Hello everyone my work for my next Jalter fic update continues. This spiraled out as the original end to the previous chapter, but it expanded a bit. (As most of my works unfortunately tend to do.)

One of the reasons I wanted to end up doing this separately is because my first published fanfiction is for these two characters. So it felt sort of comforting in a way to tackle the pairing again after over 6 - 7 years of getting better at the craft. My other Artoria and EMIYA fanfiction funny enough I think is still my most liked and followed fanfiction. Now I'm giving it a bit of competition...hopefully.

For those of you, however, not coming over to this from my Summer Jalter x Ritsuku fic, I think there is still something here for you to enjoy being the avid Saber x Shirou shippers I know most of the fandom still gets behind lol. A lot of this short chapter can be read on it's own, and the rest of the context is interpreted by the interactions between the two characters featured here. Though I won't deny that a lot of the references to other characters are plot-related things that are to be experienced in the main ongoing story I'm working on.

So if you are just an avid Shirou x Saber or EMIYA x Artoria shipper, or a patiently waiting reader for the next update to my Jalter fic, please enjoy this appetizer.

Her armor made soft clinks wherever she went, and as such it was easy for him to know that she was nearby. The silver tips of her boots poked out from underneath the blue battle dress armor that he'd had many memories of over his long tenure with this particular servant. Her voice filled the evening air as she spoke to him.

"I detected nothing but animals in this forest. And perhaps one of those strange crab familiars that we've been dealing with since we arrived." Her voice had a familiar edge to it and hesitation for him to know that she was just acting dutifully and that it was not what she'd really wanted to say to him. Her hand was still outstretched in the way that clued him into her weapon still being brandished and at the ready.

However even as he took that last detail in, her arm dropped indicating she'd dispelled the weapon for the time being.

Emiya suppressed a sigh and stood up from his perch leaning down to the edge of the tree and slid down the bark to the forest floor. Amusingly, it wasn't the tree she'd expected him to come down from and she tensed when she turned to see him. Archer hoped he suppressed the worst of his smirk as he placed a hand on his hip. "It is little wonder, Medea is a powerful sorceress and shouldn't ever be underestimated."

The quiet of the evening seemed to settle in around them.

"She may yet figure out a solution for us to remember these loops."

"So you believe it's true then?" Artoria asked him, tilting her head.

His lips twisted with a grimace and he sighed a little. "I have little reason to not believe them. I've had my fair share of time loops being a problem. However, admittedly back during those particular grail wars, the outcome was always different."

Artoria stared at him and she was quieter than before and he could sense some of the nervousness in her voice. A quiet sort of hope that he knew to understand from her that she was desperate about something. "Would you accompany me on one patrol Archer?" Her face then grew stern and determined. "I think you should likewise find another vantage point should trouble come. And it would make it more difficult for anyone possibly watching."

He hummed and nodded once realizing he had to swallow. "Fine Saber," Archer Emiya wasn't one to concern himself too much with that of other servants. Saber though was an exception and perhaps a guilty pleasure he allowed himself. And he'd spent time enough around the King of Knights to know that it wasn't what she had meant to say.

A sigh escaped his lips and he fell in step beside her as the pair set off. And after a minute of silence, he decided to strike up the conversation again. Mostly because there was that small stupid part of him that couldn't just leave the conversation alone.

Because it was her after all.

Archer glanced at her, "Did you not believe it when our masters told us?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Saber tense up for a moment, though she didn't look at him as she thought over her answer. And it was only when she did, that she looked directly at him. "I did…but I suppose I can't help but feel concerned. Especially since we now know the danger that we are in, of being cut off from Chaldea."

"I see," Archer said carefully neutral while he thought on his answer. With his vision and sharp sight at the mention of them, he looked toward the clearing noting the peaceful calm tranquility of it. "You won't be much affected as I remember for perhaps even longer than I…" He tilted his head. "Your dragon spirit core."

"Perhaps." She stated. "But being low on Mana even for me would cause some particular strains on my class." Artoria looked up at him as she jumped over a fallen tree landing on the other side.

Archer meanwhile sighed before he followed landing beside her. "There are ways around the low mana problem. Blood is usually the easy route…the other route I remember being a bit more fun. If leaving more of a mess behind." He smirked.

