Author Note
Hello there and welcome to another chapter of Avalon Bond.
I would want to appreciate everyone who commented about last chapter, specially about some training tips and skills for him to acquire. Well, since there were no questions in the reviews, here is the chapter.
Fate: Avalon Bond
Chapter 4 – Avalon
A couple months went by and it was summertime in Fuyuki once more.
Saber, Sakura, Shirou and Sakura decided to head to the beach together.
It was actually the first time that Saber ever went to the beach now as a servant. She had confided in Shirou her joy in returning to the beach, since her hometown was close to one as well. She actually missed the ocean breeze and calming sounds of the waves. While Fuyuki had a harbor and a sea branch, it was not enough. Stepping on the sand and listening the smoothing sounds of the waves was an experience that she had long forgotten. As such, when Rin brought up the idea, Saber had immediately backed it. Emiya Shirou then started making a good number of sandwiches and other appetizers for the trip. Sakura had joined them as well as the four hopped on the bus. They were on holiday from school, so they had ample time to have fun together.
When they arrived, Saber's eyes sparkled immediately at the beauty of it all. So eager was the girl that she had grabbed Shirou's hand and carried him with her.
Shirou may have gotten stronger since the war, but he was powerless against the eager servant.
He only had to make sure that he was not being carried like a ragdoll and asked the amused Sakura if she could carry the picnic basket and his bag.
Rin and Sakura had nodded with a smile at the two, but Rin could also see the pang of sadness in Sakura's eyes in the briefest of moments.
She felt sympathy for her little sister. Though just by looking at those two, it would be impossible for Shirou to have eyes for another girl, even if neither him nor Saber had confessed to each other yet. Just by seeing Saber's actions right now proved just how much she enjoyed his company. It was these actions that showed more than mere words ever could. The girls all laughed as they saw Shirou and Saber quickly take their clothes off in the beach, until Saber was in her white and blue swimsuit and Shirou with his swimming shorts. After that, both ran towards the ocean as Saber and Shirou jumped towards the first waves.
Rin and Sakura just settled for setting everything up close to Saber and Shirou's thrown clothes.
"Saber does have a bundle of energy, isn't she?"
Rin looked at her sister and nodded as she turned to the master and servant playing on the ocean. Said bundle of energy was also due to Shirou supplying her a perfectably stable supply of mana through their now exclusive link. It's been some time now that Shirou was responsible alone for Saber's mana supply. She still had her contract with the servant, but it has been dormant for months now. So far, everything worked perfectly with the knucklehead's training bearing enough fruits that Rin believed that Shirou no longer were a third-rate magus. Yes, he was still far from ever being called Rin's equal in terms of knowledge, but he had become a competent battle magus that could very well beat her in a straight fight.
"She sure does…though she was just as enthused when Emiya taught her how to swim."
They giggled once they saw Saber jump at Shirou, pushing him below the water surface with a smile of joy.
"She also cares for him a lot…" Rin sighed at the downcast look that soon followed.
"Sakura, I…"
"Don't need to bother, Rin. I know…that he does not have eyes for me. I also don't want him to…not to someone as dirty as I am."
In truth, Sakura was nothing but terrified of Shirou finding out about her. She did not want to drag him to her miserable life. It was thanks to him that Sakura had not lost whatever sanity she had growing up in that hellhole. And she had nothing but gratitude for him. The least she could do was allow her senpai to find as much happiness as possible. Just by seeing this happiness from him was enough to warrant a smile on her face. If he were to come to her world, then no doubt he would be miserable trying to help, but failing.
She could not do this to him.
A happy Shirou helped her sanity way more than him being miserable by her side.
Rin had known about Sakura's situation from the Matou family for a couple of months now. While she became disgusted and appalled by what happened to her little sister, Rin had vouched to do something about it. Aside from her enrollment in the Association in the letters she exchanged with Lord El-Melloi II, she had also confided in him about Sakura's situation and asked for his help in ridding the girl of Matou Zouken's influences. Waver Velvet had offered Sakura to come along with Rin as a student, to which the purple-haired girl gladly accepted. Anything to keep her away from her grandfather's infliuence.
