"Right, I can do this."

"Mhm."

"You're here, I'm here, she'll be here in about ten minutes."

"Yeah."

"We'll explain everything, and everything's going to be fine."

"Yep."

"But-but what if she doesn't believe me? What if-"

"Oxton, you've been saying the exact same thing for the past hour and a half." Archer rubbed the bridge of his nose as he groaned, "You need to calm down."

Lena whirled on him, her features a mix of panic and annoyance, "You're not the one that has to explain that you're a bloody ghost!" She pointed accusingly at him.

Archer rolled his eyes, "I could have been, if you didn't insist that you be the one to explain."

"That's-"

"Besides, from what I've seen of O'Hara, she'll at least listen to you."

"...Yeah, she would, wouldn't she?" A fond smile made it on Lena's face. Emily would listen to her, no matter how insane it would've sounded. That was one of the best things that Lena loved about her, after all.

That she would always have your back, no matter what.

But that wasn't why she was nervous. No, it was the idea that Lena had been hiding this from her fiance ever since she came back. The idea that she had hidden it for this long, Lena was afraid that Emily would see it as if the pilot didn't have trust in her.

Not like the trust that Emily had in her.

"Good grief." Archer sighed once more as he ran a hand through his hair, "Why is it that all my Masters have bleeding hearts?"

Lena blinked out of her stupor as he spoke, "Wait, 'mast-"

The audible click of the front door. The soft call of 'I'm home'. The widening of Lena's eyes. The smug smirk of Archer as he gave a salute.

"Good luck."

'Archer, you bastard!'

Said bastard only smirked back.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Emily pulled her in for a hug, one Lena gladly reciprocated, "How was work?"

"Pretty good, though the tube was packed on the way back." As they separated, Emily took a glance at Archer, and raised an eyebrow, "Oh, hey there, Archer. Huh. What's with the getup? You joining in on some cosplay?"

Lena took in Archer's look. Unlike the casual wear that the Spirit usually had when he was out in public, he had opted to not change. Instead, he still wore the same clothes that she had first seen him in. A half-cloak of red, body armor, and full combat boots. Couple that with all the cross motifs, and Lena could see how someone could mistake it for cosplay.

Lena knew better than anyone just how wrong that was.

Predictably, Archer shook his head, "No, nothing like that. I'd tell you, but Oxton is adamant that she does it herself."

Confused, Emily turned to the pilot. Lena felt her heart thump in her chest, a feeling of nervousness that echoed throughout her entire body.

"Lena?"

"...It all started back when I got into that accident."

By the end of it all, Lena had explained just about everything. From the Slipstream incident, to finding herself on that hill of swords, to meeting Archer. To what Archer was, what Archer's presence did, and why he was here.

The only things that Lena left out were the parts even she didn't know of. The mysterious Chaldea, the Klironomia, and whatever else that Archer himself kept quiet on.

It was nearing midnight by the time she was finished. Emily had listened patiently throughout, not interrupting once. She could see that the red head did want to at times, but she never did go through with it.

And now, as she wound down, her story reaching the present, Emily stood up.

Instinctively, Lena closed her eyes.

She didn't want to see the anger and betrayal on her fiance's face. Or maybe, her former fiance. After all, she wouldn't blame Emily if she called things off right there and then. As the feeling of dread reached its apex, she could hear the footsteps of the woman in front of her.

A hand cupped her cheek.

Her eyes flew open.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?" Emily softly smiled at Lena. Another hand snaked its way into hers. Lena's hand tightened around it. Emily pulled her in for an embrace.

A sob.

The embrace tightened even more.

No more words were said.

…

"Here."

It was another hour before Lena could compose herself. Archer had apparently made himself scarce during that time, with Lena not seeing hide nor hair of him. She knew he was likely nearby, but had still given them enough space.

She appreciated that.

After everything was over though, the man had come out of the kitchen, a tray in his hands. Two steaming cups of tea were brought to them. Lena gave a small smile and nod to the man, before reaching out with the hand not currently in Emily's.

With a breath, she took a sip of the tea. While not her preferred drink, she still recognized the chamomile that Archer had expertly brewed.

"So, your name's not really Kiritsugu?"

Emily spoke up after she had taken her own cup, directed at Archer.

"No. I apologize for the deception, but someone," Archer pointedly did not look at Lena, "Sprung it up on me that I couldn't think of a good name."

"Nah, it's fine." Emily waved it off, "I already had an idea that you may have been lying about it anyway, but since it never came up, I'd almost forgotten about it."

"Oh?" Archer raised an eyebrow, "How so?" Even Lena was a bit curious. The redhead hadn't mentioned anything of the sort to her, so she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Looked your name up on social media, and I found nothing." Emily shrugged, "And a guy like you? No way that you'd be able to keep your head down with looks like that. Though, I figured you might've been in witness protection or something, not that you're a ghost."

"Ah. I suppose that's a fair guess." Archer nodded.

"That said," A gleam came through in Emily's eyes, her tone shifting to a giddy one, "Lena said you're a Heroic Spirit, so you must be pretty famous. Who're you really?"

Lena perked up. She had asked before, for Archer's real name, but the man was still adamant on not telling her. With someone else asking, they might actually get an answer this time around.

"Hah." Archer laughed out loud, a smirk forming on his face, "I'm nobody special, just a regular archer."

"Archer, you're a clown if you think anyone would believe that." Lena dryly spoke out, "You shot out bloody swords the size of cars."

"As I said, a regular archer."

"...What kind of archers are you even talking about?"

"I've seen water squirters be considered bows."

"That doesn't answer the question!"

