Shattered Heaven

[Tesculpture]

Back again, now digitally remastered! (i.e. I've corrected the paragraph layouts so it is actually readable.)

Each chapter will be a separate post due the difficulty of sticking it in all together.

Prologue:
Down flights of stairs and along endless corridors, the person ran. His flight was careless and noisy; the slaps of his foot falls and the hisses of his exhalations echoed off the otherwise silent walls. In stark contrast to his storm of movement, the tower block seemed otherwise devoid of light or activity.

But looks can be deceiving, as the person was all too aware of. Somewhere above him, in the hallways he had left behind, a Master and his Servant were tracking and hunting him.

This wasn't how it had meant to have been. He had had a plan to lure his opponent into a trap, a trap that would have eliminated the opposing Servant and left his enemy with no choice but to surrender.

But two fatal oversights had gutted his chance of victory. He had thought their Servants were equally matched, but as soon as the two clashed, it was obvious his opponent's would win a straight out fight.

He could have found a way around this, but his second mistake was trusting his own Servant to have an once of common sense. He didn't know whether it was honor or simply being too stupid to see that she had no hope of winning, but as soon as his opponent had appeared, his Servant had ignored his carefully laid plans and stepped out into full view, challenging the opposing Servant to a head to head fight.

His Servant never got the chance to regret her decision; her challenge was answered by instant obliteration, via the opposing Servant’s Noble Phantasm.

And now he was on the run, desperately trying to escape this building that his enemies had turned into their hunting ground.

He didn’t feel any fear as he ran. The only emotion that mingled with the feeling of blood pounding in his brain was desperate frustration.

He had failed. His opponent was as morally bankrupt as they came. And while the person hadn’t thought about what he would do if he got the Holy Grail, he was sure that whatever his opponent wished for, it would not beneficial or pleasant for anyone.

Rounding a bend in a corridor, the person slid to a stop and pressed himself up against the wall, peering round the corner the way he had come. There was nothing; no metal glinted in the darkness, nothing moved except the dust he had stirred up during his passage, and the only sound was his own anxious breathing.

Closing his eyes and forcing himself to breath slower, he pulled himself together and tried to think out his next move. By his estimation, he descended over half the skyscraper’s levels. If he could just make it down to the ground, he could reach a public area where his opponent wouldn’t risk attacking him. From there, he’d have to head home; it would be utterly humiliating returning as a failure, but given the circumstances, it was his only-

“Going somewhere?”

With a start, the person spun to face the opposite direction. There, barring his retreat, was his opponent. He stood idly in the middle of the corridor, his weight on one leg, a calm smile on his face. The person backed away like a caged animal, his teeth gritted, his mind desperately searching for an avenue of escape. A drop of sweat fell of his brow and fell to the floor.

“I know we’re long time friends, but I’d be lying if I said I was going to make sure this was quick or painless,” his opponent smirked. “Sorry.”

Another face appeared out of the darkness to his opponent's right. In contrast to his opponent’s casual cheer, the emotion that showed on this face was the single minded determination of a hunter – and the barely contained malice of a psychopath.

The person tried to dodge as the Servant lunged forward, but he was nowhere near fast enough.

SHIIIIIING–

“AAARRRGGG-!!!”

The scream was abruptly cut off as the person’s wind pipe lost its connection to his lungs. Then there was a loud, soggy THUMP as he crumpled to the floor.

As he lay on the floor, his life draining into an expanding crimson pool, his opponent regarded him for a second longer before turning away. “Don’t worry, Shinji. You will forever live on as a part of my legacy. Even if it’s a tiny, inconsequential part.”

Unable to move, unable to speak, the person could only watch through glazing-over eyes as his opponent walked off, his Servant striding after him into the darkness.

As the last of his being departed the mortal world, the person prayed to any higher power that was listening that someone stopped this pair of monsters before they reached the Grail.

[Tesculpture]

Shattered Heaven
A Fate/stay night fanfic by tesculpture
(Kudos to Nerroth for the title)

Part 1:
It was rare that Archer experienced urges as strong as this, but such was the magnitude of the emotion connected to the urge, it was all he could do to keep himself from carrying it out.

Since this urge was the urge to kick himself, this was probably lucky.

The risk had been blatantly obvious. After what happened to Saber last week, he should've known better than to comply to Rin's request for assistance with her latest jewelry magic experiment. She wouldn't have been happy, but he was sure he could've thought up an at least semi-plausible excuse. But no, he had allowed himself to be sucked in by her assurances and insistence that nothing could go wrong.

“Look, there's nothing to worry about. I've figured out what went wrong the first time, there's no chance of it happening again.”

She had been half right. The explosion that happened wasn't the same one that happened when Saber was present. It was still an explosion however, and this time, it was Archer who caught the brunt of it.

Now, as he stood coughing, barely able to see an inch in front of himself from the smoke, he began vigourously patting himself down, anxious to make sure his body was still the same as normal.

After a few seconds of checking, he had confirmed (with a not tiny amount of relief) that he was still in one piece, and that that piece had not changed in any obvious way.

“You were saying, Rin, that there was no chance of this?” he said ruefully as he ran his hands over his boots.

There was no response.

“Rin?”

Still nothing. Archer's anxiety suddenly returned – had something happened to Rin? But before he could look up, he noticed as the smoke cleared that the floorboards on which he was standing had changed. They didn't look like the ones from Rin's house; more like...

As he looked up from his feet, his suspicions were confirmed; he wasn't in Rin's house anymore. Somehow, for some reason, he was now standing in the Ryudo Temple. It was a couple of hours after nightfall, and everywhere was dark and empty of people.

“Well, of all the things that could've happened,” he thought as he began walking through the Temple to the front. “This isn't that bad, if a bit inconvenient. I just hope Rin hasn’t sent herself to another countr-”

Suddenly he froze where he was, and took a step back. As he had been walking, he had casually glanced in the door to someone's quarters. Whoever lived there had stuck a calendar up on the wall, and something he had spied on it had set off alarm bells inside his head. Now as he took a proper look, he confirmed what he thought he had seen before.

The date on the calendar was wrong. According to it, the date was more than a year before what it should be.

It could have been, of course, that the calendar’s owner had neglected to keep it up to date. Nonetheless, unable to shake the uneasiness rising in his stomach, Archer searched the surrounding rooms (quietly to avoid waking the sleeping occupants), looking for anything that might confirm it was just a mistake.

In the end he managed to find a yearly planner and a clock radio. Despite being in different people’s rooms, both of them supported the calendar’s assertion of what the date was.

Archer didn’t have to concentrate to remember what he had been doing on that date.

“Brilliant,” he sighed as he supported his head with his hand. “She’s sent me back to the damn Holy Grail War.”

Sitting down on a step, he mulled over the implications of what he had deduced, and what the hell he was going to do next. While there was always the chance that the explosion had just reset all the devices for showing the date within a twenty meter radius of where he had been transported to, he didn't fancy his chances to getting off that lightly. If he had gone back in time, he had no idea what he was going to say to the Rin of this time if she saw him. Or more importantly, he suddenly realized, what he was going to say to himself, who was probably still intent on killing Shirou.

Should he dissuade himself?

Encourage himself?

Warn himself about what’s going to happen?

Lie?

Then there was the issue of the other Servants and Masters, who would almost certainly treat him as an enemy. Including, he realized with sudden foreboding, Caster, who at this moment had probably become aware of his presence and was wondering how a Servant managed to sneak inside her defences.

In the end, he decided to just make a break for the front entrance and try to escape into the city. At least there he wouldn’t have to worry so much about someone interrupting his thoughts. Standing up again, he resumed his original path.