Her practices as a magus were limited to the Matou family's knowledge as well as the basics of everything.
"I have received confirmation from the Association…they had allowed you to come along with me to study there…we can also find a way to cleanse the crest worms"
Sakura nodded with a content smile as she took a table sheet and extended in front of her.
"I appreciate it Rin…for the help, thank you."
Unaware of the dark conversation, Shirou and Saber were now out of the water and simply sitting next to each other by the beach as they observed the clear blue horizon. Shirou had his hands on the ground and both his legs extended while Saber was sitting and hugging her legs in a deep and content visage that made Shirou want to freeze up time just to see that smile forever. Looking at her, Shirou was truly thankful at Rin for allowing Saber to be with them after the war. This past year and a half were perhaps the best time of his life, easily compared to the wonderful times he shared with his father and Taiga when he was little. Saber had realized that Shirou was looking at her and she blushed slightly. She had evolved somewhat from first being completely uncomfortable at being stared like that, but around him, she could not help it.
"Shirou, you know I am uncomfortable when you stare at me like that." The boy laughed at his partner, but still apologized.
"Sorry Saber, it's just that you look so peaceful…" And beautiful.
Saber cleared a few strands of hair from her forehead and went back to look at the ocean with a content smile.
"Yes, it reminds of the place I lived as a child. Though back then, we did not have the costume of simply sitting on the sand like this. I rememebered riding my family's horse close to the limit between water and sand. It was quite the experience, Shirou."
It was the life of a little girl that Saber had told him about.
For a moment, they stood in comfortable silence, just enjoying the sound of the waves, and feeling the warm breeze of the ocean.
Shirou's mind unconsciously went to the fifth grail war as they had done battle together. The feeling that any day he could lose it all was quite unnerving. The heavy feeling in his chest got worse as he remembered how pathetic he was as Saber's master. How many times had he thrown himself in grave danger only to force her to save him time and time again. To this day, he could not believe how lucky he was at having the opportunity to be with her again…to feel her presence by their shared bond once more. He was truly blessed in that aspect…even though many of his actions almost cost him her loss.
"I am sorry, Saber…" The woman in question turned and was surprised to see the saddened look on Shirou's face.
"Why are you sorry Shirou...you have done nothing wrong to me?"
"Do you remember the conversation we had just before you went to destroy the Grail?" Saber looked at her partner in worry but nodded. "I said back then that I was not a good master to you and that I was not able to save you."
"…I remember…though I remember saying that you were a good master and you were my master, Shirou…"
"Thinking now about my choices back then…how inconsequential I was in risking my life and even more worrisome forcing you to save me all those times…" Saber placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I was really lucky to have you as my servant, Saber and yes I was not a good master to you. And I am happy that despite my actions, you are still here with us." With me… "I really appreciate everything you have ever done for me, Saber." The servant in question looked at him, being the first-time hearing about regrets in his words.
Still, it was considered an improvement in her eyes, even if it troubled her somehow. Words of regret coming from his partner were rather strange.
Both she and Rin had often wondered about his suicidal tendencies on occasions.
And while it was noble in a way, it would not bode well for his long-term assignment of saving as many people as possible.
"Please do not say it like that, Shirou. Yes, you were inexperienced at the time, but like I said before, you were a good master."
By his look, he was not very convinced at her words.
"The two weeks we had experienced together were very enlightening to me personally. I saw you face your fate with as much vigor as you defend your ideals. You faced your worst possible enemy and emerged victorious." Archer "You managed to defeat Gilgamesh whom I did not believe I could defeat even with Rin as my master. Above all, despite your first inadequacies, you persevered in the end. You have earned my respect and admiration many times during the war and even afterward…" Shirou this time looked at Saber in the eye as she smiled at him. "Even now, we aid each other to become stronger…to become better. So that together we can help as many as possible. I want to help you reach your goals, Shirou. I am with you and not just because I want to protect you…I am with you because like you I believe in what we could accomplish together."