Artoria meanwhile half stumbled managing to catch herself quickly enough that she only took a few quick steps. Instead, she turned around to glare at him with a slight blush on her cheeks. She gave a slight cough. "You shouldn't speak of such things with such crass Archer. It's unbecoming of heroes such as us."

"Unbecoming or not, it doesn't change the simple truth of it," Archer stated his smirk fading a little as he turned to look at the clearing again. "Besides the two of them sharing a tent together and sleeping beside one another underneath a leyline. I believe the situation at least warrants it as a consideration. It is probably the best thing that our master could do to help her."

"Only for the fact she doesn't want it, Archer." Artoria huffed.

"Want and need are incongruent you mean." He shook his head. "I don't know what was done to Jeanne Alter in the past…but it's certainly presenting her with a quite emotional conundrum." Archer sighed. "And our master is just kind enough to try and help her in the best way that he can without making things harder for her." A smile, more genuine, touched Archer's lips.

Artoria was looking at him. "So you can tell as well."

He shrugged. "I have eyes, Saber. It's more common than I think I would've guessed it to be when I was younger."

She glanced at him. "So you've seen it before?"

"Haven't you during your wars as King?" He nodded once. "It is…similar for me. When I was doing my job on behalf of Ayla in my contract to the world. I saw it and worse more times than I would particularly care to count or remember. All eras of war have its own share of disgusting hell holes to go with it."

Artoria frowned a little, but she said nothing. Which was, as far as Archer understood, her own way of agreeing sometimes. She looked solemn and haunted by perhaps some more of her memories of war.

Archer blew out a breath and decided to steer the conversation away, back to the topic that she was concerned about. "There isn't anything to be concerned about for them, Saber. Our masters are smart and they are…more normal people than you'd find of most mages. And they have plenty of battlefield experience whether we like it or not."

She looked at him more pointedly again. "I cannot believe you brush away the idea of us having been stuck in time loops so easily. Are you not concerned that we don't remember anything of our previous weeks?"

The red bowman hummed, "Would you prefer I do something else?" His eyes narrowed a little. "It's pointless, I think, to dwell on things that you had no control over. The only thing to be done is hope that Medea succeeds. And failing that…hope that masters see fit to inform us of our disposition earlier so that we might try to figure out a way around it sooner.

And in the small talk that ensued afterward, he'd found that Artoria's demeanor hadn't changed. Her armor clinked softly over fallen branches and leaves as she pushed on through the warm summer air still armored to the teeth, ready to fight at a moment's notice. The cool breeze was enough to give her pause when they reached a small hill.

His brow furrowed a little as he joined her, looking back at the clearing with Ritsuka and Jalter. Then his eyes flicked back to Saber. "Be honest Saber, is this really what you wanted to talk with me about?"

Artoria glanced at him though she didn't answer as she looked out across the dark forest. "Is that why you are so cynical Archer?"

"Huh?"

"The fact that you were a counter-guardian?"

There was a small silence that sat, and Archer found that Saber had once again avoided the questions of her concern. He tilted his head a little. Wanting to give it his genuine consideration even if he knew that it was a part of the answer. "I think it played the largest role in the way I ended up. A hero with no name worthwhile, and no forgiveness for those who blindly seek their ideals."

"I…see." She said carefully. "I suppose I would fall under that category for you wouldn't I?"

Archer stared at her as she turned to walk ahead again. "Is that what worries you, Saber? That my distaste for blind stupidity would somehow sully the way I think of how you comport yourself as both King and Servant?" He chuckled for half a second. "I guess I am flattered you see me worthy enough to even see my opinion as worthwhile."

She huffed, "Your barbs are as sharp as ever Emiya."

Though Saber was amusing to tease at times, she was still prideful, something Archer remembers well from all their interactions. He paused to think about how the way Ritsuka looked at Jeanne Alter and the way she often looked at him. There was a connection that they were trying to foster between as well as two clueless teenagers might.

"It's not you I am angry at when it comes to your history Saber. It is the people who couldn't see what you were trying to do. Of all the kings who lived I think you are perhaps the only one I would have willingly bowed to, and swore an oath." He folded his arms as he followed behind her, thinking on it more academically.

Only out of the corner of his eye she stopped, and he came to a stop too.