At first, his luck held. He encountered nobody, human or Servant, as he moved through the temple. As soon as he emerged into the courtyard however, he found Caster waiting for him. At least, he thought she was waiting for him at first. But closer inspection revealed she was actually facing away from him, looking down the stone steps.

This struck Archer as odd; normally it was Assassin who occupied that space, while Caster ventured no further than the front of the temple.

What was more, she seemed to have changed her outfit. Her trademark hood and cape were missing, while her normally purple dress was now orange and grey.

Archer was about to retreat back inside and reconsider his options, when she turned and saw him.

“GAH!!!” she yelled in fright. “How did you get in?!”

Surprised by the intensity of her reaction, Archer hesitated before responding. “I snuck in. It doesn't matter; I am merely scouting and I'm leaving now anyw...”

He trailed off as Caster started shaking like a leaf and looking up at the temple with a fearful look on her face. “Oh god, if Master finds out I let someone in, I'm going to be in such trouble...”

Archer was starting to get confused. Surely Kuzuki wouldn't care that much if someone got past the gateway, as long as they didn't cause trouble? Since when had Caster been this scared of him? And where was Assassin?

Deciding it wouldn't hurt to seek an answer, he turned back to Caster. “Why will your Master care? I haven't interfered with anything.”

“Because I told her not to let anyone past the gateway,” said a voice to Archer's right.

Archer turned, and to his surprise found himself looking at Assassin. He too, had changed his attire; his kimono and hakama were black and yellow.

With Assassin's appearance, Caster cowered away, her arms wrapped over the top of her head.

Archer, not grasping what was transpiring before him, asked, “Why would she care what you want her to do?”

Assassin put on an annoyed look. “Like I just said, I'm her Master. Is that so hard to understand?”

Archer's confusion was rising fast. Was this some sort of obscure trick? He didn't remember Caster and Assassin doing anything like this before.

Well, if it was a trick, he wasn't interested in playing along with it.

“An Assassin class Servant, with a Servant of their own? That would be an impressive feat, but isn’t more likely that Caster’s your Master?” As Archer spoke, he walked slowly across the courtyard, in an effort to get closer to the gateway and possible freedom.

Assassin frowned. “Maybe, but that isn’t the case.”

“I don't recall you being able to do anything like this in any of your stories...”

Assassin's face showed surprise, then suspicion. “And who do you think I am?”

“Well, you always claim to be Sasaki Kojiro...”

As he spoke, Archer glanced at Caster out of the corner of his eye, making sure she didn't suddenly try to jump him. Caster however still seemed to be more worried about Assassin, despite Archer having moved less than eight meters away.

“Well done, you are correct,” Assassin said lividly. “But what do you mean 'I claim to be'?”

Archer considered, then decided it couldn't hurt to tell the truth.

“You claim to be Sasaki Kojiro, when in fact he never existed. You are just a nameless wraith who assumed his form based on the stories about him.”

As Archer finished speaking he realised Caster was moving. Quickly glancing around, he found that she wasn't getting ready to attack. She was staring at him in horror and desperately swiping her hand across her throat in a “Don't say that!” gesture.

When Archer looked back at Assassin, he found himself staring at a face dark with fury. He had never seen Assassin look so angry before.

“First you question my abilities. Then you mock me by showing you know who I am. And now top of that, you have the audacity to scorn MY VERY EXISTENCE?!”

Assassin's voice elevated to a shout, prompting Caster to wrap her arms over her head and shrink away.

“Well let me tell you. I AM Sasaki Kojiro, Servant, and now I am going to punish you for suggesting I am not the genuine article!” Stepping down into the courtyard, Assassin unsheathed his weapon.

Now Archer was completely confused. Either Assassin was a really good actor, or something was seriously amiss. Regardless of that, however, he now had a bigger and more immediate problem. “I am not here to fight, but if you leave me no choice, I will wipe the floor with you.”

Assassin hmphed. “We'll see about that.”

Not bothering with further talk, Archer sprinted towards the stone steps. If he could take the fight there, Assassin wouldn't be able to get proper footing to use Tsubame Gaeshi. Passing under the gateway, he leapt down the first fifteen or so steps, then turned and readied himself, tracing Kansho and Bakuya.

As he watched, Assassin appeared at the top of the steps and paused, his sword handing casually by his side. Eying Archer, he moved down the first three steps, prompting Archer to retreat three as well.

Then, with a burst of speed Archer had never seen him achieve before, Assassin shot forward, his weapon suddenly up and flashing through the air. In what seemed like an instant he was within striking distance, while Archer barely managed to think, let alone react in time.

Archer had hoped that having to fight on the steps would stop Assassin performing Tsubame Gaeshi properly, reducing the number of simultaneous slashes Archer would have to deal with.

To his shock however, he found himself being hit not by three slashes, but so many he couldn't count them all.

CRAAASH!!!

Kansho and Bakuya were shattered and torn from his hands, while innumerable lines of pain burned across his raised arms and chest, propelling him backwards with the force of their collective impact.

“ARGH!!!”

Yelling in surprise as much as agony, Archer landed on the steps, his momentum carrying him head over heels down them. Waves of pain continued to assault his senses, both from Assassin's strike and from collisions with various hard objects. As he scrabbled desperately to stop his tumbling, he heard Assassin call out from above him.

“That should teach you not to mess with me. Thus is the fate of any and all, who get in between me and the Holy Grail!”

Archer's half lucid mind struggled to understand what had just happened to him. In a matter of minutes, everything he knew seemed to have gone completely crazy.

“Congratulations Rin,” he thought just before he lost consciousness. “Your experiment in which 'there's nothing to worry about' may have just killed me.”

[Tesculpture]

Part 2:
When Archer awoke, he found himself staring at a ceiling that, although not immediately recognizable, seemed familiar.

Realizing he was lying on a bed, he sat up, then cringed at the pain that rushed through his chest. Looking down, he found that someone had removed his breastplate and sleeves and wrapped his chest and arms in bandages. A quick check confirmed that whoever had done this had also used magecraft to heal some of the damage done, although his internals would still need more time to recover.

The check also made him realize that he couldn’t feel his connection to Rin anymore, as if his contract with her had been severed. For moment he felt a pang of anxiety; not only did it mean only his Independent Action ability was the only thing keeping him in existence, but he also had no idea if Rin was okay.

Curious as to his location, Archer looked up – then recoiled with a start as he realized he wasn’t alone. Sitting on stool on the other side of the room, was Lancer.

Not that he recognized him as Lancer at first. Like Caster and Assassin, he had changed his clothes. His normally blue outfit was now white, while the grey shoulder plates and details had a deep blue finish. His ponytail was tied back with a long strip of fluorescent green fabric. The most noticeable and bizarre change however, was that he was now sporting a Fu Manchu style moustache.

As Archer stared in consternation, Lancer gazed at him idly, his face indifferent.

“If you’re wondering why you’re here, I found you at the bottom of the steps to the temple,” he said in a voice as impassive as his expression. “My employer had me bring you back so he could patch you up.”

“His employer?” Archer thought. Then suddenly, alarm bells were reverberating inside his head. He remembered where this place was now – it was one of the back rooms of the Kotomine Church.

At the same time, seemingly to confirm Archer’s death sentence, Lancer turned towards the open doorway and called out. “He’s awake, Kotomine!”

Leaping to his feet on the bed, Archer tensed his body, looking around for a way of escape. None was immediately available; Lancer would easily be able to stop if he bolted for the door. There was a window above the bed, but it was too small to squeeze through, and he didn't fancy getting stuck with no way of defending his butt.

