As the days went on, more adventures continued in the Einzbern Castle. Some were very mundane, while others were ridiculous. One of these was when Shirou and Sella entered the wine cellar, believing an evil spirit lurking in it. It turned out to be Liz with her giant halberd, guarding the place during her nightly patrol. She chased the duo to the courtyard, believing they were thieves. On the plus side, Shirou and Sella were united in their cause. Which was something Liz had noted, questioning their "friendship". However, the next day things reset back to the usual. Sella's prejudice towards the boy was limitless. Shirou didn't mind the disdain. Sella had shown genuine respect for him during the trip. She was just showing her usual demeanor, which he had gotten used to. Shirou's trip to the castle was ending, as today was Saturday. It was their final day at the castle, before heading back. Once tomorrow arrived, Illya and he would be back in Fuyuki. Right now, he was enjoying breakfast with everyone. After eating breakfast and helping with the dishes, Illya had something to say to him.

"Shirou, in an hour, meet us down in the hall." Shirou nodded, having no reason to object. The hour quickly passed, and Shirou walked downstairs. His eyes were drawn to the sword in Liz's arms. It was a practice one, not her usual one. As he made his way down, Illya walked up to him and gave him a wooden sword.

"Shirou, you'll be sparring with Liz." Shirou looked at her with confusion.

"Sparring?"

"That is what I said." Liz nodded at Illya's word, gripping her sword tightly.

"Shirou, spar. It will be good for you."

"I don't mind sparring, but why now?" Illya sighed, thinking the answer was obvious. Before she could say anything, Sella interjected.

"Isn't it obvious, Emiya-sama? Milady wants to improve your physical attributes. Which includes your skills with a weapon." She put on a devilish smile, before continuing. "Although, I'm more interested to see you lose." Shirou sighed, knowing there was no way out. He remembered the days sparring with Saber. While it wasn't the same, Liz had to be a skilled combatant. He had no chance of winning, but he would give it his all. He got into stance and held the sword in front of him. Illya looked on, before giving the go-ahead.

"Begin!" Shirou lunged at his opponent, aiming for her left side. Liz robotically snapped her arm, covering her left. Shirou grunted, before attacking her again. Liz swiftly blocked, before attacking his opening. Shirou lost his balance but quickly gained his composure.

"Shirou, stubborn," the tall homunculi said in her robotic emotionless tone. Shirou went in for another attack, before being met with another block and attack. He grunted in pain but smiled.

"Milady, is he a masochist? He seems to enjoy the pain." Illya stared at him, unsure as to why he was smiling. That confusion extended to his attacker.

"Shirou, smiling? Why smile when in pain?"

"It's nothing, Liz. I'm smiling because I'm reminded of something in the past." Illya understood, it was about Saber. She was a witness to their sparring during the war. No wonder, he was smiling. She decided to step in, Liz had won.

"Alright, Liz, that's enough." Liz nodded, extending a hand to Shirou. She had a small smile on her face.

"Good job, Shirou. We keep doing this, you'll be stronger." Shirou grabbed the hand but was registering her words. Keep doing this, it meant this wasn't a one-time thing. Illya had orchestrated something. He looked at his sister.

"So, Illya. I assume you want me to keep sparring with Liz?"

"It's good for you, Shirou. From now on, you'll have training lessons from Liz on swordsmanship. Your skills are pittable, you can't slack off." Shirou winced at her words, but she was right.

"I assume these lessons will take place during the weekends? When I'm free from Fuji-nee and Tohsaka?" Illya nodded, but Sella quickly objected to what she thought was a ludicrous arrangement.

"Milady, you can't!" She coughed before continuing. "Surely, Emiya-sama wouldn't want to come here, considering the long drive. He would get tired!" Illya was about to offer a rebuttal, but Liz beat her.

"Sella, we go to Shirou's home. Liz turned to the standing redhead. "Shirou, don't mind?"

"I don't mind. You both could properly meet everyone. We could alternate between visits."

"I won't come! I have no interest in any of this! Leysritt is enough to train the boy. To be in his company regularly, it's..it's...unbecoming!" Liz already had a response for this.

"Sella will be lonely in castle. Don't worry, Sella. You laugh when Shirou loses. You can have fun too."

"I'd rather she didn't," Shirou objected.

"Besides Sella, it would make me happy, you wouldn't want me to be sad, would you, " Illya added another point to convince her.