Her eyes were wide with surprise on him. "Your barbs are as cruel as your jests. I don't think I ever could command the loyalty of you. I'd like to think my rule was just, upheld by the ideals that we could better ourselves. But as you said, you don't-"

"I don't respect those who blindly follow Saber." Archer closed his eye and looked her up and down again. "That has nothing to do with how you led. Others were blinded by ego or whatever else drove their desires forward. Moreover, you can't say to yourself, that the Knights of the Roundtable didn't follow you blindly. As I recall, that was occasionally what brought forth drama during your rule."

Artoria hesitated, the forest coating them in their silence as they stood by one another under the moonlight of the forest. "So why do you feel the need to hang around with Mordred after everything they are responsible for?"

Archer felt his throat constrict. How in the hell should he have bothered to answer that? His grey eyes narrowed a bit on her. Part of him was astounded and left him in wonderment if that was the source of her disdain right now.

She noticed his hesitation to answer too, her eyes narrowed toward him. Clearly, she didn't want to be kept waiting with that.

"Mordred is more complicated than that, don't you think?" He answered a bit more carefully. Still wracking his brain for answers. Sure he'd spent some time with her, sparred with her in place of other knights. Played on her volleyball team against Saber. His eyes narrowed a bit at her regarding that. Was that the problem?

The King of Knights turned to him, stone-faced. As if she was bracing herself for something. Expectant of him to say something that would be another barb to her. Her lips twisted and her frown only deepened with the growing seconds ticking by. "How so, Archer?" She demanded of him.

"While she was in your history a knight of rebellion, and yes, I will openly admit she can be a bit stubborn like someone else I know, like you she bore a role too much for her to bear." He trailed off for a moment. "Consider, while your rule was wrought with the complications that arose, her personal life was what gave her those problems. She was made for the sole reason of destroying Camelot and undermining your rule. Instead, she swore allegiance to you and the round table. She had you to be a role model."

Saber listened to him. She tilted her head a little as she did considering.

"That role model only ignored you and did anything to demean her worth. And what if Morgon only preyed on those feelings to stoke it, making it all worse." Archer felt himself grow honest and he grew serious. "I hang out with her because she only wants someone to be proud of her. It was denied her in life…and here…aside from our masters…not much has changed. The knights of the Round Table, while they are polite enough…don't do much else for her." He hummed, "Strangely enough, I think Nightingale is also taking some time to look out for her in her own way. And an Alter version of yourself."

Artoria glanced off to the side. "I…see. A king who doesn't understand others…" Her lips twisted.

The red archer sighed. "You are better at that now than you were in life." He closed his grey eyes and was brought back to a Japanese mansion in Fuyuki. "But the reason she chooses to spend time with me is perhaps the same reason you prefer it as well. We have something to offer in one another's company."

"Like what?" She asked as neutrally as she could manage. Though it was a strained question to anyone's ear.

He was quiet biting his lip on how best to answer. "She reminds me of you. Perhaps a bit more flamboyant, and a different kind of stubborn…" Archer trailed off and tried to ignore the heat he could feel rising to his cheeks. He looked back towards Ritsuka and Jalter's encampment for the night. Trying to ignore the way those peering green eyes were glaring at him. "I don't spend time with you as you're usually busy corralling the other knights…and perhaps avoiding me sometimes."

Artoria was quiet, taking the time to mull over his words in silence, not wanting to make the wrong impression or say the wrong thing. She took a breath, "I see…I had assumed that…given your particular history with me…that you would have preferred to distance yourself."

"Whatever gave you that impression?" He looked back at her, his lips formed a line as he watched for a moment. "I am not the same archer you fought against…nor am I the same one that fought alongside you…" His mouth twisted, feeling a large set of further jumbling memories. The quiet lingered after he finished speaking and he still waited patiently for her to say something in turn. As he waited, he decided to take the lead on their patrol beat.

At last, Saber took a breath. "You accused me once as well that we had been alike." Her voice strained around the statement a little. "I suppose that you were right in your accusations about regret."

Archer was quiet for a moment. "We met our end in the same way you and I…upon a hill of bloodied swords. Forging contracts with the world to avert a fate which we couldn't fully comprehend." His mouth started to twist a little. "My accusations were harsh as I recall, but filled with purpose at the time." He glanced over his shoulder at her, knowing she was already following behind him.

She was looking back toward their master's camp like he had been occasionally doing so. Her lips were twisted still thinking it over. "Perhaps that is why we've continued to encounter one another. Ever intertwined for our shared fates."