"S…aber…" He could feel his worries lift as he looked at her more intently.
"Also, Shirou, I wish to ask you something…Saber is not my name…the holy grail war is over...I do not longer have a class…so I would wish for you to call me by my real name. In front of others, you can call me Saber if you wish, but when we are alone, please call me by my real name…Arturia…Arturia Pendragon". Shirou looked on in surprise. He was so used to calling her by her servant name, that he never wondered about his partner's real name. Still, it showed that she trusted him and that brought great joy for him. That she would bestow such honor to him and him alone like that was nothing short of mesmerizing. So much so, that Shirou found himself being drawn to her charisma as a King and bowed slightly placing his right hand in fronf ot his his heart region, earning an amused smile from Arturia at the reverence.
"You don't have to bow to me Shirou…I am also not a king anymore."
"You have shown trust in me…Arturia." She had felt elation upon hearing her name once more, even if she had asked him to. "For here on out, I shall work to earn your trust."
To that, Arturia nodded with a deep smile. After that, they simply looked at each other in comfort.
"Shirou…Saber, come on, let's eat."
Both turned to see Rin shout at them as they saw the picnic already set for their lunch. Shirou then lifted first and offered Arturia his hand for her which she accepted it and got up as well. Picnic then went uneventful with Saber chatting with Rin and Sakura. Rin appeared to be teasing her for dragging Shirou to the water like that and Saber was showing a deep red hue on her cheeks at that, despite smiling at the two women next to her. She was already used to Rin's teasing and Sakura was also a nice company to have.
Shirou was in peace just looking at his partner with a smile on his face as he grabbed a couple of sandwiches.
===Emiya's Household===
The trip to the beach had lifted everyone's spirits up.
After a quick shower, Saber was sitting on her favorite cushion with her hair loosen and some casual clothing, as she watched Shirou work his magic for them in the kitchen.
Rin had offered to take Sakura home, so Shirou and Saber were alone.
Because of the hot weather, Shirou had settled for making Arturia a set of salmon and tuna sushi and sashimi together with a plate of gohan dipped in soy sauce. Seeing as Arturia had a big enough appetite, Shirou had made enough for a party of four. He quickly and efficiently set the table and then took a sit on the other side as he saw his partner's eyes sparkle. He even prepared a jar of iced tea for them as well. Like usual, she ate it all with quite gusto. When they finished, it was already nighttime as they took the jar of iced tea and went back to the garden to watch the stars at night.
It had become a personal hobby for the two.
"So Shirou…how far along is your mystic code?"
"It's a slow progress, S…Arturia…" She smiled at the slip-up.
"I think I had managed to link it to my magic circuits, which is the first step. Now I am making the adjustments for what I intend to use it for."
One item of study that Shirou found in Rin's books was about mystic codes and how it could aid him in the battlefield. It could do many wonders like give him a new suit and increase the power of his healing mage craft. In terms of suits, all he had in mind were the clothes that Archer wore in the war. Well, not the red overcoat but the black body armor that protected him from attacks. While that material was not invented yet, Shirou had enough of Archer's memories to replicate it. Though he needed first to finalize his own mystic code so that it applied to his new magic circuits. After Rin's implant, Shirou had to adapt many of his skills to accommodate. Also, he was wondering if he could use his mystic code to store a good set of his swords, so that he would not need to waste time projecting and then using rune craft for the reinforcement part.
It still took some time for him to do it all and sometimes time was something he did not have.
"Could you make one for me as well…after you finished yours?'
Shirou looked at Arturia in surprise at that. She had never showed much interest in magic abilities aside from her fighting prowess, but she told him that her core would allow her to use magic if she so desired.
"Well, yes I could…why would you want one though?"
"Perhaps work out a different set of armor for me…or even to store your projected Caliburn in it. Right now, the only means I have of using it would be if you projected one in the middle of the battle and supplied it to me. If I had one available at the start would be a major help." Shirou pondered about her idea for a while. Sure, he could make it work. Once he projected Caliburn and reinforced it with rune craft, Arturia was able to yield it as if the weapon was hers…which in the end it was, just not the original.
