked.
"I will admit, if we were anywhere else, I would have lost to Artoria's might, but here, within my soul? There is only one king."
More swords appeared to replace the ones Artoria broke, even as Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Archer's hands, and he bent his knees. There was a boom of displaced air, and Archer appeared in front of Shirou. It seemed to happen in slow motion to Yang, watching as Shirou reacted a fraction of a second too late to absorb the blow. The force of Archer's strike sent Shirou reeling, his blades shattering in his hands and sending shards of steel into the air.
"Such weak projections, and even still, you insist on fighting, knowing you can never win."
Shirou responded with a shout and charged forward, another set of blades forming in his hands. But it was hopeless. Yang watched and saw the reality of the situation. Shirou's skills and Archer's were worlds apart, like watching a huntsman spare with a child.
Archer moved like a dancer, letting Shirou's blows the ghost by him while lashing out with the precision of a machine.
'He's toying with him.'
Shallow cuts began to litter Shirou's body until Archer had enough. Archer blocked Shirou's next series of attacks, locking their blades together and holding Shirou still with his superior strength.
"Do you understand yet? Do you still want to become a hero, regardless of how hopeless it is?"
Shirou tried to push back, feet digging into the ground but could not find purchase.
"It's not that I want to become one," Shirou grunted, straining to keep Archer's swords away. "It's that I will become one, no matter what!"
"You say that understanding what it means? The hypocrisy behind your twisted dream? No, not even your dream, but one you inherited from your father. Just because he saved you. Look at what it's made you!" Archer knocked Shirou onto his back with a mighty shove. Shirou rolled with the force, returning to his feet just in time to form a sloppy defense.
Archer moved in, no longer playing games and punctuating every strike with a vicious shout.
"You're consumed by this ridiculous obsession of sacrificing yourself for the sake of others, desperate to find conflict and death, blind to your own arrogance! If that isn't hypocrisy, then what is?!"
Shirou blocked an overhand strike, never noticing the hidden second blade.
"No!" Artoria and Yang screamed as Archer stabbed Shirou in the stomach, twisting his sword as he did.
"In the end, you're a fraud, and your hypocrisy can't save anyone! How could you when you never knew who you should save to begin with, and look, this is the result! You could never be a savior. You never had anything to save! So instead, you became the embodiment of justice—" Archer raised his sword, not embedded in Shirou. "—And justice can be cruel!"
Shirou's sword shattered, and the remaining force of Archer's strike threw him back to land in a bloody heap.
"Shirou!" Artoria thrashed harder, desperate to escape Archer's trap, tears springing to her eyes.
Yang's face contorted with fury as she plowed forward, her fists clenched and her breaths ragged. Ruby shouted her name, but Yang was too far gone, quickly darting away from the group with unbridled rage. Blake and Pyrrha exchanged glances before following closely behind, their own resolve matching Yang's intensity.
The Archer's expression shifted in an instant, his lips curling up into a smile as he gazed at Yang with something akin to amusement. His gray eyes were now dark and full of malicious glee. Then, without warning, he snapped his fingers, and it sounded like thunder filling the hellish landscape, deafening in its intensity.
"There you are," Nightmare said in its horrid voice.
A flurry of glinting swords flew from the sky, materializing out of thin air and raining down around Ruby and her companions. The blades crashed into the surrounding ground, forming an impenetrable cage that threatened to skewer anyone who tried to escape. Ruby screamed as she stumbled forward, barely able to stop before the razor-sharp edges cut through her aura.
Ruby's heart skipped as she saw a shadow fly overhead, and she looked up to witness Blake soaring above to dodge the onslaught of steel. But all too soon, another volley came crashing down, and with one fell swoop, the swords sent Blake tumbling to the ground below. She hit the dirt hard and rolled until stale, metallic hands surrounded her like bars of a prison, leaving her nowhere to move.
Ruby spun, her eyes darting as she searched for an exit, a crack she could squeeze through. She determined there was no escape, however — Shirou and Arturia lay motionless on the floor like still-life portraits, not a breath between them.
"Your despair is intoxicating." The Nightmare said as it stepped down from the gruesome hill. "This mind is the perfect breeding ground, with so many powerful memories and horrors to play within. So much power in his nightmares."
The Nightmare stepped onto the dry, cracked ground and breathed in the air, tinged with smoke and ash. Then, it lifted its gaze to take in the endless expanse of gray sky. Its lips curved into a satisfied smile.
