Chapter Three
Promises and Alliances
“Mmph,” was the muffled curse that came from parch lips as light streamed in through drawn curtains. Tohsaka Rin pulled the heavy blanket over her head to keep the warmth in and the light out. There was a tiny twang of pain in her stomach at the movement and a throbbing in her head. Green light flickered from underneath heavy fabric as pain shot through her right arm and the left was starting to burn with an all too searing familiarity.
Rin jolted into an upright position and yelped at all the aches that chorused through her before her eyes scanned the room. There was the familiar canopy bed that she’d slept in since she had been a child, the fabric still held the same yellow and brown pattern and the curtains were still dark red. A tiny hiss escaped parted lips as an aching hand tucked back an oily, dank lock of hair as the room’s occupant took stock of her surroundings.
Then she looked down to see her torn, bloodied red turtleneck on her body with the right sleeve cut off to reveal her arm covered from fingertips to shoulder with white bandages. The Tohsaka Crest on her left arm was flickering with its alien green light and filling her with the familiar urge to lop her own arm off. Her right however was throbbing with sheer, sharp agony as she flexed her finger tips. A cry escaped her lips as she dropped her arm onto the blanket, which sent another jolt to her stomach that made her bend over in pain.
There was a click and the creak of the heavy door opening and an all too familiar low voice that said, “Rin!”
She looked up, her breath catching in her chest as she stared at the large form entering her room carrying a tea pot and breakfast. She swallowed twice, her mouth a mess of cotton with a bitter, coppery taste, and stared. Grey eyes widened as large, dusky hands set the tray down before moving towards her. Rin’s aching hands shook as she looked up at the familiar form of her sarcastic Servant standing there, oddly not wearing his red mantle and tail but still in his breast plate and those pants.
“Archer,” she said in a soft voice as she looked up at him.
Archer pulled up a chair and said, “Hello Rin.”
She stared at him for a moment before her left hand reached for a pillow. Without warning and despite the sharp burning pain in her arm, Rin swung the pillow at him with all of her might. Her burning eyes narrowed as she snapped, “You idiot! You damned idiot! You damned lying idiot . . .”
Hot tears spilled down her cheeks as she kept slamming the pillow at him again and again. “You . . . God . . .” Rin spat before the pillow fell from her hand and she threw herself at him.
Large, warm hands gently ran through her hair as she held him.
It wasn’t something that she would have even contemplating doing a week ago, but after everything she hugged her Archer as she cried. She had no idea how or why he was here, but he was and she was alive. “It’s okay Rin, you can let it all out,” he said as he continued to stroke her hair.
She did, in great gulping sobs as he held her, being careful not to touch her bandaged arm or jar her too much.
She cried.
She cried for Sakura.
She cried for Emiya Shirou.
She cried for her failures.
She cried for her Archer.
Hell, she was crying to be alive, and she couldn’t stop. She looked up at him and said, “A-archer . . .” Not Archer, Emiya Shirou, her mind reminded her, Ilya’s grave look and haunted crimson eyes all too familiar in her mind.
“Yes, that was Onii-chan, or a version of him. A version of Emiya Shirou who had thought he had became a hero only to have his ideal trampled again and again.”
She moved away from him and said, “What happened? Where’s Sakura and Emiya-kun? Is Emiya-kun . . .”
“Sakura’s with Emiya Shirou right now. Emiya Shirou’s alive, and ironically recovered,” Archer said as he grabbed a tissue from her dresser and handed it to her.
She bit her lip as she mopped her face with it before throwing it into the waist basket beside her bed. She looked around and said, “Well, I take it the world didn’t end.”
“Or you could be in the afterlife with me as your only companion,” Archer said with a slight smirk.
Rin felt her lips quirk up as she replied, “I’ll admit that I’m not the best person, but I didn’t deserve anything for that sort of punishment.”
“Despite all I did for you, I’m wounded,” Archer said with a shake of his head.
She bit her lip and said, “That doesn’t explain how you’re here.”
“And alive,” Archer said as he bowed his head, his eyes closing and his broad shoulders slumping slightly. Without the mantle on Rin could make out many small scars running up and down his arms, signs of his lack of care during his life. It made her want to hit him, scream at him for being an idiot, and not to waste his second chance.
