Author Note
Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Avalon Bond.
I have noticed that some are still pissed about Rin in this story not having feelings for Shirou and vice-versa. I know that the Visual Novel did show them as being romantic with one another and all that. But this is more of a personal choice of mine rather than sticking with the VN story. The basis of this, in my story, at least, is that Rin and Shirou had formed a bond together throughout the war that they thought was romantic in nature, however as time progresses, it turns to be a very strong friendship. As I stated before, this is a Saber x Shirou story.
Now, let us answer the reviews that does not complain about Rin not being in love with Shirou.
Vixm – Well, it was more for them to see just how much Saber could use of her skills at the level of mana transfer she is receiving. It was a test.
OoOXylionOoO – Thank you for the compliment.
SentinalSlice – Once again, my sincere condolences for your grandfather's passing. Also, the Tohsaka family has acquired many magic crests in their lifetime, according to researches of the fate material. So, she had given Shirou one of them for him to use.
Fate: Avalon Bond
Chapter 3 – Future plans
A year has passed since Shirou had begun supplying mana to Saber.
By now, his tutors fairly believed that he became not only a competent mage in Rin's eyes and a fabulous fighter in Saber's.
His magus training consisted mainly in him learning fire elemental mage craft, healing magic and rune crafts. Rin had taught him a couple of other things, about the more theoretical part of thaumaturgy such as alchemy and jewel magecraft, but Shirou had opted to learn them only in passing. He had already a good specialization, probably better than most in projection and reinforcement. His interest in rune craft became to the point that he could create some very strong bounded fields, writing the sealing array on the rocks and spreading them in random locations. It certainly served to imprison enemies as Saber had to use force in order to break free.
Shirou had also used rune craft on his projected swords.
Rin had given him the idea and he went to work on immediately. By adding runes to his projected swords, he could make them more durable without the need of reinforcement. Shirou had even managed to learn how to devise bounded fields that would absorb and even reflect attacks. Rin had offered to be the guinea pig and used her gandr shots against his runes protection. It ended up reflecting on herself. Rin had bombarded him with gandr shots in retaliation when that happened, forcing Shirou to run for his life.
His runes craft worked wonderfully well when he projected a plain Caliburn and then added reinforcement runes to stabilize the elements inside the sword noble phantasm.
Saber was specially thrilled to fight with her noble sword once more and even more so, knowing that it no longer took too much from Shirou to project it.
Rin had given her student al least a passing grade after all that, much to Shirou's dismay. She had very high standards.
Lastly, she had instructed that Shirou to never use his reality marble unless they encountered a life or death situations and certainly never in the presence of anyone from the Association. Shirou at the time asked why, but Rin had simply told him to trust her on this. Not only it would jeopardize Saber's supply, but it would also mark him a target from the Association, which would…not be pretty. Shirou was already convinced when Rin had mentioned that it would jeopardize Saber. It was better to let her do the tougher fights when the situation called for it as he would be Saber's main battery charge.
In terms of swordplay, Saber had already believed that Shirou was a worthy opponent before. As their spars continued, they could see that Shirou had grown quite considerably. Not only taller, but his overall muscles were further developed now. As for his style of fighting, Archer's style became second nature to his movements. Also, Shirou had trained extensively in Saber's style to the point that she believed him to be at least adequate. If Shirou were to fight against a swordsman or woman of her level, he would know how to attack and defend properly.
The greatest surprise came from Saber.
Seeing as Avalon was inside Shirou's and not in her, it did not impede her body from running its natural course anymore. She was thus surprised to see that she had grown a couple of inches ever since staying with them. Rin theorized that the power of Avalon created a bounded field that would bequeath limited immortality through constant regeneration as well as preventing physical deterioration caused by aging. Saber found this new experience to be quite interesting. Ever since she took Caliburn from the stone, she had not aged a day and now, she was seeing this new development with keen eye. So much so that Rin and even Taiga had introduced Saber on more feminine matters.
She still had the same mentality of a knight and king, but after much insistence from Rin and even complements coming from Shirou, to which she blushed slightly, Saber relented and accepted it slightly.
The three friends had been inseparable this past year. Aside from school, work, training and studying, the three had been to many places in Fuyuki and the region. Shirou had even taught Saber how to swim. They had tickets for Shinto's public pool attraction, and it was quite amusing to see the servant's eyes spark every time she went down the water slides in fast velocity. However, her favorite attraction was the wave pool as she would simply stay afloat for hours in deep relaxation, much to Rin and Shirou's amusement. They had even taken Saber to know some other major cities in Japan like Tokyo and Kyoto. Her eyes were glued to the history of samurai and the different swords in existence.