"Emiya…Saber, where are you?" Rin's voice then reached them as she appeared in the balcony. "Oh, I hope I am not interrupting."
"Oh Tohsaka, I was merely talking to Saber about my mystic code and she was asking me to make one for her as well." Rin took a seat next to them, dropping her bag.
"A month studying on it and you are already making it for others, Emiya…how forward of you…though I should not be surprised. You do enjoy the art of craftmanship…dare I say you would be making your own swords by now."
Saber could visualize Shirou as a blacksmith easily. While Shirou entertained the idea, it would not be practical.
"While a good idea, Tohsaka, projecting them and reinforcing it with runes works better and is far cheaper." Rin could not help but laugh at the statement.
"I was mentioning as more of a hobby, but yes you're right…I am quite hungry…is there leftovers from dinner?"
"I have left a sushi platter for you in the fridge."
"Oh, you're a life-saver as always Emiya…" Rin got up from the balcony and went to the kitchen, leaving a smiling Saber and Shirou.
Shirou then stretched his arms and yawned.
"Ok, I will go to bed, then…are we ok for another realty marble section tomorrow?"
They had talked about this for quite some time now that Shirou was the only one supplying Saber with mana. Tomorrow would be the ultimate test for them. With him using Unlimited Blade Works and Saber fighting him, it would be quite the test for Shirou, but if they were successful, then it would be the utmost proof that whatever happens out there, they would be able to handle it. So far, in day to day life occurrences, she would not feel any different, which was a very good thing. However, that would change once they started fighting.
"Yes, I shall go to sleep now too to conserve as much mana as possible. Good night Shirou…"
When Rin approached the balcony once more, all she saw was Saber and Shirou getting inside their respective rooms to sleep. And here she was hoping for a late-night conversation. Seeing as no one was there for that, she just gave it up and went for a quick shower, before going to sleep as well. She knew that tomorrow those two would be fighting once more, so it made sense that they wanted to conserve as much energy as possible. Still, she was worried that they would take things too seriously as usual. She had noticed that in theirs spars, Saber would always take it up a notch with him. Even if she could see that Saber enjoyed those fights, Shirou was not a servant, despite him having the constitution of one.
One thing that she noticed that with his element and origin alignment, Shirou's constitution was sturdier than most.
His body reinforcement became like breathing and Avalon also allowed him to fight with a servant.
Of course, he would never beat one, but Shirou surely could give a servant a good practice.
They both said to her that fighting like this would help him when they start their assignments in the future. Rin would always roll her eyes at them. Shirou had close to zero consideration to his well-being and Saber…well, Saber was a battle junky…not a very healthy combination. Rin shrugged her shoulders in the end. It would not be the first heated practice, nor the last.
===Next day – Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works===
Arturia and Shirou were battling close to thirty minutes now and neither shown much sign of stopping.
And since they were in Shirou's world, he was free to call her by her real name, since Rin would not hear a thing. The fight began with Saber's style of fighting, so Shirou would use a Nodashi similar to the one used by Assassin to fight against her sword. In this world, Shirou's both strength and agility was more pronounced. And Arturia could feel it in his strokes. Sure, if Shirou were to fight in Archer's style, it would be more fluid and agile, but they have been fighting with a single sword for a while now and she was able to fix most of his flaws in this style. Not to say that she expected him to switch his main style of fighting, but for him, she believed in switching styles in the midst of a fight.
It would give him even more unpredictability.
Also, his weapons were noble phantasms in nature, so he could be quite dangerous even to servants.
They parried sword strikes in the middle, before both distanced for a while.
"How are you feeling, Arturia?" the swordswoman nodded and then attacked once more with a vertical slash that was parried by Shirou.
"Very well, Shirou…now, shall we increase the stakes a bit." Shirou snorted but acquiesced.
They would always run their spars like this, first with a simple spar and then Shirou would increase the stakes by adding his other abilities into the mix.