Rin tilted her head and asked, “What about Ilya?”
“She sacrificed herself so Emiya Shirou and I would live,” Archer said in a small voice as his hands clinched into fists on his lap.
Rin reached out and touched his hand, the bandages a shocking contrast to his skin. She said, “I’m sorry.”
“I am too,” Archer said with a shake of his head.
“She cared for you and him a lot. When I talked to her, she was devastated with all that happened to you,” Rin said in a soft voice, “I wanted to knock some sense into you, but I couldn’t at that point.” Then she looked at Archer and said, “Tell me everything, I missed a lot with the whole being stabbed and having rock caved on me.”
******
Archer told Rin everything he knew about his and Saber’s resurrection, leaving nothing out. She had been sleeping for the past two days, recovering from her near fatal injuries. He had been going back and forth from the Tohsaka house to the Emiya house. As he knew it would, the prolonged contact with Saber had activated Avalon to completely heal Emiya Shirou, but there were things that weren’t so easily healed.
Sakura was trying to deal with the repercussions of what the Shadow had done. Then, more complicated, was Saber, a haunted version of the proud Knight that Archer had known and admired. Oddly enough, telling Rin the entire tale as he knew it made it easier for him to take. Just being around Rin was easier than being around the residents of the Emiya household. It was familiar here, but not a place he had once lived in lifetimes ago. There was no displacement of about being out of place but yearning to be part of something he couldn’t here.
After the end of the sordid tale Rin was frowning slightly. Despite the bandages and bloodied clothing and her hair in desperate need of a good wash, her aquamarine eyes were burning bright and focused. He found himself smiling at the sight and slightly cursing Rider for not taking care of her. Wordlessly, he reached for the tea tray and the light breakfast he’d prepared for her.
He had made himself something heavier, apparently being reborn was doing wonders for his appetite and he found himself constantly hungry it seemed like, but he had fixed Rin simple biscuits with strawberry jam and eggs over easy, just the way she liked it. He poured them each tea, adding their preferred amounts of cream and sugar to their respective cups as Rin stared at the food for a moment. She swallowed and said, “You’re not my Servant anymore . . .” Then she broke off with a shake of her head and gave him a rueful smile.
“Part of me wants to still call you Archer while another wants me to call you Shirou,” she said as she took a sip of her tea before sighing as her eyes curled blissfully. He was sure that her toes were curling under her blankets as she drank. Then after all, Rin is a very sensual creature, even if she’s not aware of it. He resisted the urge to shift ever so slightly, he himself fully aware of her.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he said, “I think it would be easier if you just call me Archer. There shouldn’t be two Emiya Shirous existing at the same time.”
“But you’re still Emiya-kun,” Rin said in a soft voice before she reached to eat. Her expression crumbled slightly and pain flashed through her eyes before she grabbed her plate and ate her first bite of eggs.
Archer snorted and said, “I was Counter Guardian Emiya. I haven’t been Emiya Shirou for a long time.”
“I don’t know that many people who would have used themselves to shield another, Servant protecting their Master or not,” Rin said with a smile, “And you’re still an idiot.”
He found himself smiling and replied, “And you’re still difficult, Tohsaka.”
“Please, it’s weird when you call me that,” she said with a tiny, almost shy smile, “And I like the fact you call me by my name. It seems like no one ever does, except Kirei, but I really don’t count him. He said it more as an insult or taunt more than anything. It seems like to everyone else I’m just Tohsaka.”
Archer blinked at her confession as she extended her now empty tea cup towards him. As he refilled it, he said, “Saber called you Rin.”
“I can’t imagine what’s going on through her head right now,” Rin said as he dolloped more cream and sugar into her cup after pouring the tea.
Archer flexed his hands as he sipped at his cup and said, “I can, to an extent. Even though she’s free of the Grail’s corruption now, she remembers what it was like. It forced her to feel and deal with things she simply repressed inside of her, and considering she repressed everything in her lifetime it’s wearing at her.”
“Well, technically, you would know her better than anyone, right?” Rin asked before lifting a biscuit generously slathered with butter and jam to her chapped lips.