With time, Shirou and Rin had developed quite the bond as well.
While not the same as what happened in the fifth grail war, Shirou could confide many things with her and she with him.
So much so, that Rin had told him about the letters that she had exchanged with the Mage's Association.
She said that after graduation, she was thinking of going there to expand on her mage knowledge.
She had extended the invitation to him as well to go study with her there. Shirou had declined the offer to study mage craft, opting instead to use his skills in order to save people. Rin had understood his reasoning, seeing as he would not be able to do that being inside the Mage's Association. Rin knew that Saber would remain with Shirou as per her oath to protect him. Of course, that would mean that Rin would not be able to provide Saber with mana, seeing as she would be in London. As such, Shirou had even offered to provide all of Saber's mana, thus freeing Rin to do what she wished to do. Shirou's magic prowess was becoming top-notch and would only improve with time. And Rin wanted to have as much mana as possible for her studies.
At times, they were able to make some tests.
Rin had devised a system between them that would allow for either Shirou or Rin to compensate for Saber's mana supply. Normally, they would supply equal amounts, but with this new system, either Rin or Shirou could provide more or less. One time, Shirou had supplied all of Saber's supply and the three were surprised to see that it was not overwhelming to him. Of course, his own abilities as a fighter was severely diminished, but with his rune craft providing for his swords' reinforcement, Shirou needed only one or two projections to fight. Shirou still provided Saber with his blood, but that now was needed once or twice a month.
Of course, once the missions started, then he would need to provide more, depending on the situation.
But, neither Saber nor Shirou minded the situation as both got used to it.
In terms of Rin's decision to eventually go study abroad, the three had believed that this conversation would be tense between them, but surprisingly so, it was not.
Both Saber and Rin had known that they would not be able to quell Shirou's trust for saving people much longer. And he could not do that while studying at the Association. Also, Saber was not a fan of simply going to school either, neither was she a fan of waiting for them to return from school and doing nothing. As a knight, she missed the action and fighting Shirou every day, while enough to satisfy somewhat, lacked the element of danger and the rush of fighting. She believed that it was her oath as a knight and Shirou's partner to aid him in saving as many as possible. It made her remember the missions she would lead as King together with her knights to unite the country.
Still, the three were indeed inseparable and Shirou vouched to come visit Rin every time they were in Europe, much to the brunette's delight.
Perhaps, she could check the insides of the Association to see which areas that her friend could participate. Rin was no stranger to the world of enforcers and even freelancers who would be asked at times to aid the Association with matters involving magic being used against the association's doctrines around the world. She would definitely look into it once arriving there. She could even be Shirou's contact in there once she had settled down.
One thing that changed for the better was Shirou and Saber's relationship.
After Shirou's wonderful dinners, Rin would often go to sleep early and thus the other two would simply stick around, drinking tea and chat, though it was mostly Saber who spoke and Shirou listened.
Shirou was especially curious about how Saber's life was both before and after she took Caliburn from the stone. She gladly explained it all to him, even the dark parts of her history like Lancelot's secret affair with Guinevere, Mordred, the Knight of Treachery and even other dark episodes like Sir Tristan who accused her at the time of not understanding the hearts of men. While he had seen some footage from their shared memories in war time, he had not much to go on. To this day, Saber would venture about her dreams and wishes to him. While they both knew that the Grail system would no longer grant her what she wanted, it did not mean that she had forgotten and moved on that easily. Shirou talked about the time of the fire and Saber remembered seeing his dreams as if she was right there by his side. To her, it was a very traumatic experience.
The feeling of being useless to others, while at the same time fighting for your life.
They talked about many things, indeed, though she was dissatisfied with some of his opinions.
Truth be told, being ancient times, the penalty for atrocities was either life imprisonment or a death sentence.
To an idealistic like him it was unacceptable. Still, Saber took the time and explained to him about what was needed of the king in those times. Yes, respect had to be earned just like today, but authority needed to be enforced on occasion. Shirou had learned that, unlike today's political systems, back then there was only monarchy. The king would decide all matters. The king was both the judge and the executioner. If the king had opted to let someone live, a bunch of political ramifications would follow. The same would happen if the king ordered someone's execution. Despite it all, she was successful in uniting her people and for that she had earned Shirou's respect even more than before. Truly, he had no idea the amount of tribulations that she went through as king.