He used runecraft and added the fire element into his nodashi. Then he attacked Arturia who turned to dodge more, since those fire attacks would singe her armor if she was not careful. A cut from the burning sword would take a long time to heal and that was because she was a servant. If Shirou were to attack either a human, a magus, a dead apostle, a vampire, he would be cutting limbs quite easily. To parry her sword against his burning sword, she focused mana on her sword until it was no longer obscured by wind. Shirou would also swing his sword and send fire waves from a medium distance, thus keeping Arturia on her toes. She used her mana burst to evade and then got into his guard. Shirou was prepared since he was victimized by these attacks quite often. His body was thus used to it and he jumped back.
He then parried with Arturia's sword as sparks echoed. Eventually, though, Arturia overpowered and sent Shirou flying.
His body skidded on the ground quite hard, but he saw in approval that his nodashi was not broken…not even dented after receiving such strike.
His reinforcement runecraft worked wonders.
He saw Arturia charge once more and he threw two stones on the ground in opposing direction but paralleled to one another. The bounded field lifted in front of him, just as Arturia slashed with her sword. The bounded field received the strike and returned it full force negating the attack entirely. She then used mana burst to get around it, but by now Shirou was already on his feet and once more parried the attacks. Arturia was surprised when Shirou released his nodashi and summoned a couple of smaller katana to fight. It was not Kanshou and Bakuya, so she was at a loss. Smaller weapons were more his style when using two weapons, since he could better attack and defend. With long sword like this, her partner would not be able to fight properly.
"More attack and less defense…" Shirou nodded at her analysis and accelerated.
He had one more change that she did not know about. Arturia turned on the defensive as Shirou bombarded her with attacks.
She could feel indeed more strength than Kanshou and Bakuya, but it was less agile. The structure of the weapon was as usual top-notch, however. The fight with the duo katana lasted for a short while until Arturia smashed it to pieces, which was surprising. His runes would reinforce all of his weapons, making it quite hard for her to break it. She would need to focus a lot of mana into her weapons to break his swords. When he summoned Kanshou and Bakuya in a heart beat and caught her by surprise, she realized what his angle was.
"You switched between mere projections and runecraft reinforcement, Shirou?" The man nodded as they parried the swords in the middle.
"Yes...you always said that I needed to be unpredictable…thus I decided to mix it up throughout the fight." Arturia then evaded a strong attack from Kanshou as she saw Shirou projecting projectile swords to attack her. She smirked at that, using her agility to avoid them and her sword to block the rest. Shirou would even mix some fire laced swords, forcing Arturia to adapt every time. As his tutor in battle, Arturia was rather proud of him. So much, that Arturia felt at ease at the prospect of going with him to battle. She dodged them all and sent a wind typhoon at him, forcing Shirou to evade by jumping to the side. Still, Shirou felt the nasty cuts on his arms from being singed by the attack.
Arturia's wind-based attacks were very worrisome.
Shirou saw in surprise as she sent an air blast straight at him, which forced him to use Rho Aias to defend himself.
His defense was useless against her superior Divine Construct Excalibur, but against this attack, it was effective.
He was surprised however when Arturia used a great deal of agility and appeared next to him. His defense skill worked well with projected attacks, but it blocked his sight from close-ranged attacks. A quick projection proved useless and Arturia smashed it easily. Her slice caused a deep gash at his chest. Shirou evaded quickly and placed a hand on the injury, focusing mana to heal himself. Aided by Avalon, the time needed to close the injury severely diminished. Because of this, he knew that Arturia knew that he was able to take this damage. If Rin were here, then, they would both receive an ear full. As such, they decided to avoid the headache and keep the more heated spars to his reality marble.
"Ready to continue, Shirou?"
By now, the wound was already closed, and he merely nodded as he now summoned Kanshou and Bakuya.