"This is perfect. This is exactly the world I wish to create. A land where no life flourishes and despair clings to the very air. Flawless."
Yang's muscles bulged, and she let out an enraged scream as she slammed her fist into the swords surrounding her. The metal rang out like a church bell but didn't budge. She tried again, putting all her weight behind the punch, but it was like hitting a steel wall. The Nightmare cackled as Yang panted for breath, sending chills down Ruby's spine. The sound was like knives scraping against glass, and she had to press her hands over her ears to block it out.
"Your strength won't help you here. That accursed light can't reach me either. You picked an inferior moment to show yourselves, and you've doomed your friend because of it." A smile with too many teeth grew on the Nightmare's borrowed face. "How does that make you feel?"
Yang's hand shook as she tightened her grip on the dagger. Her purple eyes shone with a mix of fear and anger as she stared at the Nightmare before her, her mouth open hanging open in shock. Then, rage seeped away like steam escaping a kettle, leaving her feeling empty inside.
"Why don't you come a little closer and say that to me?"
It was a weak attempt, and the Nightmare treated it like one, wagging its finger at Yang like it intended to scold a child.
"No, you got me twice with that accursed light, but not again. Not with this body. Not in this place."
Ruby's mouth hung open, and her eyes bulged, unable to register what was happening before them. An army's worth of swords seemed to materialize from thin air, more than they had ever seen Shirou conjure up, and it aimed all the blades in their direction.
The Nightmare's arm raised in a slow, inexorable arc, as if weighed down by its malicious intent. Ruby felt like she was watching time itself pass, each moment stretching out and extending to the inevitable end. Desperation filled her mind with impossible solutions that flew by at such speeds that she couldn't even consider them. Yet, she knew that if its arm fell, all of them would die.
Blake, someone Ruby had never even heard, raised her voice and knocked Ruby out of her downward spiral.
"Shirou! Shirou! We need help!"
"Pitiful and useless, he can't save you." The Nightmare said.
The Nightmare's lips curled into a sneer, but despite its disdainful words, Ruby noticed Shirou's fingers curl slightly. Her heart leaped with newfound hope, and she joined Blake in shouting encouragement to him.
"Shirou! Wake up! You can do this. Don't give up now!"
'There it is again!'
Ruby could have sworn she saw Shirou's eyes moving ever so slightly under his lids, and his body twitched as if trying to resist the force keeping him still. Yang and Pyrrha joined Blake and Ruby, desperately calling to Shirou, but the Nightmare's mocking laughter echoed off the bleak landscape in response, sure that these four frightened girls could not accept what had happened.
"Shirou!"
Shirou slowly tilted his head up, his golden eye glazing over as if he was still in a daze. He placed his hands on the ground to push himself up, and Yang could feel her heart race with jubilation. Tears pricked the corner of her eyes as she watched him stand.
"Yes!"
The Nightmare whirled and snarled as it saw Shirou.
"How...? You shouldn't be able to move, not here!"
The Nightmare's swords flew across the landscape, their blades dripping with a deadly blue light. They moved faster than Ruby thought was possible, and she screamed Shirou's name in fear. But as they closed in on him, he raised his arms, and the surrounding air shimmered like the surface of a lake. Instantly, the swords stopped moving and began to drop to the ground, lifeless steel once more.
The Nightmare took a step back, hissing through clenched teeth at what it saw.
"Fine! If you aren't ready to break, maybe watching your friends die will do the trick." More swords formed and shot toward each of the girls like missiles, but they never reached their target.
Shirou took a stumbling step forward and growled.
"This isn't your world."
Another step.
"You won't hurt my friends, not here."
The Nightmare roared, feral and enraged.
"Why won't you stop fighting? Your mind is mine!"
Shirou's movements became surer, like he had regained feeling in his limbs.
"My mind may be crumbling, but my soul remains unbroken, and no one other than me rules here."
The girls' hearts soared, and they could not contain their excitement as Shirou bared his teeth and forced himself to stand tall. His clothing in tatters, and bleeding from his wounds, yet he still held a certain dignity about him. He moved with methodical slowness, and from the air, he drew forth his favorite blades. A quiver and glee crawled up Yang's spine, and goosebumps formed on her arms. Shirou spoke. His voice was determined.
"I am the bone of my sword."
The air began to ripple. The ground quaked beneath their feet, and an azure flame erupted from the unlimited number of blades embedded in the world with a loud roar.
"No!"