Aside from that, they had discussed the events of the Forth Grail War.
Shirou had forgotten that she was his father's previous servant, though he understood from her that many of his decisions in the last war had brought shame to her as a knight. Shirou was introduced to a Kiritsugu that he did not know before. He was introduced to his fame in the Association, known as the magus killer. Dark schemes, backstabbing, betrayal…all of this happened in the last war and mostly caused by Kiritsugu's actions. Still, Saber theorized that in the end, he must have had knowledge about the Grail's true nature, hence why he ordered her to destroy it. Shirou then came to know more about his father's wife and Ilya's mother Irisiviel. Aside from the fights with Lancer, which Saber considered a greater adversary than this war's Lancer, Irisviel was perhaps the only good thing that happened to Saber. Irisviel was the opposite to Kiritsugu. She was happy, straightforward even excessively so, wanted to enjoy life as much as possible.
She had even confided a dark moment in the last war when she had discovered that Berserker was her most treasured knight Sir Lancelot.
Shirou was surprised when Saber cried as she retailed that experience. They were at the house's garden that night and Shirou held her close to his chest in an attempt to comfort her. Saber had hugged him back that day as her tears drenched his shirt. One thing that changed throughout this year was that Saber had shown more of her vulnerability...her insecurities to him. In times of war, she was afraid of doing this, but nowadays, there was no fight to be fought, at least not yet, and certainly no need to keep up a tough front. She could be free to express herself to him. As such, their bond got even stronger. Saber could confide with him, better than with Rin. While she appreciated the company of the woman magus, she was much more at ease with him.
After that talk, Saber and Shirou developed an even closer friendship.
While she would go out with Rin, Taiga and Sakura on occasions, she would be with Shirou most of the time, be it in training and in their commute to work.
Shirou had even expanded their side hustles and found another job for the pair. While they would work at Neko's pub on Mondays and Wednesdays, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Shirou would work as a chef in a café while Saber served the customers. Rin had even given the idea of joining them for dinner at the café with Sakura on occasion. Of course, at the beginning, Saber had to learn how to attend the customers, which was a new and taxing experience. If it weren't for Shirou explaining the craft and even calm her nerves at some of the customers, she would be quite lost.
===xxxx====
This Friday, Rin had invited Saber for a quick getaway in Shinto District.
Usually, Sakura would tag along, but not today and Shirou would be busy helping his friend Issei with the student council.
The timid girl had been rather close to Rin from the past few months for reasons that Rin did not wish to tell them. Sure, she knew that if Shirou were to hear about what her sister went through, he would march straight to the house and deal with it, probably doing more harm than good. She had a plan to take Sakura away with her to London as soon as Rin graduated. Rin would use the Association to protect her little sister from Sakura's adopted Grandfather. For this, she could not count with Shirou and Saber, because it required a more finesse approach. If Zouken knew what she intended on doing, then he would trap Sakura inside their house and then Rin would need to go in there and rescue her by force, which knowing the elusive magician, it would not work well.
As to Shirou, Saber came to know about his nickname at the school and could not help but be amused at his altruism.
Rin's opinion was more negative, saying that people only took advantage of his kindness.
Still, Issei was a respectable young man in Saber's opinion, soon to become a priest at the Ryuudou Temple. He would not take advantage of Shirou, considering such background. She came to understand that Issei and Rin does not see eye to eye, so it explained why Rin would be against Shirou helping the soon to be priest. After they descended from the bus, they visited a couple of shops and food trucks while exchanging pleasant talk along the way. It was a nice break from the heavy schedule that both undertook.
Saber had even asked them to have another round of baseball, much to Rin's chagrin as she remembered how competitive Saber was, the first time around.
After a couple of rounds, they ended their getaway inside a fancier western-style restaurant.
While Saber believed that Shirou's cooking was better, it was nice to meet new restaurants.
"So, Saber, tell me how it's like working as a waitress…" Rin giggled as she saw Saber breathe deeply.
"It's tiring sometimes, Rin…I really wished that I had not talked Shirou into finding another place for us to work." Every time, she would attend a customer or two that ordered out of the menu, demanding substitution. "I know that Shirou makes literal magic in the kitchen and is able to adapt to some requests, but I do find it quite irritating." Rin nodded with a smile as she drank her refreshment.