Lancer meanwhile was still gazing at him, one eyebrow raised in inquiry.

Then Kotomine stepped through the doorway. Like everyone else, he had changed his clothes; in this case, his dark blue jacket had been swapped for a white one. While he hadn't grown any facial hair like Lancer, his usual air of self confidence was gone, replaced by a look of cautious uncertainty.

“You're a very strange Servant,” Kotomine commented. “Whilst I was tending to your wounds I noticed the nature of your existence is not like any other Villainous Spirit I have encountered. Your similarity in appearance to another Servant Lancer has encountered is also intriguing.”

Pushing aside his curiousity about his present self, and what Kotomine meant by 'Villainous Spirit', Archer demanded “What do you want with me?”

Kotomine took a second to think, then looked down at the floor and scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion. “Well actually, I was hoping you had appeared specifically to help me.”

Archer was about to voice his refusal very loudly and angrily, but then stopped himself. There was no point revealing to Kotomine that he knew all about him and having a repeat of earlier; perhaps a more covert approach would be better. “Why do you want my help?”

“Because...” Kotomine seemed to hesitate, then released a worn out breath. “Because I need all the help I can get.”

He dropped wearily onto another stool by the bed. “Despite my best attempts to prevent it, the Holy Grail War has once again begun. Ten years ago, I was a Master in the last War. During it, I barely managed to stop a Master called Kiritsugu Emiya from using the Grail to achieve world domination. Kiritsugu died some time ago, but it seems that his adopted son Shirou has become a contestant in this War in his stead.

Unfortunately, Shirou is every bit the ruthless megalomaniac that his father was, and almost as capable. From what Lancer had established, he has managed to summon a Saber class Servant, and together they have already defeated the Servants from the Matou and Einzbern families and their Masters. It’s only a matter of time before he comes for the Holy Grail, and if he gets it, I fear the consequences for the free world could be dire.

The only advantage I have managed to achieve is convincing Shirou that I am just the impartial judge of the War, ensuring he doesn’t treat me like an enemy. This advantage will become meaningless as soon as I try to stop him though, and there is little else I can do to swing the chances in my favour. Hence why I’m asking for your help.”

Archer took a second to digest what he had just heard. While he didn't expect Kotomine to reveal so much about his past, he didn’t believe him for a second. Shirou, a megalomaniac? If it weren't for his personal feelings regarding Shirou's ideals, he'd find the suggestion laughable. Nowhere in his memory could he recall experiencing thoughts that could be even vaguely described as megalomaniacal.

“You’re crazy for thinking I would ever help you,” Archer said, deciding he could longer be bothered hiding how much he knew. “And if you are that desperate, why don’t you just use your other Servant, Gilgamesh?”

Kotomine stared at Archer, his face a mixture of shock, disbelief and exasperation. “How do you know about Gilgamesh?!”

“Who’s Gilgamesh?” Lancer asked casually, still showing no emotion.

Archer refused to back down. “You answer my question, then I’ll answer yours.”

At this, Kotomine’s face darkened in anger. “Well, excuse me for being desperate enough to help you, in the hope you would return the favour,” he snapped. “And since you know about Gilgamesh, you should therefore also know that I haven’t heard from him for over ten years. And that we parted on bad terms. So even if I knew where he was and did manage to contact him, I doubt he’d comply.”

With that, Kotomine stood up, moved next to the doorway and gestured through it.
“If you don’t wish to help me, I won’t force you to. You’re free to go.”

Archer had expected Kotomine to say many things, but for the second time in a matter of hours he found himself taken completely by surprise. Kotomine didn't know where Gil was? And why was Lancer acting so indifferently? It could be a trick just like everything else, but when he looked Kotomine in the eye, he saw the look of a man who honestly believed what he saying.

Slowly, cautiously, Archer got off the bed and redoned his upper garments, which were lying folded on the floor. He kept an eye on Kotomine as he walked through the door, half expecting him to lunge the moment his back was turned. But Kotomine stayed where he was, watching him with an angry frown.

As Archer made his way through the church, a suspicious look over his shoulder told him that Kotomine was following him.

“I know the way out, you don't have to show me.”

“Just taking precautions that you aren't a kleptomaniac.”

At the front door, Kotomine waited for him to walk outside, then immediately and wordlessly shut it behind him.

It was still night time, and as he stood alone in the church courtyard, Archer couldn’t shake a feeling of anti-climax. He and Kotomine had pretty much shown each other their hands, and yet nothing had happened as a result. They should have drawn weapons and brutally fought to the death, yet all they had done was talk and yell a bit.

Archer’s mind returned to the question it had pondered at the Ryudo Temple. What was going on? Why was everyone acting differently? Why was everyone dressing differently?

His mind buzzing with questions, Archer set off into the night.

[Tesculpture]

Part 3:
Archer planned to head straight for the Tohsaka residence, so he could ascertain what was happening with the present Rin and Archer. But as he moved through Fuyuki, he noticed more and more things had changed. Most of the changes weren’t major; signs that were differently worded, vehicles that had changed colour, infrastructure that had suffered different wear and tear – while someone else might not have noticed these subtle discrepancies, Archer saw them all.

Some on the other hand were not so subtle – Archer almost tripped and fell when he saw the lime green bridge connecting the sides of the river.

In a vague attempt to avoid losing his mind, Archer tried to think of an explanation for his experiences over the last few hours.

It could be a trick Caster AND Kotomine were working together to pull on him, but the idea of a truce between them seemed somewhat unlikely. At any rate, what did they hope to achieve by this ruse?

Could the explosion from Rin's experiment changed the entire city? This didn't seem likely either. As powerful as Jewelry magic could be, he doubted Rin would've attempted her experiment if there was any chance of such wide spread effects.

Unless, it had not only sent him back in time, but to an alternate reality where things were already different...

This sudden possibility halted Archer in his tracks. Even as he tried to shove the idea away as ludicrous, it began to seem more and more rational to him.

But if things were different, had the fire that ravaged Fuyuki at the end of the last War still happened? Archer wished he had asked Kotomine. He may not have been truthful about the cause, but he could've at least confirmed its occurrence.

Unable to shake the worry, he abandoned his heading for the Tohsaka residence and made his way towards the fire ravaged area.

It was still there. And from what he could see in the glow of the street lamps, it seemed like it was the only place in Fuyuki that hadn't changed, either radically or subtlety. The trees were the same, the ground was the same, and the paths and benches were unchanged too.

Relieved that at least this part of his past was the way he remembered it, Archer began walking through the area, resuming his path towards Rin's house. He had not gone far however when he sensed the presence of another Servant.

Damn.

Archer still didn't feel in top form following Assassin's treatment of him, and after all the shocks he had received tonight, he wasn't in the mood for any further scraps.

Preparing himself inwardly and looking around, Archer tried to located his potential attacker, without success. The only person he could see was a youth sitting on a bench further up the path.

Archer was hoping that the other Servant would refrain from attacking in the presence of an outsider, when, without warning, the youth spoke.

“If you're looking for fight, Servant, you're wasting your time. I am not involved in this War.”

It was Gilgamesh. He was in civvies, but instead of his regular black jacket with white details, he was wearing a white one with red details.

The main reason Archer hadn't recognized him from afar, however, was his manner. Instead of holding himself high, he slouched forward, his shoulders hanging down. As Archer continued watching, Gil slowly looked up at him, his eyes haunted and timid.

Archer looked away.

“I...I'm not looking for a fight.”