The amount of mana in these weapons was visible as it looked like electricity dancing along steel. In order to return the favor, Arturia did the same as her sword glowed in yellow energy as well. Then, a dance began with heavenly sparks of lighting as Shirou and Arturia fought on equal grounds. Well, not equal, since Shirou was miles behind Arturia's level, but higher than any possible magus and even other beings. However, as the time progressed, Shirou could see that Arturia's movements became more haggard. She was having difficulty blocking his strikes. His eyes could see her mouth opened and he realized that she was having trouble breathing. The last time he saw her like this was in the war when he had difficulty supplying her with mana.
At the time, his circuits were dormant, and it took Archer awakening them by force to resolve the situation.
Now, even if Shirou had enough, he was supplying a heroic spirit on his own on top of using his own noble phantasm. To top all that, they have been fighting for two hours.
When Shirou slammed both his swords, he was surprised and quite worried as he heard Arturia's cry of pain in parrying his attack.
Her body was sent flying and skidded on the ground and Shirou ran immediately in realization that she was having trouble getting up. He released his reality marble instantly and they returned to the house's garden. Rin was nowhere to be seen and Shirou needed to help his partner. Shirou quickly hugged Arturia and helped her get up and placed her to rest by the thick three in the middle of the garden. Her breathing was still troubling and Shirou immediately showed her his wrist.
"Arturia, please, take it."
"Shirou…I'm sorry…" If Rin was here, then she would yell at them for taking it as far as they did.
"Please don't talk…take as much as you need…"
Shirou could see her heartbeat beating faster and her chest working double. She grabbed his wrist and looked at his eyes. Shirou could see how apologetic she looked right now. Her teeth worked quick, piercing his wrist and sucking his blood. He could feel her taking it and he looked at her eyes with a smile on his face. They both took this fight to the limit and with Shirou providing her full time. Obviously, it still was not enough for Arturia to use Excalibur. However, in a real fight, Shirou would not use his own reality marble, so she would have ample energy to use her Divine Construct if needed in the future. Right now, his focus was to return her mana supply to at least acceptable levels. They would be having lunch soon afterward and then take a long nap to compensate.
He was still worried however when Arturia was still taking his blood. Normally, she would have done by now.
A quick look at her eyes showed that she was lost…searching for something. It took a couple of seconds but Shirou felt it. A glowing yellow energy inside of him, filling his entire body and even travelling to Arturia, enveloping them both now in a yellow force field of energy. At this moment that Rin appeared, but all she looked was the yellow glow around them.
Avalon
Shirou and Arturia looked at one another as their bodies were now in full synchronization. Everything Shirou felt, Arturia felt and vice-versa. Their memories, their trauma...their experiences...Shirou and Arturia felt like one as they looked at each other's eyes. They already felt like this during the war, but never on this level. Arturia gently caressed Shirou's hands with both her hands. She embraced the warming feeling Shirou was providing her with. She basked in his energy that passed through her dragon core with all its might. Never have she ever felt so much energy flowing inside of her. Shirou looked at Arturia and felt the drive to be her shield…he felt the need to protect her with all his might.
When the energy of Avalon reduced, Rin could see Shirou and Saber looking at each other.
Then she saw Shirou reaching his arms to hug Arturia for dear life and she could see Saber's face welcoming it, being enveloped by his arms.
Saber's hands squeezed Shirou's clothes as she closed her eyes in deep contentment and peace, resting her head on his chest.
Excalibur and Avalon once more reunited into a single entity.
Author Note
First of all, I enjoyed writing this chapter immensely. To this day, I have yet to find a more suitable pairing than these two. Two people from different timeline, but similar in almost anything. Aside from my desire to write stories of them being together, to me it feels right to see them as a couple. He deeply respects and cares for her and Saber looks at him in the same light, only faltering on following her desires, because of her regrets as king. Well, to me that makes me even more tempted to write more, until I am satisfied...which I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort to stop.
Well, about the story, this was the last training chapter before their graduation. Next chapter I will begin with some introductions to Shirou and Arturia's contacts.
So, please let me know what you think about it and once more I welcome you to review my work.
Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing and marking the story 'favorite' and-or 'follow'.
See ya next chapter.