"I have already told you too that you don't need to work two jobs. I have enough money to help with the house expenses." Yes, and Shirou had already explained it numerous times that she was a guest in his house as well as Saber. It just so happens that Saber would not allow him to do everything alone.
"No, Rin, I refuse to simply do nothing while Shirou does all the work…it's not how I was raised. Even when I was king, I rarely delegated." Rin sighed at such a work-ethic.
"Okay, then, forget I said anything…still, this is only temporary…once we graduate, I will be in London studying and you guys will be travelling around, doing assignments."
Saber nodded with a radiant smile at the prospect as she ate her French fries.
She and Shirou had discussed in length about their adventures together after he graduated. They would be travelling across many countries around the globe. Rin would enroll them to the Association as freelancers and even aid them with missions. Shirou was even thinking of offering their services to the Church. While they would not be Executors, Saber was specially thrilled at the notion of hunting vampires and dead apostiles. She had dealt with them a couple of times as King and found them to be quite the adversary in battle. Rin had a contact or two from her time with Kotomine Kirei, who was an Executor before becoming an overseer for the Grail Wars in Fuyuki.
"I will never figure you two out…going out there, risking your lives. I very much prefer doing research…like a true magus in search for the root."
Yes, while Rin was not busy teaching magic to Shirou, she would be inside her workshop for hours. Saber complemented on her work-ethic, though like Shirou, she praised practice over theory any day. Still, there was something that bothered Saber these last few months. She observed her friends' relationship with a keen eye, often wondering about the presence of romance between the two – or lack thereof. She never pried about it, neither asking Shirou nor Rin. Sure, they were close…closer than many couples that Saber had ever known. However, while they enjoyed each other's presence and were at ease with each other, that spark was simply not there like it was when they fought together in the war. Saber remembered with quite fondness at the couple's constant bickering with each other. Rin would boss him around sometimes and Shirou would stubbornly respond to Rin. In essence, it appeared to be a couple in every sense of the word.
Today, though, they were indeed best friends, but not a couple.
"Rin…" The brunette girl looked up from the menu she was looking at and looked in curiosity as Saber was finding the right words to bring a certain subject.
"Yes Saber, what is it." The servant was indeed trying to search the right words, while being afraid in trespassing a personal line with her friends.
"There is something I wanted to talk about, but I never brought it up…I did not want to temper with personal matters between you two." Rin frowned but ushered her to go on. "Did something happen between you and Shirou?"
"No, why do you ask? He sometimes gets into my nerves and I wish to shoot him point blank range, but…"
Rin was at a loss about what could be possibly have happened that Saber was acting like this.
"…I am sorry for prying into personal matters, but during the war, you two were rather close, dare I say that you two would be more intimate by now." Rin opened her mouth in slight surprise but closed as she smiled at Saber. She had pondered that shortly after the war happened. Indeed, her relationship with the baka during the war was close to a romantic one and certainly they became intimate when she passed on some of her mana to him so that Shirou could defeat Gilgamesh. But she later realized that her love for him lied somewhere else…she had treasured her relationship with Archer, troubled as it was at the beginning. And Shirou's declarations to her throughout the war caught her by surprise. But those declarations stopped after the war and it allowed Rin time to ponder just what she felt for him. She did care for him a great deal, just not in that way.
"You don't need to apologize, Saber. It would be something I would ask anyway." Saber could see a content smile on Rin's face as she explained. "Truly, you're right…while I care deeply for the idiot, I see him like a very close friend."
Saber looked in surprise at that, wondering about it.
"And I believe he feels the same way too…you know. In the war, he had proclaimed his love to me on some occasions. But we were both teenagers at the time. Hell, we are still teenagers. As close as we are, our interests lie elsewhere. I will try to help him not only from a promise I made to Archer, but also because I care deeply about his well-being." Saber could see that Rin was not dishonest in her words. As King, she had plenty of experience in telling when a person was either dodging the question or answering with half-truths.
"I see…" Rin took a zip of her refreshment as she turned to ponder on Saber's far-off look. "What about you, though, I can see that you care about him, Saber." Rin had a look of mischief as he commented. "I do wonder if perhaps there is something more than an oath to his protection…". Saber was surprised at the turn-around, but her mind could not help but ponder on the question. Before long, Saber was surprised by the sudden giggling coming from Rin as her hand was on her mouth. The blond girl blushed slightly and pouted at being laughed at.
