Chapter 5

(Clive Rosefield, Final Fantasy 16)

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Saber steps forward. His Master reminds him of himself when he was younger, only a bit more foolish. He can see that stubbornness in him. His desire to chase after his ideologies is reminiscent of his current self, one that seeks to create a better world. In his case, it was one where people could live and die on their own terms. In his Master's it's a world where people no longer have to cry.

It's a good dream, albeit a bit misguided.

Pain is needed to live, to improve. You cannot be happy constantly. If that were the case, then nobody is truly happy. They are just being alive.

However, his Master is aware of his own hypocrisy. His larger goals are something that are impossible to achieve.

That is why he respects his smaller goals.

To save a life.

Shirou Emiya just wishes to save a life. He may speak of a world where nobody will cry, but the truth is he wants to save someone just as he has been saved. So that he himself can learn what it is to be happy. It's the only way he can be happy.

So, if that's the case…

"I'm surprised you're here with him Saber. Your duty is no longer with him, but with Rin Tohsaka."

… then why is his future so bleak?

Saber glares at Archer. "Unlike you Archer, I still have some honor left in me."

Archer chuckles with mirth. "How interesting for you to assume I had any spec of honor in the first place." He gets up and glares down at Saber.

Saber spits. "You, of all people, know that you have had at lea-"

"Saber, enough." His former Master commands him.

Saber turns to protest against him. However, he stops as soon as he sees his former Master's eyes. His greyish blue eyes staring into golden bronze.

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Is this what it was like for Jill back in Phoenix Gate? Watching him face his own fears, his own doubts, his own past?

In this case however, Shirou must face his own future. He can't imagine what it's like, knowing that what you do will lead to your own destruction. Saber always fought for a better world, but Shirou is trying to fight to ensure that he can be happy in this world. His ideology is selfish yet selfless.

That is why he cannot understand how Shirou ends up like this.

Saber turns back towards Archer. His fist tightens it's grip on itself. "It's just… did you not achieve your dream of saving a life, Archer?" Saber looks at Archer with pity and pain. "Is you being here not proof that you saved someone?"

Archer winces and looks up in thought. "Saving a life… huh…"

Saber stares at him as Shirou looks on in understanding.

Archer looks down after a few seconds of silence. "It's true. By being here, I have become the definition of a 'hero'. I have indeed saved many lives."

"Then-!"

"But in doing so, all I had are regrets." Archer spat out in anger.

This time it was Saber's turn to wince.

Archer continued, ignoring what Saber felt. "I became a Counter Guardian after my death. Every time the Counter Force summoned me, I acted on its behalf."

Images were flashing before Shirou's eyes.

Archer was summoned to Ancient Greece to what seems to be the Trojan War. He nocks his arrows and fires, killing people in the process. Archer's eyes were proof that killing them meant little to him at that point.

"I killed."

A truck full of soldiers. They seem to be heading towards a place in America called Los Alamos. Archer nocks his arrows once more. He kills the entire squad.

"I killed."

Archer nocks his arrows once more. He aims and fires at a crowd of people. Were they innocent? Guilty? He couldn't tell. He was told to kill them all.

"Again, and again and again till I ceased to care." Archer explained. "For every life I took, I saved thousands."

Saber stepped forward. "But you fought for what you believed in! You still managed to prevent tragedy from occurring!"

Archer looks down at Saber sadly. "No… I stopped the world from dying. In doing so, I have caused many tragedies. In the end, I ultimately drove many to despair because of my actions."

"You…" Saber tries to say something but can't. He remembers what he did to the Mother Crystals back in Valisthea. How it caused Akashic to run rampant, how most of Storm fell as the fourth crystal fell. He indeed caused people to go into despair, but he fought for a better world where people would have choices.

"It's not as if I didn't want suffering to be removed from the world entirely, Saber. I just didn't want to see a world where everyone was crying." Archer states.

Saber's eyes widen as he stares at Archer. It's not a shocking revelation, but this is something that ultimately changes his view of Archer.

This was a broken man who had been betrayed by everything he believed in.

Rather than a world where nobody is crying, he ended up seeing a world where nobody is happy. In the end, Shirou Emiya was betrayed by his own ideologies that he believed in.

"Archer…"

Archer looks down at Shirou Emiya. "That is the truth about the ideal of Shirou Emiya. Saving one life means being unable to save another."

Saber looks hurt by what Archer said. His thoughts wander off to his own world. He failed to save Joshua, who gave his life for him to defeat Ultima and save the world. His own brother, whom he had sworn to protect as his shield. The one thing he held highest was destroyed in order to save everyone. He even failed to save himself in order to make the world a better place.

Archer projects a sword and throws it down to Shirou. It clangs and stumbles down the stairs until it lands directly down beneath Shirou's feet. Archer firmly stares down at Shirou. "Kill yourself, Shirou Emiya."

Saber glares at Archer. "You have no right to demand him that! You of all people…!"

"It is because I am him that I have that right Saber. Don't interfere in matters you don't understand." Archer disdainfully speaks out.

"Oh, I understand. I understand that you're hurting. I understand that suffering and pain more than anybody else. But you need to move past that. You need to-"

"And how can I, when every action I take leads to more suffering?! No matter what happens, all that I can do is take and take and take! There is no path where Shirou Emiya can be happy!" Archer argues.

"You've simply just lost your way! Your sins are merely holding you back! Your guilt can easily be washed away if you just accept them!"