“So, what do you want?”

For a second, Archer couldn't think of anything to say.

“.........Kotomine's looking for you.”

“I'm not interested.” Standing up, Gil eyed Archer bitterly. “You're his new Servant, I take it? Well you go back to him and tell him I still haven't forgiven him.”

With that, Gil turned to walk away.

Normally, Archer couldn't have cared less about what Gil thought or did. But now, for some reason, some tiny part of him was moved by the pain and sadness he saw on his enemy's face.

“My God,” Archer thought, “I'm actually feeling sorry for Gilgamesh. There must be something wrong with me after all.”

Out loud, he said, “I'm not his new Servant.”

Gil paused, then gave a baffled look over his shoulder. “Then whose Servant are you?”

“Nobody's at this stage. If you don't mind me asking, what did Kotomine do that you find unforgivable?”

Gil looked at the ground sadly and eased himself back down onto the bench.

“I take it you know I am Kotomine's Servant?”

“Yes.”

“Before the last Holy Grail War, this area was like the rest of the city. Then Kotomine used a command seal to force me to use a Noble Phantasm I possess. He wanted me to destroy the Grail to stop a rival from obtaining it, but due to my inability to regulate my Noble Phantasm's power, I wound up destroying a lot more than the Grail.”

Gil was growing visibly agitated, his fingers tensing into claws. “I warned him that this might happen, but he wouldn't listen! And now, because of him, the blood of all the people who lived here is on my hands!”

He almost yelled the last words, pressing his hands to his face and beginning to shake uncontrollably.

Finally, he relaxed. With a loud sigh, he rested his elbow on his knee, supporting his forehead with his hand. “He at least had the decency to let me leave after the War ended. I found it hard enough to live with myself; I don't think I could've stood living with him as well. That still hasn't changed now.”

For a long while neither of them said anything. Archer, judging that Gil wasn’t an imminent threat, sat down on the bench as well. Gil smiled briefly. “I can't believe I'm telling this to anyone, especially another Villainous Spirit.”

“What do you mean by 'Villainous Spirit'? That’s the second time someone’s called me that but I’m unfamiliar with the term.”
Gil looked at Archer incredulously. “You're a Servant, and you don't know what a Villainous Spirit is?”

“I've never heard it before.”

Gil sighed again. “A Villainous Spirit is a soul that has, upon death, been elevated by the World to a near divine level of existence, due to the greatness of their acts in life. Generally they ascend because they have committed great atrocities or acts of evil, but you also get ones who're elevated for doing good things, so not all Villainous Spirits are villains in the traditional sense.”

He looked up at Archer. “I would ask if you were the former or the latter, but I suppose that would be revealing your identity, wouldn't it?”

Archer stared into the darkness in front of them as he digested what Gil had just said. “He just repeated the definition of a Heroic Spirit, only…backwards.” He thought. “I understand now. It’s the same as everything else. Things aren’t just different in this alternate reality, they’re… the exact opposite of normal.”

With this realization, Archer felt a sick, leaden feeling start to develop in his stomach. “If that’s the case… could Kotomine have been telling the TRUTH?!”

Gil meanwhile had kept talking. “Although…what happened here…in a way, it was as much my fault as Kotomine’s.”

Archer dragged himself out of his thoughts. “Why?”

“I didn’t manage to destroy the Grail on my own in time. I had a plan, but… I couldn’t implement it quick enough. In the end Kotomine couldn’t wait.”

Suddenly Gil cringed, his face tormented by recollection. “Kotomine's rival… summoned an extremely powerful Servant. My plan had been to trick her into using her Noble Phantasm against me, but positioning myself so she hit the Grail as well.”

Archer stirred uncomfortably; he had a feeling he knew exactly who Gil was talking about.

“I have met none as lethal in combat as her, nor anyone as complete in their evil,” Gil continued. “All who stood in her path, be they Servant, Magus or innocent bystander, she trampled without distinction or mercy.

Even ten years on she still haunts me. I can still hear her yell; 'Ex-”

“-CALIBUR!!!” roared a female voice behind them, and Archer’s world was instantly overcome by blinding, burning light.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

Still awesome.

[Tesculpture]

Part 4:
“I can't keep being knocked around like this.”

Slowly and painfully, Archer lifted himself from the ground where he had been thrown. His mind was fuzzy, and he couldn't remember how he got where he was. The ground felt hot underneath his palms, as if it had recently been on fire.

As he looked up, he saw Gil, also lying on the scorched ground, and also trying to get to his feet. That was right; he had met him sitting on a bench, they had started talking...and then...

Gil had managed to get onto his hands and knees. But as he raised his head, the grimace of pain on his face became a look of aghast horror. “Oh no………but……but how…”

Slowly, Archer turned and looked at what Gil had seen.

It was Saber. She was standing on a slight rise behind them, about ten meters away. Like everyone Archer had encountered before her, she had changed.

Instead of blue and white with gold trim, her battle dress was now purple and black with bronze trim. Her armour was a much darker shade of grey, its finish marred by hundreds of dents, scratches and rust spots. The symbol that adorned her breastplate was larger, and painted on crudely at an angle. As Archer tilted his head, he realized that a pattern of scratches on the left side of her tasset were actually the words 'EVERPRESENT DYSTOPIA'.

The change to her face, however, was by far the worst. Cutting down across her right eye, almost to the corner of her lip, was a massive, badly healed scar.

“Well, if it isn't the King of Cowards,” she announced. “Are you actually going to stand and fight this time? Or are you going to lead me on a cat and mouse chase round the city like last time?”

Gil, having managed to stand up, started to back away. “I...I am not a Servant in this War, y-you have no reason to-”

“You think I care about reasons?! You still breathe, and that is reason enough for me to finish what I started!”

Gil had managed to pull a sword out of Gate of Babylon and now held it out in front of him, the tip of the blade waggling around as Gil failed to either hold it steady or control his own shaking.

With a snort of contempt, Saber readied herself, hulking like some sort of monster. “Well at least this time you're accepting your destruction. Now hold still while I fillet you!”

With that, Saber charged forward, shooting past the still downed Archer, her weapon swinging down on the unfortunate Gilgamesh.

CRAAANG!!!

The force of Saber's invisible weapon slamming into his own blade forced Gil to his knees.

Archer, still on his knees, watched in a sort of horrified fascination as the two fought, illuminated by the trees still burning from Saber's attack. Actually, to call it a fight was misleading – that implied that both sides dished out blows. Gil did his best to block the hailstorm of attacks that Saber imparted on him, but it was clear that he was barely managing to stop their force or keep up with their timing.

Saber was attacking in a way Archer would've normally only associated with Berserker. She swung her sword one handed in brutal, random slashes, devoid of her normal discipline and precision. But as crude as her fighting style was, it was devastatingly effective.

As Archer watched, it became clear to him that Gil's struggling was born not so much out of lack of skill, but simply because he wasn't pushing himself to the fullest of his capabilities.

“It's as if he isn't trying because he doesn't think he's capable. And why doesn't he just sword spam her?”

He could see Gil had initiated Gate of Babylon in order to arm himself, but no other weapons emerged, ready to fire.
“Maybe here he's too honourable to use them?” Archer thought, recalling what Gil said before about being forced to use his Noble Phantasm.

Finally, a particularly hard blow sent Gil reeling backwards, until his back thumped into a large tree. Saber thundered after him, and as Gil brought his weapon up, the two blades crashed together and locked. For several agonizing seconds the two Servants remained that way, Saber slowly forcing the two blades back towards Gil's desperate face.