Emiya hummed into the evening air wanting to ignore those old feelings that started to stir within him. Though upon observing her, even he could recognize how much she'd grown. And how little the weight of those previous accusations held. They were outdated now, and he needed to inform her of such. He paused, placing a hand on his hip. "Don't fret over such old words with too much Saber." He risked a small smirk. "They are…inaccurate now."

Artoria stared at him and he could see a small smile form at that. "I…see. I suppose your words do me honor then. To know that I've grown since our…previous encounters.." She tilted her head up and that single hair bounced as she did. "Actually, I think I owe you much beyond what even I can remember. But…your unfiltered words helped me understand."

He pressed his lips together and scratched the back of his head. "I think you would have found your own way without me in any case." This time when he looked back at her, he could see the way she was almost glaring at him from the back. He turned away meaning to focus on finding their patrol path through the forest.

"I'm not so sure." She muttered coming to a stop behind him.

He paused too, if only to send another glance towards Ritsuka and Alter's tend in the clearing now some distance away. Easily traversable by a pair of well-armed servants.

Until her voice whispered from behind him. Carrying with it a quiet, and subtle weight that she certainly intended it to have. But in that word, he could detect all the nerves in her voice. The nervousness, the distress, the panic. The word held so much fear and yet so much desperation that letting it out was comparable to her opening her heart.

"Shirou?"

Archer Emiya stopped a few paces ahead, freezing midstep, and didn't turn to face her for a moment. That name he hadn't heard in so long…he actually couldn't remember the last time someone had mentioned it to him at all. His fingers opened and closed and he took a long breath to steady his nerves.

"It's you, is it not?"

The obvious answer to say, for him, was no. Archer had tried to distance himself from his youth in nearly all versions of the Fifth Grail War he could remember. None of it to any good avail really, since he could do nothing to avert his fate. He glanced down and for a moment at the forest floor and listened to the small breeze blowing past them.

However, there was that other part of him that stirred from long ago reminding him of how many times Saber would be responsible for saving him. The part of him that wanted to make the answer simple and perhaps their relationship thus far infinitely more complicated. Admitting that he was indeed someone who used to bear that name.

He could hear her footsteps as she rounded to face him. In an instant, he knew exactly what she was after. Her footfalls came to a stop directly in front of him. And there was nowhere for him to look but at her.

She stared at him. "I…want to see you." Artoria held a hand up, some of her confidence returning. Or perhaps her stubbornness despite the blush on her cheeks. She wanted to determine how she was right.

"Saber-" He tried.

"Please." She asked, "Medusa was right…I've…waited too long." She seemed to choke on air for a few seconds as she stared at him. Her fingers were still in the air halfway to him. Her other hand though, dug into her clothes. Wrinkles as she squeezed through the material so hard that her hand would start to turn red. "Even if it's impossible…" she muttered quietly. "I want…to be certain."

The red archer sighed looking down at her. His body twitched as he restrained the first motion. Wanting to think it over longer. Wanting to avoid all the other complications that might be thrown in. It was a dangerous thing for a servant to form an attachment. He knew that better than anyone. But perhaps that young fool in him wasn't as gone as he wished him to be. The part of him that continued to strive until he would at last reach his goal.

Quietly, he finally accepted her request. And lowered his head a little towards her. He didn't look her in the eyes and instead focused on the silver and blue dress of her armor. Her armored gauntlet hand was cool to the touch despite the warm air. He felt her fingers comb through his hair rolling it forward in a manner it might've looked in his youth. She was careful to ruffle it gently not wanting to earn his ire.

Something, he thought, she would have to work much harder for.

Then she was done, and she stepped away, waiting for him to look back up at her.

His frown deepened for a moment, and then he straightened up to look her in the eye. He could hear her intake of breath.

Sharp and the look in her green eyes wasn't that of disgust as he imagined. Or anger as he'd dreamed. But rather something much more simple. "Shirou." Filled with all the certainty that wrestled away any doubt.

"I'm not him saber." He started quietly. Then he moved to push his hair back into place. There was little point in him dwelling over his regrets and past now that he was here, and for the moment contractually away from Ayala. He suspected though, that when the Grand Order ended, he would end up back on a hill of swords forever waiting on the call.

"You two still share the hallmarks of similarity." It was a declaration he noted and he wasn't sure what to make of it. There would've been a time, likely during one of the fifth holy grail wars when that might've insulted him. Now, even if he disliked Shirou or the person he'd once been. He'd long since accepted that they shared similar facets.