Archer chuckles at the stupidity of Saber. "Sins? If there were any sins I have, I surely atoned for them when I died."

Saber stares at him questioningly.

Archer continues. "I was set up as a mastermind behind a conflict and was sent to the gallows."

Shirou winces at Archer's memory flashed by him. Him, walking to the gallows, to be hanged as everyone cheers his death.

"It's not as if I ever wanted gratitude. I simply wanted an outcome where people were happy." Archer grips his fists tightly. "But I never even got that in life and after death."

The killings flash through Shirou's mind again.

"I knew that guardians, were essentially just automated defense systems. They ended up becoming tools to save humanity."

Saber's eyes widen. "You… you sold your own afterlife and free will to become one of those?!" Saber's thoughts wander to Barnabas Tharmr. Funny enough, he would have been a better Saber then he was as he had mastered Odin's blade.

"I thought it would be worth it if it meant I could save someone." Archer grits his teeth. "But it was nothing like that! All Guardians do is just clean up the messes that humanity left behind!"

A vision appears again. A man not even aware it's his final moment just stares at the arrow, flying directly towards his skull. He was unaware that his friends would suffer the same fate.

A child crying as Archer leaves behind a dead body of a woman, who had an arrow sticking out of her forehead.

Archer continues his story. "I've already given up my agency. As a Counter Guardian, I will never be free of this task. I will always end up killing people no matter what. So, the only way to be free is…"

"Killing yourself? Are you aiming for a paradox? That should be impossible. You've already been recorded in the Throne of Heroes, you cannot possibly just stop being a Counter Guardian."

"Oh, but there is a chance. If I destroy not just his body, but his spirit, then perhaps the Counter Guardian known as EMIYA will not appear in this world." Archer explains, looking back to Shirou.

Saber turns towards Shirou as well. "You cannot possibly…"

Shirou calmly picks up the sword and stares at it.

Saber's shock is evident on his face. "Shirou…?"

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"Hey… Archer. Do you have any regrets?" Shirou asks.

Saber and Archer are stunned by this question. Archer chuckles spitefully. "After all I told you? Of course, I do."

Shirou sighs.

"Shirou?" Saber asks.

Shirou throws the sword away. "Then we really are two different people."

"What?" Archer asks with anger.

"No matter what happens, I'll never regret a thing. That's why I can never accept you." Shirou explains. "If you are my ideal, then it's my job to get rid of such a misguided ideology."

Archer closes his eyes and sighs. "It's that way of thinking that got me here. One day you will end up becoming me."

"That day will never come." Shirou counters.

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"I suppose that's true. If you aren't running from here, then Shirou Emiya should have no future." Archer steps down from the stairs.

Saber gets ready to pull out his sword but Shirou taps his shoulder, signalling him to stop. "Shirou…?"

"Thank you, Saber. But I need you to step back." Shirou walks past Saber. "This… this is a fight I need to have."

Archer opens his hands, grasping a weapon that is yet to be there. "Trace…"

Shirou opens his hands, gripping a weapon that isn't there yet. "… On."

The twin swords Kanshou and Byakuya appear in both of their hands. They stop at a short distance between each other.

Archer is the first to speak. "Can you even keep up with my blade works? If you are even off by the slightest, it will mean your death."

Shirou says nothing but instead rushes forward, he slashes at Archer while Archer quickly defends, leaving Saber to do nothing but watch the fight.

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"Ah. So, it would seem that the protagonists of this story are fighting." A man in black armor states as he watches the fight beneath him. It was an ugly scene for him. It feels like a repeat of his fight against Mythos.

"My lord. It appears Mythos is here as well. Shall we, bring him here for you?" A man appears behind the armored man. He also wore armor of silver rather than black.

The dark knight chuckles. "No… we must strike after this story ends. Then, we take Mythos to the Grail and offer him once more to the Lord."

Sleipnir Harbard bows before his lord. "As you wish, my lord."

Barnabas Tharmr, the Warden of Darkness, King of Waloed, Dominant of Odin and the Servant Rider watches over this battle.

He anticipates the end is near.

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Lancer is searching for Tohsaka Rin. He searches the hallway and remembers what Archer said earlier.

"I gave her up to Shinji a while ago. Last, I recall, she was in the basement."

Lancer sighs. "Curse these mansions. Is this how a commoner feels when walking in our palace?" He uses his senses to detect any nearby locations for a Master.

Ah.

This is a familiar feeling. The same one as when he encountered both Ifrit's Master and Archer's Master. The Tohsaka girl is nearby.

"So that's where she is."

Lancer marches onward. After this, one more debt to Ifrit shall be repaid. So he swears on the Lesage family line.

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AN

I might do a part 2 of this one. Perhaps showing off Dion vs Archer and eventually Barnabas v Shirou. I wouldn't know where to flex Clive's raw strength though. Perhaps Clive v Holy Grail?

I'm going for the interpretation that Clive died on the Beach at the end of the game. I do know that it is painfully obvious that he survives if you do the side quests, but I feel like it's easier to write it that way for this version of him to exist in the Throne of Heroes.

I should also change my Lelouch story from Alter-Ego to Pretender for Zero. But eh, too lazy for now.

Anyways, that will be all for today. I've been writing and rewriting the next chap of Pseudo Night. No guarantee when it will release.

As always thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. If not, then thank you for your time.