Rin realized that and apologized.
"Sorry there Saber…it's just that you two had been rather close as of late, that's all. You guys are everywhere together and do not think I didn't know about the times you two stood up late chatting. It's nice to see you two close like that." Truth be told, Rin could tell that the former king had too many similarities with the idiot. She could tell how comfortable Saber was when he was around. Even Sakura had commented on occasion as Rin remembered that it came loaded with jealousy. The servant, for her turn, now pondered truly, forgetting Rin's tease. Truth be told, she did feel at ease around Shirou. She had this feeling even throughout the war, not only from their interactions and training, but based on their shared ideals.
Could I…
As she was about to vanish after the grail's destruction, Saber thought that she wanted to stay with them. Her wish would not be granted, no matter how hard she tried, so what harm would be if she had another wish in her life. She wanted to protect him, she wanted to be by his side, fight by his side, mainly to prove Archer wrong. But this past year made her realize that perhaps there was indeed something else there, aside from his mere protection. For the life of her, having feelings like that for another person was a foreign feeling, something that simply was not in her life as knight and even less as king. When she married Guinevere, it was more for the pressure that a King must have a Queen, nothing more. Emiya Shirou had provided for her and helped her in so many ways that he surely became a precious person to her. Was it love…she did not know.
"S…saber, you're with me…Saber…" The servant blinked, coming back to the present as Rin waved her hand close to her face. "You spaced out on me for a moment."
"Sorry Rin, I was deep in thought…"
"I can see that…you do care for him, huh." This time, Saber was more truthful and nodded with a content smile on her face.
"I guess I do…I mean, he always went out of his way for me, even risking his own life. He had showed me the way…showed me how wrong I was…" Rin placed both her hands below her chest as she listened to the girl in front of her. Saber's fond smile at her idiot friend was too much. "When I witnessed his fight against Archer, seeing him fight against his own ideal like that. I could tell that Archer's words reached out to him deeply that day. I truly believed that Shirou would accept the inevitability of his future and accept his death. But he still fought Archer…he fought the one he would become in the future. He faced the odds, never once faltering on his will to prove Archer wrong. In that moment, I realized that my dream had come to an end. Shirou has provided me an answer that was more than sufficient. I once had a dream, but it is a story of a little girl I would not recognize…not anymore at least." Rin had known about Saber's wish eventually and found great respect for her.
"I realized that in my folly, I was doing the same thing as Archer. By killing Shirou, he was attempting to rid the world of his own existence. When I wished for another to pull the sword, in truth, I wanted to erase my own existence."
"I see…" Such a deep idea to ponder in Rin's opinion.
"By seeing Shirou fight that day, I realized my dream was wrong even before we heard the true nature of the grail from Gilgamesh. And all thanks to him, in the end. I have a great load of gratitude for Shirou as he showed me back then. Even now, he strives to become better…to become stronger and I can only admire him even more." Rin snorted…in her mind, Saber was indeed having many feelings for her idiot friend. And the worst part was that he did not even realize that he was slowly but surely sweeping Saber off her feet by simply being who he is. Not that the king would confess it right away, but if things went according to plan, then they both would have plenty of time to process it all. And if Rin was as shrewd as she was, then she had the feeling that Shirou also cared deeply for Saber.
"Well…I guess you are in deep trouble, huh." However, Saber just looked at Rin funny.
"I don't know what you mean, Rin…" The brunette just smiled at her friend's innocent facial expression.
"Never mind…shall we ask for the bill…the last bus will leave soon and I'm guessing Shirou is waiting us for dinner."
Still clueless to Rin's comment, the servant nodded and they both got up. Saber was looking forward to tonight's dinner. Every Friday, her partner would work extra hard in the kitchen and make a banquet for them. Yes, she had eaten a few minutes now, but when it comes to his cooking, she always had room for it. For a servant, food consumption equaled mana supply. The more she ate the more energy she had in the end. Add to the fact that Shirou's cooking surpasses everything she had ever eaten and in terms of food, at least, she was set for life.
Author Note
Okay, then just another chapter or two and then it's graduation time and the beginning of their quest together.
Once more, i can say that Rin not having romantic feelings for him goes totally against the visual novel, but it was a choice I made here. My favorite paiting for him is Saber.
Also, if anyone has some tips to me about a possible skill that Shirou could train or either ideas about their assignments, please let me know.
I also wish to read as many feedback as possible, so please tell me your thoughts.