Archer found that he hadn't been angered by the comment. His lips twisted a little and still stared at her.

The two of them hadn't moved, and she was standing where she'd been lowering her arm. There was still a blush present on her as she seemed to shy away. But she seemed to understand what she had done when she continued, her voice betraying her nerves away at the thought of now just as suddenly pushing Archer Emiya away again. "Do you…not think you're alike?"

"Only enough to warrant some comparisons…" Emiya put a hand on his hip and glanced once more back to the clearing. He kept his ever-watchful eyes out on his master's tent. His lips twisted a little. "I will admit that we were once similar pacifists, but we have fundamentally different perceptions of the concept and how to fulfill our obligations."

Artoria stared at him. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the glance, but he could see her expression shifting from one form to another. Those nerves were still there he could see.

Her lips parted. "Why did you hate Shirou?"

There was a beat of quiet that passed between them at the comment. She knew exactly why the question needed to be asked. They have had a few back-and-forths regarding the archer's memories of her. It had become clear very quickly that she did have some hazy memories of her own, perhaps dreams.

Awareness of other versions of herself that had been shown to her.

Emiya's lips twisted a little. "I had a lot of reasons." The list of them came and went through his mind. But he found himself circling back to the simplest one that was masked by all the others. But it was a deflection that found its voice next. The simplicity in the realization that there was a tinge of hypocrisy as it came from specifically Artoria. "Why do you want to stop yourself from becoming king?"

It was as if he'd physically hit her he thought, the look of abhorrent betrayal touched her expression. He was only reminded of her earlier comment about his barbs and cruelty. It was a hard thing for her to keep her eye contact with him. So she glanced away and she seemed to grow distant for a second.

"Regret right?" He spoke into the space between them. Archer put a hand on his hip and he was quiet while he considered what to say next. "That in a word can sum up everything. And why I chose to distance myself from such an identity. The boy was unbearably naive at the best of times."

"Archer…I think I remember deciding to give up on my wish to undo my legend as King." Artoria frowned a little.

And it gave him a pause to eye her for a moment.

"I can't say I remember my reasons all that well…but…I think it's what tethered me…for the longest time. The only certainty that I know is that it was you, or at least a version of you that helped me…get over that wish." She tilted her head a little, and her green eyes came back up to him as she smiled a little.

Emiya suddenly felt trapped under that gaze. "I gave up on mine too." His lips twisted, "This version of me…remembers two times I tried to kill Shirou." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Saber tense at that. "One of them, I succeeded. The other…I gave up the fight with him." His lips twisted.

"So you wouldn't try to kill him if you end up summoned back in the war?"

Emiya shook his head slowly. "Not anymore. But not for any personal reason on my mind having been changed. It's that I accepted my actions to stop Shirou will accomplish nothing. And in the event where I succeeded…well, I still existed." He sighed a little and shook his head. "I guess it freed up my plate enough to be here. No wishes left to be clouded by regretful ones."

He glanced off once more toward that tent isolated in the center of a clearing. Then he continued for a moment hearing Artoria's foot fall behind him. It was more instinct than anything else really, that informed him of the fact that Artoria was considering something else. For his part he was in no rush, and allowed the saber to gather her thoughts in silence.

The forest was dark and quiet around them, enclosing them apart from the rest of the world in Medea's barrier. Archer was amused at the thought, knowing that at one time the thought of being placed in Medea's barrier might've given him some slight cause for concern. He spared the King of Knights another glance behind him.

He found her green eyes sullen, just as she'd found her voice once more. "Did you have a wish that still needed to be granted, Archer?"

But like before, he knew it not to be the question that was bothering her.

Her fingers twitched and twiddled with one another when she interlocked them under the appearance of stretching them under their armored gauntlets.

He blew out a breath and considered deeply. Now that all his other hopes, plans, and numerous attempts at trying to correct Shirou's course had fallen to the wayside. He found an old memory popping itself back into his mind. Of a woman with blonde hair, clad in armor standing over him in a shed under the pale moonlight.

Archer huffed, "I suppose I do." He folded his arms.

Avalon.

There was a promise that he'd made. That somehow, someday, he might make it there to be with her. However, Fate was strange it seemed, and their reuniting had happened far sooner beyond the realm of Avalon.

Quietly, he wondered if it meant he was getting closer…or if this was merely something to push him further in that particular direction.