Then suddenly she raised her steel clad fist and thrust it past the weapons, hitting Gil with a deadly roundhouse punch.

CRACK!

The force of the impact slammed Gil's head back into the tree, and with a cry he fell to his knees.

As he tried once again to rise, Saber drew back her foot and kicked him savagely in the ribs. “How something as pathetic as you came to qualify as an Epic Villain, I will never understand.”

Archer hadn't moved from his position, he had become so caught up watching. But as Saber began to raise her weapon again, Archer felt himself moved to act.

But why? Saber was his ally, and she was defeating Gil, someone who had always been an enemy. In any other situation, he'd most likely be helping her.

But that was before a peculiar-little-Master-turned-mad-scientist had sent him to a backward alternate reality, where Gil was no longer a prick to have around, and Saber trash talked whilst kicking people when they were down.

Saber’s invisible blade was now high above her head. “Please meet your end with dignity. I despise whiners.”

For a split second her weapon stayed there, then it was hurtling down again, traveling in an arc to sever Gil’s defenceless neck.

THUD!

A spear shot through the air and embedded itself in the tree trunk above Gil, and with a loud CLANG, Saber’s weapon collided with it and stopped.

“Okay, now I just saved Gil. There’s definitely something wrong with me after all,” Archer thought as he lowered his bow from the aim.

Gil opened his eyes and looked in surprise at the piece of metal that had saved him. Saber glanced sideways at Archer, as if she had only just noticed he was there.

Then, she was charging towards Archer, her mouth open in an enraged roar, her weapon raised to strike. Unable to trace his own in time, Archer held up his bow in an attempt to block. Saber's blade slammed into it, shattering it like glass and knocking Archer flying sideways.

Landing on a piece of footpath some distance away, Archer managed to turn his velocity into a commando roll. While, through some stroke of luck, the blow hadn't cut him in half, it had scored a gash across his chest, reopening the wounds he had already sustained there.

“She hits almost as hard as Berserker as well,” Archer thought, scrambling to his feet and tracing his signature falchions. “Surely…she can’t have low level Mad Enhancement?”

He barely had time to look up when Saber attacked again, this time leaping high into the air and coming down from above. Archer dodged sideways, and like a lead safe Saber hit the footpath.
CRAAACK!!!

The concrete shattered, and as the ends of chunks underneath Saber were driven downward, the opposite ends shot upward, catapulting Archer into the air. “Ugh!”

Not giving him a second to recover, Saber leapt at him again, attacking Archer in mid air and striking his block like a sledge hammer.

“You dare get in between me and my prey?!” she snarled. “Fine then! You may have resurrected somehow, but I’ll rip you apart again just like I ripped you apart before!”

Archer paused momentarily in realization. Shirou and Rin’s first meeting as Masters…she must have already killed the Archer from this reality!

Well, that solved the problem about what he’d say to himself.

But now, unless he found a way of escaping or fighting off Saber, he’d be meeting himself in the afterlife anyway. His strength was going fast, and every blow Saber landed came closer to breaking his guard.

“Why are you attacking me?! Our Masters have formed a truce!” Archer called desperately, hoping that in this reality he was still telling the truth.

“A trivial fact!” Saber shot back, swinging again.

It was time for desperate measures. Drawing on his last reserves of his strength, Archer dodged away again, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

“I am the bone of my…”

But before he could continue, Saber's charge was suddenly and dramatically halted.
With a yell of surprise, her arms were yanked outward, her body immobilized as a grey chain wrapped around them and became taut.

“Gil...” Archer looked past Saber, and sure enough Gil was there, pulling on the other end of the chain to maintain the tension. This was strange to Archer, since he'd never heard of Gil needing to do it before.

“RAAAAAAH!!!” Saber snarled in fury, wrenching against her bonds.

“Hurry! It won’t hold her forever!” Gil called frantically.

Archer didn’t waste any time. Running past Saber, he was about to leap off when he noticed Gil still hadn’t moved.

“Wait a second. He's not pulling on it to maintain the tension, he's pulling on it because he's got his arm stuck in it!”

It was true; no matter how much Gil tried, he couldn't dislodge the chain wrapped around his wrist. Slowly the anxiety on his face became panic, as he realized he was inseparably attached to his foe.

Sprinting to his side, Archer grabbed Gil’s arm and examined the chain's tangle. Meanwhile, the chains holding Saber were creaking and groaning from the abuse she was putting them through.

“Look, stop pulling!” Archer yelled at Gil. “It's your pulling that's making it go tight!”

Archer shoved Gil in Saber's direction (much to Gil's horror), and immediately the chain on his arm slackened and fell off.

“RAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

CRACK!

The chains holding Saber's left arm broke, and she lurched towards them, held only by the chains on her other arm and her body.

“Let's get out of here!” Gil yelled frantically.

Together, the two Servants ran, crashing through the trees with all the speed they could muster.

Even after they had exited the fire ravaged area, and had moved another two blocks away, they could still hear Saber's screams of rage.

[Tesculpture]

Part 5:
They eventually stopped in an empty alley, puffing and resting their hands on their knees.

Archer took the opportunity to sit down. The run hadn't taken much out of him, but the fight with Saber had, and now the front of his outfit was wet with blood where he had been slashed. It would heal, but that would take mana, and with no connection to a Master, he wasn't getting any new mana from anywhere.

Gil slouched against a wall. A large bruise was forming on his face where Saber had punched him, while a trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. He looked badly stressed, and when he spoke, Archer could hear the effort he was putting into sounding calm.

“Why did you save me?”

Archer couldn’t come up with an answer. Somehow, ‘I normally wouldn’t have since I come from another universe where you’re evil and Saber is good’ didn’t seem appropriate at the moment.

Having received no answer, Gil looked away again. He seemed to debate inwardly for a second, then turned to Archer again and gave a hollow smile. “You said before you have no Master. If you need a somewhere to go, you can stay at my place if you want. I owe you my life, so it’s the least I can do.”

Archer’s first impulse was to say no; he still wanted to find Rin and find out what was going on with her. But then he remembered all the other shocks he had received tonight. What if Rin had changed too? It seemed likely in view of everything else, and if it was, he didn’t feel up to coping with it at the moment.

Sighing, Archer said, “Thanks. That would be great.”

Gil’s state didn’t improve as they moved through the city. While his shaky hands weren’t as obvious when he swung them as he walked, the upset look in his face was, especially as he now jumped whenever he heard a loud noise or something touched him.

Archer half expected Gil to lead him to a run down student flat, but it turned out to be a normal, simple middle class apartment. Not the polar opposite of the sort of executive suite the normal Gil would want, but no more likely to satisfy him either.

Reaching his front door didn't make Gil relax either. He dropped his front door key on his first attempt at using it, while the second attempt saw him spend several seconds trying to steady his hand long enough to get it into the keyhole.

“Are you alright?” Archer asked.

Gil gave a dismissive nod. “I’m fine. I just need a glass of water.”

As soon as the door opened, Gil walked briskly through, barely pausing to flick the light switch.

“Do you have a first aid kit I could use?” Archer asked, following him.

“Pantry,” Gil said, his voice distracted and irritable.

Finding the white and red box in the referenced place, Archer began sorting through the contents.

Gil had gone to a cupboard and, wrenching it open, scrabbled for a glass, sending them clinking into one another. Grabbing one, he filled it at the sink, but his hands were shaking so much now that most of the water sloshed out as soon as it went in. He managed to get some in, only for it to spill out as he lifted the glass to his lips.

As the water splattered down his already dirty jacket, the last shred of composure in Gil snapped.