He sighed and said, “That’s the problem, Rin. I use to live here and now, but things are different and I’m not who I was, and I don’t know if I’m coming or going or what.”
“But you can admit that,” Rin said as she reached out to touch his hand. Her Crest had stopped glowing as she started to eat, as if it knew she would get proper care for her body. He looked at her and she continued, “And it takes a lot of strength to admit that, Archer. We’ve all made mistakes we need to correct.” Her aquamarine eyes looked down and she sighed before biting her lip.
He reached out and stroked her hair and those large eyes looked up at him. “I think we should make a promise, Rin,” he said in a soft voice.
Rin tilted her head and studied him. She said, “What sort of promise?”
“That we’ll keep ourselves from making other mistakes while we try to correct the ones we’ve already made,” he said, “And we’ve already proven that we work incredibly well together.”
“That’s true,” Rin said as her face spread into a smile, “And keeping you around for your tea alone would be more than worth it.”
Archer snorted and said, “You know it’s going to be a lot of work, you can’t be lazy about this.”
“It is a lot of work to live, Archer,” Rin said with a shake of her head, “So yes, I promise to keep you from being an idiot and throw your life away again.”
He smirked and replied, “And I promise to make sure you don’t shut yourself off again.”
******
“You know, I wouldn’t have minded if you would have worn some of Father’s old clothing. Especially since that armor is the only clothing you own,” Rin said with a frown and her hands on her hips.
Archer grimaced as he was reminded of what he saw when Rin suggested that he looked through Tokomi Tohsaka’s old wardrobe. First off he saw a variety of suits that were more suited to an American Riverboat Gambler than a magus, and then there was the fact that Rin’s father was about ten centimeters shorter and ten kilograms lighter than Archer was. He said, “Rin, I don’t think it would have fit.”
Her eyes flickered over him, a sigh escaped her lips, and she said, “Who would have thought that Emiya-kun who complained about being small would grow to be so big.”
“I had a late growth spurt when I was eighteen,” Archer said as he felt his cheeks heat up, “Then with the physical training . . . It’s not like I’m overly large or anything. Kotomine was taller than I was.”
Rin smiled and said, “And he was freakish in height for an Asian. I wouldn’t put you quite at ‘freakish’ but ‘very tall’. You know, other than Berserker, you were the tallest of the Servants.”
“Well, it’s a known fact that people were smaller in the past,” he said, but he smiled at her words.
Rin said, “True, but it’s going to make shopping for you difficult. I mean, if you go around walking around the streets like that people are going to think you’re a deviant.”
“Oh, so you’re into those sort of things, Rin?” Archer replied as her eyes widened and a splash of red filled her pale cheeks.
It was the sort of pattern they had faded into for the last few days after their Promise. Archer had no idea where this would take them, but both of them needed someone that they could drop their guard around. Saber rarely spoke to anyone other than polite words of gratitude to whoever had cooked dinner that night. If anything, she was like a ghost in the Emiya household that no one knew exactly what to do with.
Then again everyone has their own feelings that they’re struggling with, Archer thought as he watched Rin. Rin glared at him and said, “I’m not the one walking around in smelly leather pants though, am I?”
“Honestly, right now I’d kill for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt,” he admitted with a sigh, “This is good for combat, but not really good for other chores.” A bit of guilt nipped at her that Rin was going to go as far to buy him clothing. He swore the first thing he was going to do was pick up some sort of job to pay her back. There were many things he could do, after all there wasn’t anything he couldn’t repair and he could use some physical labor to throw himself into. Or I might want to talk to Fujimura-dono, he thought, knowing that the yakuza boss was fully aware of the existence of magi and magecraft in his city.
It may have been part of the reason he was so close to Dad. Dad would have been insurance against the Tohsaka and Matou families if they got too ambitious or dangerous, Archer thought. He looked at Rin thoughtfully and Rin frowned, saying, “What’s that look for?”
Archer smiled and said, “How would you like to increase your power in Fuyuki?”
“What do you mean?” Rin said with a frown.
He said, “Well, in a lot of ways the yakuza are a lot like magi, and it would help keep your lands safer if you made an alliance. Not to mention make a profit in the meanwhile.”
Originally Posted by Tobias
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