Archer touched his chin and hummed, "I think…I've only just one." He smiled at her. "More of a dream than a wish. But it remains all the same." He sighed a little and pushed on ahead.

Artoria licked her lips. "I see…" She trailed off, unaware of how purposefully vague Emiya had been about answering her question. However, she was content with the answer after a few moments. "I'm afraid I no longer have a wish…I only hope that I'll stop returning to that godforsaken hill."

Emiya hummed.

Though under his ever-intelligent grey eyes, he once more noted that it wasn't the issue that Artoria wanted to talk about. Still.

His lips twisted a little, and he moved to try a different part of the conversation. Deciding to focus on a subject that had privately bothered him, but one that might show his willingness to be open with her. He hoped that it would help lead him to what was bothering her. On the other face of it, airs out one of his concerns. He tilted his head. "Do…our masters remind you of anyone?"

That was a fact that bothered him. Knowing his luck they might as well could have been related for all he knew. Even if he possessed no memories of them. Though that, he suspected, could just be chopped up to this version of him not ever having reached that point in his life.

Artoria's eyes narrowed with thought. "It's…like I almost have a memory. More of a flash than anything. My memory of you…" She cut herself off for a second."My memory of Shirou while hazy, I will never forget that orange-red hair. Gudako tends to remind me of him to a small degree. Though perhaps a bit sharper in knowing when to avoid a fight." She smiled a little, eyes glittering with memory.

Emiya snorted, "It wouldn't be much to be sharper than that boy." He sighed a little but nodded. "It's bothered me for some time…Though…I'm not sure if it all rings true." The red archer hummed. "And Ritsuka?"

Artoria's eyes narrowed. "He is more difficult…I think. I dreamed of a girl with purple hair once. And then another time, a girl with black hair and blue eyes. Much like the way he looks now. But their names escape my memory. I don't even remember the sharper features of their faces all that well…just their general…color about them I suppose."

He tilted his head a little at that.

"All I can remember is that they were once precious to me…I think." Her brows knitted together a little. "Or perhaps…they were once precious to Shirou…" Artoria trailed off for a moment, falling into a long quiet. Her lips twisted in thought. Then those green eyes stared at him as she found the place he was intentionally leading her. "You think…they are related to him?"

"Perhaps." He answered quietly. "I can't help but worry at least a little." Emiya grinned a little. "But truthfully I know that this version of me isn't some parental figure for them." It was an odd thing to consider. It might after all simply be that they were Shirou's children. Though he wasn't sure why their names wouldn't be Emiya or Tohsaka.

"Different timeline." He mumbled to himself.

Artoria paused once more on the top of the log of a dead tree. Her green eyes scanned the forest around them, her eyes narrowing. "What about there, for another possible perch for you?" She pointed to a fairly tall tree. She carefully brought them back to the conversational pretext of why she'd asked him to go on patrol with her.

Emiya hummed, but ultimately ignored the question, deciding to focus in on one of the important details Saber had actually let slip. Her worries about why he chose to hang out with Mordred, and the pretext he'd given her as to why he chose to. His reason was that Mordred had reminded him of the King of Knights.

And that part about her waiting too long.

The red archer, unlike the boy who was at the front and center, part of their subject matter, was far more skilled with conversation. He eyed Saber as he followed her to the tree of which she indicated. Deciding he would rephrase the question if it wasn't easily accepted or thrown to the wayside. "Waiting too long for what?"

He caught the way Saber had stiffened, and it was more than enough for him to know that she'd landed on the right spot of her percent memory. Though when she glanced over her shoulder at him, a small red tint touching her cheeks in the pale moonlight, Emiya swallowed, realizing himself perhaps just how in trouble he would be if he wasn't careful.

His heart picked up its pace, and he felt a flush rise to the back of his neck.

"What do you mean Archer?" Saber had gambled they both knew. Perhaps an avenue for them both to escape the conversation.

He took a breath. "Medusa was right." He said implying the importance and the context of his quoting of her. Then he made an addendum to her original statement, "...we've waited too long." Emiya put a hand on his hip. Allowing for what he hoped, was a reassurance to her, that they were on equal ground now with one another. No king trying to desperately undo her wish. And no boy desperately trying to save everyone.

Just an Archer and a Saber.

Though he could sense perhaps the steeling of her barbs, Emiya realized his task might've just become a bit more difficult.