“DAAAAAAAAAH!!!” he screamed in anguish, flinging the glass at the wall. “WHY?!!! WHY HAS SHE RETURNED?! WHY I AM BEING PUT THROUGH THIS CRUEL JOKE AGAIN?!!!”

Archer stopped what he was doing and watched while Gil continued his nervous breakdown. Finally, Gil collapsed against the sink and slid to the floor, his bruised and tear lined face in his hands.

For several seconds Gil sat where he was, while Archer waited. Eventually, Gil managed a whisper. “I must look such a fool to you.”

“Christ,” Archer thought. “First I feel sorry for you, then I save you, now I have to be your counselor too?”

Patiently leaving the first aid kit, Archer got out another glass and filled it with water. “You’re not a fool. You're just suffering from post-traumatic stress.”

Sticking a straw in it, he hauled Gil up from the floor and sat him at the kitchen table, setting the glass in front of him. “Drink.”

Too burnt out to resist or question, Gil silently complied. Archer then found some Rescue Remedy in the first aid kit, and after giving Gil a dose, took a healthy amount himself.

“Her Master is the son of her Master from the last War,” he said, opening the freezer and procuring a steak. “Hold this on your bruise.”

Gil looked round in surprise. “You mean you knew she was here all along? Why didn't you tell me?”

“I was about to say, but I got distracted avoiding being eviscerated. Do you know her true identity?”

“Yes. Why, don't you know?”

“No, I know it. She's the King of Knights, Arturia Pendragon.”

“Don’t you mean the Tyrant of Knights? That’s what most people call her.”

“Um, yes, that’s what I meant.” Having selected what he needed from the first aid kit, Archer began taking off his sleeves and breastplate. Underneath, the bandages Kotomine had applied had been reduced to blood soaked tatters, and he set about removing them.

Gil pressed the steak to his face. “I wonder how father and son managed to get the same Servant?”

Archer considered, then decided he'd revealed enough. Secret keeping problems aside, there was no point giving Gil a heart attack by suggesting Saber may have a Noble Phantasm that rendered her invincible. “That I don't know.”

“I see.” Gil seemed to have finally achieved calm. Transferring the steak to his side where he’d been kicked, he went back to his water. “I desperately didn't want to be involved in this War. But now that Saber has returned, I feel I have no choice. The results would be unthinkable if she got the Holy Grail, I can't just sit here and let it happen! Besides, it’s only a matter of time before she finds me again. Once she picks a victim, she'll hunt them relentlessly.” Gil paused and let out a long breath. “Sometimes, I wish I were more like her.”

Archer stopped and stared at Gil. “You’re not serious, are you? Why on earth would you want to be like her?”

“Well, she has so many traits that I lack; she’s brave in combat, self confident, powerful…”

Archer put on a disbelieving look. “You’re painting an overly flattering picture of her. Isn't it more likely what you think is bravery is actually being too psychotic to know better?”

“Well, yes, but she is all those things,” Gil insisted, looking down. “At least, compared to me, she is.”

Reaching across the table, Gil lifted the corner of the kitchen window curtain. “It’s starting to dawn. We should be reasonably safe during the day; we should get some sleep while we can.”

Too tired to continue the debate, Archer nodded, and busied himself cleaning his wounds.

What a night it had been, he pondered. Teleported to an alternate reality, beaten to a pulp, discovering he was actually in a mirror universe, then nearly incinerated and beaten to a pulp again. And to top it all off, he was staying with a former enemy, whose infamously immense ego had vanished as if it had never existed.

His mind dwelled on how Saber had changed. If nothing else had been enough, She alone confirmed that it was a mirror universe he was stuck in. She was still a Servant that other Servants talked about. But instead of a leader and warrior that commanded respect, she was a nightmare incarnate that commanded only fear.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know what sort of Master would call forth such a monster...

[ringlhach]

Should I expect Shirou with a goatee and a tiny moustache?

[Tesculpture]

Part 6:
“SHIROU!!!”

Shirou was awakened early that morning by Saber’s voice bellowing from the other end of the Emiya residence. With difficulty, he sat up and wiped his eyes. Early risings weren’t his strong point; they were more Tohsaka's forte.

“SHIROU!!!”

As Shirou’s brain achieved full comprehension, it occurred to him that unless he did something fast, her yelling would soon wake the entire street.

“SHIIIIIIROOOOOOUUUUUU!!!”

“Hang on, let me get dressed!”

“I WILL NOT BE KEPT WAITING!”

Footsteps thundered down the corridor, and suddenly the bedroom door slammed open, revealing Saber still in her armour.

From the moment Saber had appeared before him and introduced herself with the phrase, “You had better be my Master. If you aren't, you're dead,” Shirou knew he would not regret their time together.

When the specifics of the Holy Grail War were explained to him, it was as if all his Christmases had come at once. All he had to do was defeat the other Masters - a job that was proving child’s play - and he could have anything he wanted.

And what did he want? The answer was simple: EVERYTHING.

That said, Saber’s lack of patience left something something to be desired, as was the case now.

Putting on a long suffering smile, Shirou began dressing under his duvet. “Saber, you must understand that I require time to get dressed when I wake up.”

Saber’s scarred face was irate. “I should not have to wait to speak to you because of something as minor as your lack of clothing! If I didn’t need you to keep me in existence, I’d make you pay for this transgression dearly!”

Shirou’s smile switched to charming. “My apologies. Rest assured I will present myself promptly when you desire it in the future.”

He knew all too well the dangers of Saber's temper. He had already expended a command seal once stopping her from killing him after a bad choice of words. And while she looked merely peeved at the moment, he knew a fully blown rage lurked just below the surface.

Not that he minded. If anything, he enjoyed the intellectual challenge of keeping her under control.

But as he pulled on a black and purple shirt and stood up, he found a more pressing concern. “Saber, who is that?”

Saber looked down at the bloody corpse she held in her hand. “Oh. She was walking past the residence when I returned.”

Shirou raised an eyebrow. “And so you killed her?”

“No!” Saber gave an incredulous expression. “I don't go around killing people just because they're there! What do you take me for?!”

“I'm sorry.”

“I killed her because she gave me an awkward eye.”

“Of course, how silly of me. Anyway, what were you calling me for?”

“Um...ah, yes, right. There’s been a development.”

Shirou frowned. “What sort of development?”

“There is an eighth Servant.”

“An eighth Servant? I understood there were only supposed to be seven.”

“There are. He is an Archer class Servant that I fought in the previous Grail War. Somehow he is still in existence.”

“Wait a second,” Shirou said. “You fought in the last War ten years ago?”

Saber stared blankly at him. “Yes. Your father, Kiritsugu Emiya was my Master.”

“Really?!” Shirou smiled and raised an eyebrow in interest. “So my father tried to do the same thing as me. I take it he didn’t succeed?”

“No. The Grail was somehow destroyed while I was busy hunting.”

“I see. So, is this new Servant a threat?”

“No!” Saber sneered. “The only reason the runt survived the last War was he kept running away! As soon as I corner him, I will crush him like an ant!”

Her expression morphed into an angry scowl. “I would have disposed of him already, had another Servant not interfered...”

Without warning she spun on her heel and strode back up the corridor, the body in her hand leaving a trail of blood along the floor.

“What? Wait,” Shirou hurried to the doorway. “Which other Servant?”

Saber ignored him, disappearing round a corner towards the dining room. Shirou began to follow, when another door slammed open ahead.

“Ah, Rin...”

“Good mornAAARGH!”

Rin's greeting became a strangled yell. Sighing and rolling his eyes, Shirou jogged towards the noise.

