As the bow dematerialized Shirou ran over towards Rin who tried to get up, still shocked over almost losing her life. Shirou reached her and bend down to his knees to meet on eye level with her.

"Rin are you okay?" he asked holding onto her shoulders.

Rin looked up at him, trying her best to keep herself from crying, at least that much was clear to Shirou. "That's the first time you called me by my first name" she simply said. Shirou couldn't help but laugh at that. That was such a Rin Tohsaka response.

He wrapped his hands around her "I'm so glad you're safe!" he almost shouted happily as he tightly embraced her. Rin blushed furiously, grateful he couldn't see her face in this moment or she would so smack him upside the head.

She returned the embrace. He had saved her life, it was so like him. To fight for her until the bitter end. She wanted to burst into tears and sob into his chest. What a humiliating thought to have. But if it was Shirou holding her and letting her, then maybe…

"Thank you…." she said softly, almost like a whisper.

The two began to slowly let go of each other and stared at each for a while. Their eyes locking and refusing to leave each other. Rin's heart was beating like a drum in her chest, she was almost certain Shirou could hear it.

Then Shirou's eyes glanced up "Illya!" he said as he stood up and ran over to where Illya was knocked out. Rin breathed in, she had completely forgotten that Illya had been knocked unconscious during her attempt to stop Manadek.

Speaking off, Rin looked over towards Manadek's body, laying there completely motionless. An arrow buried both in his chest and his fake hand, which had stopped glowing. He was well and truly dead she knew that much.

Shirou came running back to her, Illya in his arms. He placed her down on the ground besides her.

"Is she alright?" Shirou asked worriedly.

Rin looked her over, noticing the bruise on Illya's head and the fact she was now waking up she had been knocked clean out but seemed otherwise fine.

"She's fine, at least as much as I can tell. She's just knocked out. She'll wake up soon" Rin assured him. Shirou smiled in response, softly petting Illya's head before he stood back up.

"Now. About that" he said as he walked over towards Manadek's body and picked up Excalibur from the grass. Looking it over. It's almost mystical energy had vanished and it looked now like a fancy but ordinary sword.

"What do you want to do with it Shirou?" Rin asked him.

Shirou walked back over to her and allowed her to look at the sword. Of course she had recalled what it looked like and it looked just as it was. It was truly a relic left behind.

"Manadek found a way to circumvent the restriction and almost succeeded using it. We need to get rid of it Rin! We can't risk it falling into the wrong person's hands again."

Rin nodded her head in agreement "and how do you plan to do that?"

Shirou turned his gaze upon the lake behind him "in the legend the sword was returned to the Lady of the Lake. I found it in a weird sort off dimension right next to this place. As if the lake had spit it out here. So I'm thinking…"

"To return it to the lake and gamble that like the legend it will be taken where it should be" Rin finished.

Shirou nodded and he turned and stepped forward, but before he could take another step he heard rustling behind him. Both Rin and him immediately turned their head as they saw a figure coming out of the foliage.

"Elena" Shirou said in surprise.

And there she was Elena Manadek. Having discarded her puffy white coat she was now dressed in a black leather jacket and matching pants. Her hair was done up like Saber and she looked at both of them until her eyes glanced over and saw her father's lifeless body.

"Elena…I'm sorry…I had no other choice and…"

But Elena didn't respond instead she walked over towards her father's body without saying a single word. She kneeled down and rolled him onto his back, staring into his lifeless eyes.

Shirou and Rin just stood and stared at her as she proceeded to close her father's eyes in silence. Shirou took note of the fact that she didn't seem sad in the slightest, rather she seemed almost resigned to the fact that this was going to happen, like she had grieved a long time ago.

"Elena I'm sorry…he was about to kill Rin I had…"

"I'm not mad at you Shirou," Elena interrupted without looking at him "I know you had no choice. I was already afraid that this is the sight I would be seeing once I found you."

Rin raised her eyebrow and gave a suspicious glance. There was no hint of sadness in Elena's voice to be detected and it confused her. This was not the reaction a daughter was supposed to have upon finding her father dead.