She placed a hand on her hip in a similar gesture to him as she waited for him to fall in step beside her. Though he could see both her determination and her vulnerability when she spoke to him. "What do you think of me, Archer? Beyond the fact that I've…" She trailed off for a moment. "That I've grown."

Emiya sighed a bit. "Why ask something like that?"

Her lips twisted, "Because it matters to me what your answer is." Artoria took a step toward him, the two of them almost touching with the quick movement. She grabbed his hand too. "I wish not to offend you or ruin our friendship."

He stared at her for a few moments.

She backed up a step, "Please." Her eyes seemed to glitter at him for a moment.

The archer resisted the urge to sigh and paused with folded arms at the base of the tree which would be next perch. He found the words clogged in his throat for a moment. It had certainly felt sudden the way this conversation was turning. "About you Saber…I think I could go on for hours…"

She tilted her head a little, and that single strand of hair that was sticking up bounced with the movement. And Emiya couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to it, and then away from it.

"I mean…" He trailed off again to consider. "It's difficult to organize my thoughts and speak plainly in this regard. But if I were to encapsulate it…" His lips twisted a little, and Emiya's brow furrowed with the thought. "You've been my hero since I was a boy." His lips twisted a little. "I suppose…what I think of you starts there. Even when we were opposed to each other I could never bring myself to despise you. Not fully anyway." His brows knitted together with thought. "It's strange…in that sort of way…"

Artoria hummed, "I suppose…but Archer I get the impression you know exactly what I'm asking." She leaned forward and for once, he was graced with a small confident smile touching his fellow servant's lips. The sort she often tried to keep to herself in order to project her regality wherever she went.

It was then he was grateful for being at Chaldea. Not even Shirou was privy to such smiles during his time with her. Though he thought that might just be the differences in timelines Ayala had graced him with remembering. He smiled in turn hoping that it was enough to convey that admission. "Saber, if I'm to speak of you, I would like to still start near the beginning. Under the moonlight in the backyard shed."

Artoria blinked and hummed. "Why there?"

"Because you were the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on." For once it was his blunt nature that burrowed through all his tact. His lips twisted a little knowing he couldn't rescind it or take it back now that it had come out. He could feel the heat rise to his cheeks, the boy would blush bashfully. Emiya hoped that most of it didn't reach his expression.

Though the only hint that he felt boyish was the fact, that in the silence that followed, he rubbed the back of his neck.

Artoria meanwhile had stared at him for a long few seconds as if her mind had gone blank. Or perhaps what he'd said hadn't quite sunk in. Or she simply didn't believe that he'd been so open.

Archer was, after all, rarely ever so open. Though he didn't hide the amusement as it followed in the silence at her slowly reddening expression.

Finally, she'd come to a little at the sight of his small smirk. She coughed and folded her arms feigning a pout that was more reminiscent of Rin than it was saber. "You jest and toy with my heart again." She turned her green eyes on him again. "As well, I'm not sure I believe it coming from someone who thinks Medea looks gorgeous. For that implies they have a higher standard than they would me." She waved him off with another huff as she continued down the winding trail path she'd made earlier.

Emiya was left to wonder if that particular comment had been what had started this whole thing. Saber had been acting strange ever since he'd made that comment. Stranger still, compounded by the preceding words from Medusa about waiting too long. Jealousy he often found was a powerful motivator.

"I see…" He said carefully, taking another look up at the tree. Then after some careful consideration, he realized she had yet to say a word about her feelings toward him. Even if it was obvious to both of them. He smiled and followed after. "Saber," he said chidingly. "Could it be that you've taken issue with my complimenting of other women before yourself?"

He couldn't quite see her face, but the red tint that touched her ears was more than enough for him to know. She'd stiffened ahead of him.

Despite the twitch, Artoria whirled to face him. "Of course not!" She sputtered for a few seconds and then stepped closer. "As I said, you clearly have a better standard of interests if you prefer Medea over me."

He sighed at that.

She let out a breath and glanced down. "Even with that…" Artoria bit her lip and her armored fingers twitched again, trembling. A thin line of water had started to form in her emerald-green eyes. The tears didn't fall and her voice turned the corner somewhere between desperate and vulnerable. "I want to believe you."

Archer fell quiet.

"Is what Medusa said true, Archer?" She asked.

Emiya's smirk had vanished. So to did any pretense of her teasing him. He realized in reality that Saber had already confessed. Just not in any words that would've been easier for him to know with certainty.