He reached the dining room in time to see Saber, having hauled Rin up from the table by the neck, pin her against a wall.

“Would you explain to me why you failed to inform me that Archer is still alive?” Saber asked with icy menace.

Rin's eyes, bulging from asphyxiation and fear, widened even more. “Ar...Archer? But Saber, you killed Archer befor...” Rin was cut off as Saber tightened her grip.

“But he has returned, hasn’t he? And you have declined to let me know.”

Shirou frowned. “Is this true, Tohsaka?”

Rin desperately forced some words out of her constricted wind pipe. “If he is alive, I don’t know how or why! Look!” She held up her hand in front of Saber. “No command seals! If I’d known, I swear I would have told you!!!”

“Maybe so,” Saber responded, “but why should I let you live if you can’t even keep your own Servant in line?”

“In all fairness Saber,” Shirou said as he regarded Rin’s purple face, “She could still prove useful. Besides, there’s only so much room in my cadaver hiding places.”

Saber looked at Shirou with dislike, then reluctantly let go. Rin collapsed to the floor, gasping and coughing.

“Thank you Saber!” She finally managed. “Truly, your compassion knows no bounds! But, I still don't quite understand. What was Archer doing?”

Saber related her encounter in the fire ravaged area.

“You poor, poor Servant! I’m so sorry!” Rin gushed, standing and bowing almost double. “I promise I will get to the bottom of what Archer is doing!”

“I'm more concerned about this new Servant,” Shirou said thoughtfully. “People live when they aren't killed, which means he's still out there, and knows what to expect from us.”

Saber snorted. “All it means is that he knows his demise is unavoidable. That weakling isn't even vaguely a threat.”

Rin smiled, clasping her hands together cheerily. “Oh, there's no need to worry about that! You and Saber have got to be the most powerful Master and Servant to date! I have every faith that you two will go on to obtain the Grail!”

Shirou smiled in satisfaction. Having his ego stroked was one of his favourite pastimes, and Rin did this exceedingly well. Of course, she'd say anything to maintain his favour. When they had first met following his summoning of Saber, she had been pretty sure of herself. But the moment Saber had smashed Archer aside like a ten pin, she had abandoned all dignity and thrown herself on her knees, begging for her life and sucking up for all she was worth. In the end Shirou had allowed her to live, on the condition she gave them her servitude.

Saber however had no interest in ego stroking. “Enough of this insignificant banter. I'm hungry.”

Looking down, she regarded the corpse in her hand with new interest.

“Um, perhaps you could get something to eat from the kitchen Saber,” Shirou said quickly. The blood along the hall was bad enough; he knew from experience how messy an eater Saber could be.

Growling in annoyance, Saber dropped the body to the floor and strode into the kitchen. Grabbing an unopened box of cereal from the cupboard, she tore it in half with her teeth and began stuffing handfuls of the contents into her mouth.

Sighing slightly, Shirou squatted down and hoisted the body into a fireman’s carry. “I’ll dispose of this; that way I can check on how Ilya is doing as well. Then we’ll have to clear the blood up before Sakura gets here.”

“Of course, Shirou, whatever you say! You do that and I’ll get started!”

“After that I better head off to school. That’s unless Issei has tried burning it down again...” Shirou pondered this last thought as he made his way to the tool shed. He admired his friend’s tenacity and devotion to non-conformity, but the younger Ryudo sadly lacked the long term aspirations necessary to become anything more than a general delinquent.

As he slid open the tool shed door and walked in, a voice called weakly from the darkness at one end.

“On...Onii-chan?”

Ignoring it, Shirou dropped the body to the floor and opened the chest freezer. Another of Saber's earlier victims was already in there, and he set about adjusting them to make some space. Inevitably, someone would come looking for them, but by then Shirou would have the Grail, and the consequences would become a moot point.

“Onii-chan......please......please let me go...”

Shirou sighed as he lugged the body in. “Why do you keep trying, Ilya? You know you’re wasting your breath.”

The tearful voice continued to plead. “Please, Onii-chan……it……it hurts...”

Shutting the freezer, Shirou turned towards the voice’s source. “You will be let down from there in due time.” His smile became smug. “Specifically, when I need you to call forth the Grail.”

“No……Onii-chan……”

* * * * *

Back in the kitchen, Rin was watching Saber continue her breakfast. Having consumed half the contents of the cereal box and spilled the rest on the floor, Saber had found a frozen chicken in the fridge freezer and was chewing on it, trying to break off a consumable chunk.

Although Rin had no idea how Archer had managed to bypass his destruction, or why she no longer had a connection to him, or what he was doing helping a complete stranger, she nonetheless felt pleased at what had transpired. It would have been better if Shirou and Saber hadn’t found out about his return, but since, as they were concerned, she had no control over him, this didn’t matter too much.

Her Servant had returned, giving her an additional tool to use against Shirou.

Her pledge of allegiance to him was a ruse, nothing more than a necessary act to avoid culling at the hands of Saber. But now that she had seen how quickly Saber had defeated the other Masters, she realized she was actually better off in her current situation than if she had won that first battle. Archer had shown some abilities while he was alive that were, at best, interesting, but they were nothing compared to the engine of destruction Saber was.

Shirou was a fool. His success against Rider and Berserker had made him believe he was some sort of infallible god. And while he was remarkably talented in areas, Rin had spent enough time with him to know he was far from infallible.

Not that she would point out the holes in his defence. Let the man follow his delusions of grandeur. Once he had disposed of the other Masters for her (or got himself killed), she would take his delightfully powerful Servant off his hands, and go on to claim the Grail herself.

Of course, Saber might have some objections and prove a bit hard to control, but it would be nothing that a quick magecraft induced lobotomy wouldn’t fix.

“RAAAAAAH!!!”

Unsuccessful in her attempts to bite a chunk out of the frozen chicken, Saber flung it at the kitchen floor in a rage.

THUD!

Producing her invisible sword, she began demolishing the chicken, along with most of the kitchen floor.

CRASH!!! CRASH!!! CRASH!!!

Wary of becoming a target as well, Rin moved to a safe distance.

“You may hold all the cards for now, Shirou,” she thought with a smirk. “But in the end, it will be me who produces the winning hand.”

[Tesculpture]

Part 7:
Archer eventually woke to the smell of frying bacon and egg.

“Ahhh, I hope Rin’s cooking some of that for me,” he thought, stretching his stiff limbs. “Hang on… why am I sleeping on the couch?”

He struggled to remember if he had had some sort of fight with Rin.

Then it came flooding back; the experiment, the explosion, the night from Hell…

He opened his eyes, and his fears were confirmed; he wasn’t in the Tohsaka residence, but a middle class apartment.

“Ohhhhhh shit.” Immediately a large chunk of Archer wanted to go back to sleep, in the hope that a second awakening would put things back to normal. But he knew it was no use. He was stuck in this backward world.

As he sat up, Gil appeared at the kitchen door, wearing a floral apron. “Oh, you’re up. I was just making some breakfast. It’s actually almost lunch, but I thought I might as well.”

“Yeah, I ascertained that,” Archer replied, praying to God that he wouldn’t have to do any more counseling sessions.

Mercifully, Gil remained calm and silent while he served and they ate. The food wasn't bad either, which also helped lighten Archer's mood.

Only once he began clearing the plates away, did Gil raise the issue haunting them. “Will you help me?”

“What?”

“If I'm going to fight in this War, I could really use your help. Will you keep helping me?”