The Nightmare raised its hand, and a chorus of screams echoed as Ruby's eyes widened in awe as swords, each the size of a skyscraper and with tips so sharp they glimmered like diamonds, materialized behind it. The force of their movement stirred up wind tunnels and created an eerie song that filled her ears. Then, with a sinister growl, the blades exploded forward.
"Get out!"
Shirou's cry screamed through the air as he darted forward. He narrowly avoided two giant blades that sought to crush him, using their momentum to send them soaring away from his path. In a single instant, Shirou was before the Nightmare, and with one powerful thrust of Bakuya, he drove the sword deep into its stomach.
"Shirou!" Yang said, her voice muffled by the thick bars of her prison-like cage. Without a verbal acknowledgment of her plea, Shirou unleashed a powerful kick that sent the Nightmare soaring through the air toward Yang. It thudded against the ground and skidded until finding its ultimate resting place—colliding with the thick swords surrounding her.
"Avalon!"
Yang gauntlets roared as unleashed a fiery blast, and the Nightmare shrieked in impotent rage as its body vanished in a hail of fire.
The Nightmare's screams slowly died away, and the swords that had been caging Yang dissolved into glittering azure dust. She shot forward with a cry, propelling herself to catch a falling Shirou in her outstretched arms.
Yang's breath stilled in her chest when she pulled Shirou into her embrace. Deep, bluish violet rings sat underneath his eyes and his lips were dry and cracked. She had grown so used to seeing Shirou with a spark of life in his eyes that it was hard to witness the fatigue that had taken over. The warmth radiating from Yang's fingertips as they tangled with the fabric of his shirt was a stark contrast to the coldness rolling off of him in waves. His dull gold irises stared into hers, which shone like lavender stars, and Yang felt like time had stopped as everything else faded away.
"How did you get here?" Shirou asked, slurring his words as he reached up and hesitated before grasping Yang's shoulder, almost like he was afraid she would turn out to be nothing more than an illusion.
"Shirou, thank the gods you're ok," Yang said, hugging him tighter. "Can you stand? We need to hurry and get out of here."
Blake dropped to her knees beside Shirou and ran her hands down his arm, checking for any sign of life. She squeezed his hand and held it close, fear etched in the lines of her face as she glanced over at Yang.
"Does this mean we beat the Nightmare for good this time?"
Pyrrha came to stand beside Ruby, who danced from foot to foot while biting her nails.
"If so, shouldn't we —"
"Look over there!" Ruby pointed into the distance, where an orange glow had begun to emanate. "It's the sun! Shirou must be waking up!"
Ruby's companions turned to watch the orange glow that increased in intensity with every passing second.
"I'm afraid not."
Pyrrha's shield clanged as she spun on her heel, ready to protect those around her. But when she caught sight of Artoria, standing tall and proud despite the fatigue that pulled at her features, she relaxed. Artoria held out a hand in greeting and said, "You four have been doing an incredible job at weakening this beast, but it still has some life left in it."
"But Shirou here!" Yang said, nodding to the semi-conscious figure in her arms.
"Indeed." Artoria smiled an aggrieved smile at Shirou. "As I said, you've weakened the Nightmare, and in your moment of need, Shirou heard your call and broke free of the Nightmare's hold, but even now, he is reliving his personal hell."
"No!" Yang felt Shirou become more indistinct in her arms. His body was like the predawn mist evaporating before the morning dawn. "Shirou! You need to stay with me. Don't disappear, fight!"
Yang's words never reached Shirou as he passed out and vanished without a whisper.
Yang let out a primal roar of despair and fury before clambering to her feet. She stalked towards Artoria, her fists clenched at her sides, and every step she took was weighted with rage.
"I'm done looking through these memories. I'm done seeing Shirou in pain. Take us to Shirou so we can wrap up this mission and end Grimm's life once and for all!"
Artoria's gaze bore into Yang for what felt like a lifetime before finally breaking the silence with a slow, methodical nod. Her words broke the tension in the air.
"One last fight, but it will be your hardest yet."
Yang glanced around the room at her companions; their faces were drawn and exhausted, but there was a fire still burning in their eyes that she couldn't mistake. With a determined breath she refocused on Artoria.
"Let's finish this thing."
Holy hell! This chapter was hard to write!
I can't tell you the number of revisions this went through, and I can't say it's my best chapter, but it needed to be posted to move the story along.
I hope it's a fun read and you all enjoy it.
Thanks for reading!