"Did we wait too long?" She stared into his grey eyes, and now she was close enough to touch him.

He placed a hand on his hip. Resisting the urge to say no outright even if that answer was desperately dancing around his heart. After All, this was Saber, his Saber, or at least she had been for a time. Especially if she could draw up memories of him. Or at least know enough of the two of them to be comfortable.

But there was the flip side of that history too. There was lots of baggage and feelings strung out in the open between them. The sort of things that would've given a reasonable person enough thought to think about it for longer than he did.

Emiya's fingers brushed her metal-covered ones. Those green eyes were growing more worried with each passing second of silence and she snatched his fingers in her grasp, as if not to let him get away or dodge the question. He focused on that one particular worry that stood out above the others. The idea that she was fond of him just simply because he was that boy that had grown up long ago.

"I…" He took a breath and nodded once more to himself. "So long as you are okay with understanding that I'm not that boy Saber" He offered her a sheepish grin.

She hummed and smiled at him. "Only enough to warrant some comparisons, Archer." She stepped closer. The space between the nearly closed and the top of her head barely came up to his neck. "You're both quite handsome for example." She snorted, "And I don't think many swordsmen out there could keep up with my skill."

Coming from her, he recognized the compliment. He still huffed, "And now it is you who jests saber. I can never hope to reach such a level." Emiya shook his head a few times, though there was a small smile on his lips. "We're both stubborn." He warned.

"So we are," She agreed. "But allow me to pay you another comment in repayment for your bluntness only a moment ago." Artoria seemed to steady herself a little on him. One metal hand wrapped around his, tracing the white lines of the dark armor he wore. "I admire your determination. It feeds into both your work ethic and your…drive to achieve your goal…always. Willing to throw yourself on the line for the sake of whatever cause you have." She blushed a little. "In most cases…that cause is being a hero. Even to me."

Her smile grew brighter as she spoke, her green eyes roaming him. It was as if she was allowing herself to drink in the details of him.

At last, Emiya let out a breath, "Then…" His lips twisted a little, but a smile slowly formed as he tried to find the right words. The kind that wouldn't push her away as often as he did. Previous times when they had pushed one another away, it was rarely ever out of malice. The language they used was often excuse-making. The current singularity at hand would be one such example of something that would've been used in the past.

She looked into those grey eyes waiting for him to continue. When she tilted her head, she found her cheek in the grasp of one of his hands. Artoria, out of reflex, grabbed his wrist but neither of them made a move further. He noticed it took her a second to fully realize what he'd done. And it was through her mix of expressions that he figured out what he'd done.

He smiled, "Then I think we waited long enough." Archer straightened up a little. "If that is, of course, alright with you King of Knights?"

She blinked and her smile grew a bit wider. "Then I have just one last favor to have of you, Archer, before we return to our duties." Artoria's armored hand was still closed around his wrist. She seemed to take a breath.

Emiya suspected, but he made no suggestion otherwise. The red archer knew himself well enough he might let one of his flaws slip through if he did.

Artoria grabbed a fist full of his red mantle torse and pulled him closer, and his face toward hers. She squeezed her eyes shut when they were close enough. She pressed onward even as he could see perhaps some of those nerves were getting to her. In a way, it reminded Emiya of one of her best qualities. That she would push through with something when she'd come to a decision with certainty.

That was something that he had in common with her too.

Her lips touched his. The kiss was quick and chaste. But he didn't much care and neither did she. She had only wanted to express her feelings.

Emiya wondered if Artoria could feel the smile on his lips. And just when she was pulling away, he pulled her in again for another quick and chaste kiss. She'd tensed with surprise, but she melted against him, as much as the armor they were wearing could allow.

He stroked her cheek as they pulled away.

She smiled, sighing contently. "I have a feeling the knights of the Round Table will be giving me a lot of trouble when they find out."

He snorted. "No more than they give me all the time Saber."

Their armor seemed to be just a little uncomfortable for the seconds after. However, as the tension winded back down, the better they both slowly fell back into their skin. Emiya broke it first and gleaned off into the dark forest around them.

Saber while slower, followed in short order the red of her cheeks fading with the cooler evening air. Her sword rematerialized at the grasp of her fingers, covered in its divine wind. She took a breath. "Shall I take the lead, Emiya?"

He smiled, his bow returning to his grasp. "On your suggestion, Artoria."