Elena leaned over and kissed her father's forehead gently before she stood up and turned around to face Shirou and Rin, her eyes almost lighting up as she saw the sword in Shirou's hand.

"You did it! You found it Shirou oh I knew you could do it!" she said happily as she ran over and embraced him. Shirou was sort of taken aback by this action and Rin clenched her fist but immediately tried to relax herself, taking in a deep breath.

"But Elena your father…"

Elena let go of him "Shirou we have the sword, we can just use it. You know like we planned and…"

"Elena we can't!" Shirou interrupted with a slight yell "the sword can't be used by anyone unless they are descended from the Pendragon bloodline. It's useless to us. So we are going to throw it in the lake and getting rid of it. It has caused nothing but problems."

As he was about to turn he heard "no wait!" as Elena looked at him with pleading eyes "then at least let me do it. Let me end this for good, give me that closure at least."

Shirou nodded, he saw no issue with that. Handing Elena this closure was pretty understandable. He watched her extend her hand and he was ready to pass the sword to her.

"Hold on just one minute!" Rin suddenly said as she stepped in between Shirou and Elena.

"Rin what are you…"

"Something about this doesn't sit right with me. You find your father dead and you are more concerned with that damn sword!"

Elena nervously shuffled "Rin I…"

"Also I'm pretty sure you already knew that you wouldn't be able to use the sword. Manadek knew and I don't doubt for a second he would've told you as well."

"Rin that's enough!" Shirou said pushing her aside "she has already gone through enough today. If this brings her closure then she should do it."

Rin placed her hands on her hips "Shirou I swear you are truly a dense idiot! Doesn't any of this come off as odd to you. She finds her father dead and isn't the least bit upset by it."

Shirou wanted to respond but he actually stopped to consider what Rin was saying. He found Elena's reaction very….out of character to say the least.

"And also on that note. Why is only one of your hands gloved?" Rin said pointing her finger accusingly at Elena.

Shirou hadn't noticed it before but Rin was correct. For some reason only Elena's left hand was gloved while her right one wasn't.

"Oh I just lost one of my gloves in the forest that's all," Elena responded before turning back to Shirou "Shirou please, give me the sword."

Shirou for the very first time in a long time felt himself with complete uncertainty. Looking at Elena it was like Saber asking him to give her back her sword, yet at the same time he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very much not right at this moment. Looking at Elena's gloved hand, he felt like he had seen this somewhere before.

Elena's smile seemed to break for a moment and a look of irritation seemed to appear across her face before she quickly returned to her smiling self.

"Shirou, please give me the sword. You trust me don't you? remember Saber lives in me…"

Shirou almost out of instinct pushed the sword towards her upon hearing that. But then he recalled his conversation with Archer just a moment ago. Looking at Elena he saw Saber all over again in the way she spoke and the way she looked. For almost a year now he had been stuck on a memory, reliving their final moments in a dream.

And Archer had made it clear. He was well and truly stuck. Stuck on loving Saber and never imagining he could love anyone again. He had been a prisoner of this love. He blinked before pulling his hand and the sword back to him.

"I'm sorry Elena. But I'm getting rid of this sword right now. I will return it back to where it belongs so that nobody can use it."

He turned away and began to walk towards the lake. He couldn't see Elena's face, it turning red with anger, her clenching her fist before reaching for the front pocket of her jacket and pulling out a red colored marble.

"SHIROU WATCH OUT!" Rin yelled.

As Shirou turned his head Elena had thrown the marble on the ground and a bright light engulfed all of them. Shirou was immediately blind sighted and closed his eyes. What followed was him suddenly feeling himself be hit and blasted backwards onto the grass as everything had turned white around him.

As vision slowly returned he got a glimpse of Elena walking past him, she dropped the glove to the ground and Shirou got a faint glimpse of a red light emanating from her left hand. Slowly vision began to fully return and Shirou rubbed his eyes.

As his eyes regained focus he saw Elena at the edge of the lake. Her left hand, white and brimming with red circuits, the same as the one Manadek had, reaching slowly towards Excalibur, picking it up and looking at with wide eyes and a big almost crazy smile on her face as the sword began glowing with energy.