Taking a minute to think, Archer found he still wasn't settled on which side he should help. There was no question who, out of Saber and Gil, had the world's best interests in mind in this reality. But he still hadn’t accounted for everyone else, and the last thing he wanted to do was make an assumption that turned out wrong.

Looking up at Gil, he asked, “I take it you're going back to Kotomine?”

Gil looked surprised, then looked down, frowning bitterly. “I absolutely hate it, but yes, returning to my Master would be a smart choice.”

These last words sent a sudden, unpleasant shock through Archer, as he remembered he was without a Master himself. If he was to have any hope of surviving this War, he needed a source of mana, and fast. Kotomine of course was out of the question. Even if he was good now, Archer still couldn’t bring himself to trust him, let alone form a contract.

“I need more time to think, if you don’t mind.” Archer finally said. He almost said “There’s something I need to do first,” but decided against it. The last thing he needed was to give Gil the idea he was going to help him regardless.

Gil looked surprised. “Oh…er, okay.”

Wanting to avoid the inevitable awkwardness, Archer stood up. “I need to go now. Thanks for the bed and breakfast.”

“Uh, you’re welcome.” Gil looked down at the floor.

Archer turned and headed for the front door, but before he reached it Gil spoke again. “Archer?”

Looking back, Archer found Gil was smiling hopefully at him.

“Thank you. For everything.”

Archer stared perturbed at him, then nodded distractedly and continued on his way. The way Gil had looked at him then… it was creepy.

Almost like how Sakura used to look at him…

It was past lunchtime when Archer reached the school and began searching for Rin. At first, he was without success. He did find to his disgust however, that the uniforms were now an ugly chocolate brown colour, giving them the appearance they had been dipped in timber stain.

Archer was about to abandon the main building, when he spied a flash of blue cloth disappearing round a corner.

“Saber? The normal Saber?”

Archer sprinted towards the corner. Could it be?! The others had come to this reality to save him?!

But when he rounded the corner, he found that he was wrong. It was Rin from this reality; what he had thought was normal Saber’s battle dress was her jacket, which was now blue instead of red. But while he had succeeded in his original objective, he still felt a little disappointed that his last minute hope hadn’t come true.

Rin had sensed his presence, and since no one else was around, he risked materializing.

“Archer?!” Rin’s eyes widened in surprise.

Archer tried to think of something to say. “Hello.”

Rin looked around quickly to see if anyone was around, then turned and moved off, waving Archer to follow. “Come, quickly!”

She led him up to their usual meeting spot on the school roof. Once there, she turned back to him, her arms folded and her face serious.

“This is normal,” Archer thought with relief. Of course, that did mean he was about to have a strip torn off him for going AWOL.

Rin slowly began shaking her head, her eyes locked on his. Archer kept his eyes locked on her hands, ready to dodge if one of them lashed out at a sensitive place.

Then a smile spread across her face. “Oh, you’re so sly, Archer! Tricking me into thinking you were gone for good? Very clever!” She reached out and slapped Archer on the arm.

At first, all Archer could do was stare incredulously. Then, like poison tainting water, disappointment began to cloud through his being. “Please God, let this be a temporary lapse of personality she's experiencing,” he thought to himself.

“It would have been better if you hadn’t let Saber see you, but otherwise, well done! Shirou doesn't suspect a thing!” Rin smirked and rubbed her hands together. “Following your ‘death’, I got him to spare my life in exchange for serving him as a subordinate. Little does he know that this couldn’t suit me better. All we have to do is sit back until he’s dealt with our remaining enemies,” at this point she leant towards Archer, her face intense with malicious glee, “Then we can off him, and claim the Grail for ourselves! Isn’t it brilliant?!”

Suddenly the tiredness he had felt after waking up returned with a vengeance. The one hope he had held out, that against all odds Rin would be unchanged, had been shattered in a matter of seconds.

As he forced himself to nod, Rin's expression became curious. “Just one question Archer; why were you helping that random Servant? Who is he?”

Archer's reeling mind began to panic. He obviously couldn't tell Rin the truth, in case she used the knowledge for evil ends. But in that case, what was he going to say?!

“Um… well…” he stammered. “I... have no idea who he is. My Noble Phantasm allowed me to come back to life in that area. He just happened to be there.”

Rin raised an eyebrow. “So you have a Noble Phantasm that lets you resurrect! But why did you protect him?”

For several horrible seconds, Archer's mind was blank.

Then he remembered what Rin said a second ago. “Well, once Saber saw me it was useless pretending to be dead. So instead I did something that you would be unlikely to get me to do.”

Archer waited anxiously while Rin considered his story. He had done his best, but his explanation didn’t fit with what he'd said to Saber during the fight. If Saber had told Rin about it, she’d know Archer was lying.

Then Rin smiled and shrugged. “That’s a rather obscure method of deception, but it worked, so well done! That was very clever of you to keep up with my plan!”

Sighing inwardly in relief, Archer decided he needed to find out more if he was going to stay one step ahead. “So, what's Shirou like?” he asked carefully.

Rin sneered. “He's a fool who thinks it's his destiny to rule the world, using the Grail to achieve it. Not that we’re going to give him a chance.”

Muttering “Er, yes,” Archer mulled this over. This confirmed that Kotomine had been telling the truth earlier. And that one of the other alliances he could possibly form was not an option.

Suddenly Rin raised her arm and offered it towards him. “Now then, let’s reestablish our contract. Your Noble Phantasm must have severed it when it brought you back to life.”

“Um, no,” He quickly poured out. “If you regain your command seals, Shirou might get suspicious! I can survive on Independent Action for a while, so we don't need to!”

His displeasure at her change aside, forming a contract with her would be just as foolish as telling her the truth.

Rin looked surprised, then smiled. “Yes, that makes sense. You're so clever Archer, you think of everything!”

This time Archer's relief was visible. Feeling the need to get out while the going was good, he began to turn away. “Gee, look at the time, I better not keep you any longer.”

“Yes. Just one last thing Archer.”

Archer looked back at her, anxiety rising.

“Your new outfit is fine, but I liked the blue and white better.”

“Um... okay. I'll change back when I get the chance.”

“Okay then! See you later!” Rin gave Archer a cheery wave as he leapt away over the roof fence.

Archer went as far as the edge of the school grounds, where upon he sat down on a bench beside the road, put his head in his hands and let out a long, despairing groan.

It was useless. There was not a single person he knew in this twisted world, only malevolent strangers with faces and voices that didn't belong to them. The closest thing he had to allies were a man he loathed to the core, and an under-confident doormat who fell apart after one round with another Servant.

Being alone was bad enough. But without Rin, (a normal Rin) to help him, his chances of getting back to his proper reality lay somewhere between insignificant and nonexistent. As were his chances of remaining in existence much longer.

The irony of the situation didn’t help his mood. There was a time when he would’ve given anything to get Rin to let him kill Shirou. Now that she had no qualms against it, he would give anything to have her back to normal. She might’ve not heaped praise on him like this one, but at least she had a good sense of what colours suited him.

Finally, Archer pulled himself together. He would achieve nothing by moping around, believing the situation was completely hopeless.

For starters, he didn’t know if he was completely alone; there was still this reality's Ilya. Kotomine had said she'd been defeated before, but he hadn't said what that meant specifically. Maybe she was still hiding out somewhere, waiting for a convenient Masterless Servant to come along. He didn’t hold out much hope for her being unchanged, but considering her demeanor during the war in his reality, surely here she would be morally inclined.

Having made up his mind, Archer forced himself to his feet, pointed himself in the direction of Einzbern Castle, and started walking. He might be running out of mana, but until he did, he would put it to good use.