"No making Illya sad, Sella."

"Fine!" She huffed, clearly annoyed by everything. "I'll accompany Sella to Emiya-sama's residence. I'm only doing this for your happiness, milady, not him!" Illya beamed at her, happy to convince her.

"Good enough for me!"

"By the way, Liz," Shirou spoke up, ready to change subjects. "I thought you were only good with the halberd. Isn't that your weapon of choice? I didn't take you as good with a sword."

"Leysritt was trained to be proficient in all types of combat. While the halberd is her favorite, she is good with swords too," Sella explained to the boy.

"Sella, correct. Halbred is my favorite. What Shirou's favorite weapon look like? Is it a pretty sword?"

"It's a beautiful sword. Here let me show you. Shirou closed his eyes, visualizing the powerful sword. As it formulated in his mind, he uttered his mantra.

"Trace on." His magic circuits began flaring up, but the sword was taking shape. He felt the pain flowing through his body, but he persisted. As he opened his eyes, the beautiful weapon was clenched firmly in his hands. The sword that King Arthur pulled from the sacred stone. Caliburn was in his hand, its power felt through his body.

"This is Caliburn, my favorite sword." The power was weaker than when Saber held it with him. But, it was still a formidable weapon, still powerful enough to take on a threat. The other three watched on, impressed by the boy's ability. Even Sella was intrigued, despite her trying to suppress it. Illya had seen the sword before, but only now did she notice its beauty.

"Very pretty, Shirou," Liz said.

"Yeah, it's a great weapon. I need to become skilled with it, so I can wield it the best I can." He knew he would never wield its full power. That honor was reserved for the original owner.

"You'll become skilled, Shirou," Liz said.

"Thanks, Liz."

"Well, if this is over, I'm going to go clean," Sella said. With that, everyone left the hall to do their own thing. Shirou and Illya were in the latter's room. They sat there silently for a while.

"Tomorrow, we'll be back in the city," Shirou said, hoping to break the silence.

"Yeah, it'll be nice."

"Thanks, Illya. I'll become a better fighter thanks to you." Illya walked over and fondly ruffled his hair. It was something she would regularly do to show affection.

"I want to make sure you're as prepared as possible That you're as strong as possible. You don't know what you'll face out there."

"That's true, whatever the future holds, I have to be prepared." Hearing this immediately reminded Illya of him. The red knight had popped up in her mind again. A possible future version of her brother. Someone completely unrecognizable to the person right next to her.

"Yeah, the future," she somberly said.

"Illya?" He realized what the problem was. "Sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of-" He was cut off by Illya.

"It's not that Shirou, I accepted what will happen to me in the future. I made peace with what happened in the past and my fate later on. All we can do is live in the present. I was thinking of someone else."

"Who would that be?" She sighed, she was about to do another reveal that would shock Shirou. She wanted to hold off on this information but decided to lay it out. Just like a few weeks ago, when she revealed her past. The past she wanted to hide.

"Archer."

"Archer? Why would you think of that jerk?" This confused Illya, why would he think that?

"He's a jerk?"

"Well, yeah. He had a condescending jerk vibe to him." He paused before continuing. "Ok, he wasn't always like that. I shouldn't call him only a jerk. He did give me good advice and sacrificed himself for us to escape. He was heroic in that regard."

"I see." How can she naturally tell him? Was there a natural way to tell him he became Archer? Well, it wasn't this Shirou, but another Shirou, but that future Shirou became Archer and came back to the past. Then that past Shirou and future Shirou interacted, which caused past Shirou to think future Shirou is a jerk and ugh her head hurt! The blunt approach was the only approach.

"There's no easy way to put this, but Archer was you." When she looked at Shirou, he was grimacing.

"Illya! Don't joke like that! Some jokes are funny, but not this one!" He looked at Illya, but she wasn't mischievously smiling, she was deadly serious.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Illya nodded, confirming that it was true.

"As the Holy Grail's vessel, I collected the souls of fallen servants. Since Archer was defeated in front of me, I absorbed him. With that, I deciphered his real identity." This caused Shirou to think back on his interactions with the man. Especially his final words about him being a maker and not a fighter. How he had to fight with himself, specifically his image of himself. With what Illya stated, his words became clearer. Of course, he was talking about himself. He knew the advice would work because well he was him. Most importantly, Shirou thought of why Illya told him this. It was obvious, she feared his fate.