"Come on, you gotta give us a hint at least!"

"Hmmm." Archer made a show of rubbing his chin. Lena shook her head in amusement. She knew what Emily was doing, and what Archer was helping with. They wanted to make her feel just a bit more relaxed. They wanted to let her know that they were there for her - more so Archer than Emily, since she already knew the latter's stance.

"Fine." With a chuckle and a shake of his head, Archer spoke, "Give me some yes-or-no questions and I'll answer them. If you can figure out who I am based on that, then you win."

With a grin at the challenge, Emily started, "Were you born in the B.C's?"

"No."

The little game they had went on for the next hour or so, up until the two of them were yawning and ready for bed.

…

"So, you weren't born in the time of King Arthur, but you also met King Arthur? AND Napoleon? AND Francis Drake?"

The next morning, the three of them were having breakfast courtesy of Archer. The Spirit had, for some reason, avoided the use of his normal armor and had an apron on once again.

"Yes."

They were in the process of eating some pancakes with some maple syrup, which Lena didn't even think they had the ingredients for. Somehow, Archer must've gotten them in the time they were asleep, and had made it all without waking either of them up.

"Yep, I've got nothing." Emily threw her hands up, before pausing. The little game to cheer Lena up had become somewhat of a serious try at guessing who Archer was. Even the pilot herself had joined in, and yet, they were no closer to figuring out who he was.

They had asked whether he had met famous people, whether certain buildings were already constructed, whether he'd been to places around the world.

All in all, they had nothing. Seemingly, Archer had met literally every single famous person, seen all the buildings and landmarks they could think of, and had been to every nook and cranny of the known and unknown parts of the planet.

In short, they were no closer to finding out where he was even from, much less who he was.

She squinted at the apron-clad man in suspicion, "Wait, I think I might have one."

"Oh? Has my food really given you an epiphany?" Archer gave that damnable smirk of his, one that said, 'I know something you don't know'. And one that made Lena want to smack him upside his head, "I appreciate the compliment, though I can say right now that you're probably wrong."

Not dissuaded in the slightest, Emily nodded along, "Right, well, here it goes." She took a breath, and looked more guarded than she ever had, a look that made Lena just the slightest bit worried, "Are you Satan?"

A beat of silence.

Then Lena was struggling to contain the food in her mouth from laughing. Half of it was already being launched into the air, with how hard she was pounding the table.

"HAHA-OH fuck, I can't stop, HOLY shit-"

"...No, I am not Satan. Why do you people keep thinking that? Do I just have a sign behind me?"

"I mean, who else would be there at the dawn of time, wear red, then go and rescue Lena for some nebulous deal?"

Lena started laughing even louder.

"You two really were meant for each other."

"Yep, and that's why I love her," Lena couldn't help but snort that threatened to be a full blown laugh once more, "Satan."

"You're never going to let me live this down, are you?"

"Hell no."

"...Please tell me you didn't do that on purpose."

"Okay, I won't."

They had split off from Emily after their relatively late breakfast, with Lena and Archer heading off for the London Overwatch Base once again. They had, as usual, taken the tube, and had piled into it. Unlike the normal process of how they went there, Archer was fully corporeal. It reminded Lena of the times when Archer would split off for his own work at the diner, though a bit more looks had been sent their way when Archer hadn't donned his casual clothing.

'Aren't you attracting more attention by doing this?'

"Oxton, you're wearing a blue plugsuit. If anything, you're the one they're staring at."

'A plugsuit? What's that?'

"How do you not-nevermind. Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm not the one they're staring at."

'Seriously?' Lena stared at Archer with the driest look she could. Just behind him, she could spot a couple of women already pointing at the taller man with their phones pointed directly at him.

She knew that Archer wasn't unattractive, and if she had swung that way, she would've likely been the same as them.

Still, the point was that she wasn't, and the idea of people staring at her friend like he was a slab of meat was enough to make her absolutely pissed.

"Seriously." He maneuvered himself around her, blocking Lena's view. She looked at him questioningly, though Archer seemed content to narrow his eyes somewhere. When she tried to see what he was glaring at, there was nothing but heads turned.

The train started slowing down soon after.

As they got off, Lena suddenly felt vulnerable. More and more people were turning to look at her, whispering and pointing.

Was this the attention that Archer spoke about?

"Yes. Footage from the Uprising's been circulated around, and the strike team in particular has been pretty much the talk of the country."

'WHAT! Why didn't you tell me?!' Her embarrassment couldn't be understated. She tried to keep it hidden, walking just a bit faster, hoping to get away from all the attention. It didn't work.

"With all the commotion yesterday, I completely forgot." This time, Archer was almost apologetic, "And with how much you use your phone, I'd thought that you would've already known by morning, so I didn't even bother. I thought you were just confident enough that you didn't care for it."

The sad thing was that she couldn't even blame him for the assumption.

'Alright, alright. We're just another block away, we can make it.'

After that, it would finally be time for some more answers. She had told Emily everything that had happened so far because of exactly that. If Archer had gotten permission to meet de Kuiper, then she would have to join him.

She explained as such to Emily, in order to prevent any miscommunications in the future. More than that, she was tired of the secrets that she'd been keeping. And, as much as she truly considered Archer a friend at this point, the secrets that he kept were seemingly life threatening.

She would finally be able to assuage the small, lingering doubt about him, she felt.

Now though, that block of walking felt already too far away.

They had to, after all, deal with the greatest enemy that anyone had to face.

"Miss Oxton! Can I have your autograph?!"

Fans.

A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.

And a special thanks to: FireRogueWolf25, brutalcrab and Tassimo.