"At long last….it's mine."

She turned to face Shirou and Rin, the latter of which had already taken a battle stance. But with one swing, both of them where instantly forced onto to their knees and felt their body tighten up and unable to move.

Elena looked at them, a grin forming on her face "thank you so much Shirou for finding the sword and bringing it to the one who truly deserves it," she said gleefully as she raised the sword in the air "at long last IT IS MINE!"

A surge of energy erupted from the tip of the sword and blasted into the air, lighting up the night sky for a brief moment as Elena cackled loudly.

"Elena…what…what's going on?" Shirou asked dumbfounded.

Elena looked at Shirou and pulled the sword down, walking over to her and placing the tip of the sword underneath Shirou's chin.

"Are you really that slow to catch up?" she asked with obvious sarcasm "I used you to get to the sword."

Shirou's eyes widened in disbelief. He looked at her and saw the maniacal grin on her face. No…it couldn't be….

"I know you couldn't be trusted!" Rin yelled out at her with venom in her voice.

All Elena did was a sarcastic chuckle as she faced Shirou again "oh yes you did. But Shirou here didn't. Oh no the lovestruck idiot here fell for me hook, line and sinker and I didn't even have to try. I must say it was a brilliant move on my end once I found out about you and Saber."

Removing the sword from his chin she began to walk circles around him.

"You see I remembered my father describing her on the fateful night he met her ten years ago. I did my own research, found out about you and her. From then on it was pretty easy" she said as she stopped and stood in front of him once again.

"All I needed to do was sort of look like her," as she said this she undid the ribbon in her hair, allowing it completely lose and her long brown hair waving in the wind "and you fell for it the minute I said hello."

"But….but why…" Shirou muttered "your father…"

"Was a fool and a weakling," Elena said with pure vitriol in her voice "my father was a weakling who allowed resentment to ruin his life because he wasn't strong enough to deal with it. I vowed from that day forward that I would never be weak like him. Never."

The sword in her hand cackled with energy once again.

"And now that I have Excalibur I will never be weak again. And with it, all living things will bow down before me!"

She laughed maniacally as she held the sword high, allowing sparks of energy to fly about in every direction as she watched it happen with glee.

Again she placed the tip under Shirou's chin as he kneeled there completely immobilized.

"And it's all thanks to you Shirou. Oh you played your part so well. Like a modern Romeo. Without you this would never have been possible. You even took care of my fool of a father for me. So thank you darling."

She blew him a kiss. She mocked him as he was unable to move and in complete disbelief over everything he was hearing.

"Elena you can't…..EVERYTHING WE DID TOGETHER! DID IT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU!" Shirou cried out in despair, not caring if the sword slit his throat as tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at the woman he thought he loved and that had loved him.

Elena simply went down on one knee and took Shirou's chin into her hand and looked at him directly.

"No Shirou. It meant nothing to me. You could never mean anything to me. All you were, was a puppet on strings for me to use. That's all you were good for."

She said it so matter of fact, without a hint of remorse in her voice. As she stood back up, Shirou's tear stained eyes could barely keep focus. Elena raised her foot and kicked Shirou in the stomach, forcing him on his back as he gasped in pain.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! GET YOUR HANDS OF HIM!" Rin shouted loudly at her.

But Elena paid her no mind instead she stepped forward again and looked into Shirou's eyes, the heel of her boot slamming down on his hand as he yelped in pain once more.

"Long live the queen" Elena said as she raised the sword once more, looking at Shirou as she seemed prepared to bring it down on him.

"Sister what is going on!"

Elena looked away from Shirou, and Rin and him turned their head towards the entrance of the forest. Kerrion Manadek stood there gasping for breath, having just arrived on the scene it seemed.

"Brother? What are you doing here?" Elena asked, clearly surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Dad told me to be here. What is going on here…" Kerrion's voice trailed off and all the color seemed to drain from his face as he had laid eyes upon the dead body of Argus Manadek nearby.

A/N: Oh boy this is the big twist chapter. What did you guys think. Did you see it coming or are you surprised, please let me know I'm genuinely curious.