"You're worried I'll end up like him, right? Do you know anything about his memories?"

"I don't know his memories, but how can I not be worried? If you were to end up like him, looking like him, having this jaded presence-"

"I won't end up like him, Illya. You shouldn't worry so much."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Because he and I are different people. We might share the same name, and we might have a similar upbringing, but our experiences are different. Our Holy Grail wars could have gone radically different for all I know. But there's a key difference between us.

"And that is?"

"I have something more than my ideals. Specifically, I have someone I want to reunite with. Archer likely didn't have that, and he kept chasing his ideals. Leading him to become a heroic spirit, fully devoted to them. My ambitions are different, and the end of my road is different. I know where I want to go, and it won't be where he ended." Not being an idiot, Illya knew who this special someone was. Of course she would, anyone would at this point.

"Saber should have been Caster. She cast some weird spell on you. Being all lovey-dovey towards her." She let out a small smile, after her annoyed statement. "I hope it does save you, from whatever happened to Archer. Never lose your hope, and don't have a somber presence like him." Shirou put his hand on her shoulder.

"I have no interest in being like that jerk." Illya laughed at that, how he disliked an alternate future version of himself this much. Considering how much Shirou disliked him, there was no doubt Archer felt the same.

"Eh, what's funny?"

"Oh, nothing." Then her mischievous smile crept up, thinking of something nefarious. "We should tell Rin who her beloved Archer was. She'll be hysterical for weeks."

"Please don't, for her and mine sake. It would feel weird if she looked at me like I was Archer. Besides, Tohsaka wouldn't be hysterical for weeks, she isn't like that." Illya relented, seeing his point. It looked like she wouldn't be messing with Rin...for now.

"Was Archer another reason why you wanted me to train with Liz? Another reason to set this whole thing up?"

"It should be obvious by this point, Shirou."

"Yeah, stupid question, my bad." They sat there in silence, similar to how they had been a while ago. Before Shirou broke the silence, leading to the revelations about Archer. This time Illya broke the silence with some levity.

"Well, now we know you'll be very tall and muscular. I'm sure you like that."

"That's the only upside to learning Archer is me." Having enough of the Archer talk, Shirou pivoted to another topic.

"I enjoyed this trip. Although, it looks like I'll be making more in the future."

"I'm glad you did, Shirou." Even though she enjoyed these few days, she wasn't the biggest fan of Sella's treatment of Shirou. "I apologize if Sella was rude to you."

"It's alright, Illya. It doesn't bother me that much. She isn't that awful once I got to know her." He thought about the wine cellar incident from a few days ago. Along with seeing her happily planting in the courtyard.

"You are super patient with people, you know that?"

"I got used to dealing with difficult people. In general, I can deal with people well. Especially when I'm surrounded by many eccentric ones."

"I'm one of those eccentrics, aren't I?"

"Definitely. Anyway, going back to Sella, I appreciate her caring about you. She knows I mean a lot to you, so she tolerates me. In general, both of them care a lot about you."

"Yeah, I'm glad they do. I care a lot for them too. She looked up to the ceiling, before continuing. "I'm worried about what Sella will do in the future."

"She'll be left here alone, right?" Shirou had heard this from Sella during the wine cellar incident. She had explained Liz's connection to Illya and what happens when Illya dies. Her resulting fate was one of loneliness. Illya didn't know Shirou knew, given her eyes widened face.

"How did you know that?"

"Sella told me. It's a long story." Illya decided not to inquire further and rolled with it. She was glad that Sella opened up to him, it was nice to know.

"Yeah, I worry what she'll do after we're gone."

"She'll keep going, Illya. Sella isn't one to give up, she'll manage, I'm sure of it. It won't be the same, but Sella will persevere."

"Yeah, you're right. Still, it does cause me to worry now and then." She looked down from the ceiling, facing Shirou.

"What about Liz, You like her right?"

"Considering she's going to be my teacher, yeah. Besides, she's nice and powerful."

"Good, that means this trip was a big success."

"It was." With that, the two of them left the room. They would enjoy the remaining day spending time with one another and with Sella and Liz. Shirou was glad to acquaint himself with the maids and gain a teacher. Along with learning more about Illya and to a lesser extent learning about Archer. Meanwhile, Illya was just happy to spend time with the people she cared for. What more could either want?