Chapter Four
Unwelcome Returns
“I want to thank you for letting me borrow this, but I don’t need it anymore and I think you should have it back.”
Saber stood perfectly still as she looked up at the smiling face before her and the outstretched arms that was holding something that was very precious to her one time. Light bounced and danced along the golden surface and shimmered against the sapphires like sunlight upon the ocean. The queer engravings were as fresh as they had been over a millennia ago when the Faeries had gifted a sheath and a sword to a king who did not know the extent of her folly. Shirou was smiling as he extended Avalon to her and she continued to stare at it.
Shirou’s smile wilted slightly as his golden brown eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “This is yours, right Saber?” he asked as the smile wilted into a full frown.
Saber swallowed, doing nothing for her dry mouth as her hand reached out towards the gilded sheath. “It was mine,” she said in as soft voice before retracting her hand and shaking her head, “But I have no use for it anymore.”
Shirou frowned and said, “But you need something to put your sword in. It shouldn’t just be lying around in your bedroom naked like that.”
I have no use for that sword either, she thought as she took a step back from him. She said, “I thank you for the gesture, but perhaps it should be suited to help you.”
“I have no need for it,” Shirou said before shifting his grip on Avalon so he could rub the back of his head, fluffing up his coppery hair with a smile. “It’s beautiful, but it’s not mine. I think it suits you.”
Then with a sudden movement Avalon was shoved into her hands. “Shirou, I really do think you should keep this and not I,” she replied, knowing exactly what it would do once within her care again. She started to push it back, but Shirou had taken a step back, his hand once again taking to rub the back of his head with that awkward little smile on his face.
Shirou shook his head and said, “No, I mean, Dad took it away from you when you needed it and never gave it back.”
Saber gritted her teeth at the mention of Emiya Kiritsugu and met Shriou’s eyes. She said, “Shirou, I have no need for it now . . .”
Shirou bowed and said, “I just think you should have it Saber. It’s yours after all.” Then with a smile he left her alone with the sheath.
Saber felt the familiar pulsating warmth in her hands as she held it as her eyes traveled up its gilded length. There was a spark of pain as small teeth worried into her bottom lip, but it was quickly chased away with Avalon’s power. Saber bowed her head before she carried Avalon to her room.
The paper door slid open with a sigh, a slight reminder that sound carried very easily through these walls. Saber shut the door behind her before walking to where her futon was lying on the neatly polished floor. Excalibur was lying on the far side of the room, the large and brutal sword gleaming in the room’s dim light. Saber’s eyes narrowed at it before she walked over to reunite the sword with its sheath.
Small hands shook ever so slightly as they laid down the sheath onto the hardwood floor before the holy sword was taken in hand. Saber’s gut clinched as she felt hot bile rush up her throat as her hands flexed around Excalibur’s hilt. Hot tears burned her eyes as she all but forced the gleaming blade into its gilded sheath. She bit back a loud cry as she swallowed the heat that was rising within her and briskly used her borrowed shirtsleeve to roughly wipe her eyes dry.
She rose quickly to her feet as she stared down at painful reminders of her failures. She had been entrusted with Miracles made physical only to fail everyone who depended on her. She had failed the Britons. She had failed Shirou. She had failed Sakura, even though that was admittedly for the best. Kiritsugu had stripped her one chance to right everything she had done wrong with one order.
There was a sharp rap of knuckles upon wood that sent the former king spinning on her stocking clad feet towards the door. She called out, “Come in.”
“Sakura and Shirou are meeting Rin and Archer at the Matou house to clean up. I think you should join us,” Rider said in her low, haunting voice as her queer eyes seemed to pin Saber to the ground. Those square pupils never dilated in their lilac sea, now displayed for everyone to see behind special glasses Rin had crafted for the Servant.
Saber nodded and said, “I will be ready to leave.”
“So, Shirou gave you back your sheath?” Rider asked as her eyes locked on Avalon and Excalibur.
Saber felt her fists clinched as she answered, “Yes, he did.”
“Even though you really don’t have a use for them,” Rider said before turning on her heel with a shake of her head, leaving Saber alone to brace herself for another task she could not decline from.
******
“If Matou Zouken wasn’t dead, I’d kill him myself. What is all this garbage? What sort of half assed magus was he?”
Saber blinked as yet another book was thrown over a red clad shoulder in a huff to fall gracelessly on the floor in a cloud of dust. Tohsaka Rin was standing in the library pouring after volume after volume of ancient spell books from the dead head of the Makari line. Rin picked another one before flipping through it, scowling with flashing aquamarine eyes and snapping, “Utterly useless!”
Saber asked, “What do you plan on doing with them?” Her eyes were drawn to the increasingly growing pile of books on the floor.
Rin tucked a lock of raven hair behind her ear before smiling at Saber. She said, “Well, I have half a mind to burn them, if they weren’t worth a fortune. Honestly, it’s Sakura’s decision. She just said I could look through them first.”
“That was kind of her,” Saber said as she folded her hands behind her back and stood up straight.
Rin smiled and said, “Kinder than I deserve. I’m a horrible sister.” There was a hint of sadness in her aquamarine eyes before they looked down in the newest book you were holding.
Saber swallowed and said, “I am glad for both of you things turned out the way that they did.”
“What about you, Saber?” Rin asked before shutting the book and cradling it against her chest.
Saber shrugged and said, “It does not matter what I think, Rin. I am here regardless of any wishes to the contrary.”
“Well, if you ever need anything you know where to find me,” Rin said with a flashing smile.
Saber nodded and said, “All of you have been rather kind since that day.” Even though I almost slaughtered you all. Well, all of you save Archer and Rider. Saber’s eyes narrowed at the thought of the other Knight, the one who deserved the title that the Grail System had given him. He did not treat her with the same fragile kindness that Sakura and Shirou did, nor did he treat her with the utter distain of Rider or the upbeat friendliness of Rin. Archer . . . was a paradox to her, one that she wasn’t sure she wanted to understand.
“You don’t have to keep yourself so distant, Saber,” Rin said as she laid the book down on the shelf.
Saber shook her head and said, “I am not being distant Rin.”
“Archer’s more open than you are. Well, to me anyway,” Rin said as a tiny flash of red appeared on her cheeks.
Saber smiled and said, “Well, you two did seem rather interment with one and another when you were his Master.”
“Well, something like that,” Rin said with a laugh.
Saber heard footsteps approaching and the door to the library opened with Archer, Shirou, Sakura, and Rider trailing in. The first three were carrying cleaning supplies and even had kerchiefs wrapped around their heads. Rider looked the same as always, ever cool and crisp, but then she was still a Servant and not bound to the mortal rules that everyone else in the room was.
“When they’re not arguing, these two can really clean really well, Nee-san,” Sakura said with a laugh as Shirou wrapped an arm around her waist.
Archer said, “Well, this place was well kept before hand, Sakura.”
“Except downstairs,” Shirou said as something passed in his eyes.
There was something shadowed in Archer’s eyes as Sakura said in a soft voice, “Thank you for taking care of that. We would have helped . . .”
“The three of you had already dealt with that for more than a lifetime’s worth, Sakura,” Archer said with a shake of his head, “Besides, I wanted to make sure they were taken care of for myself.”
Shirou said, “I still say you should have let me help instead of locking us upstairs and barricading the door.”
“I thought it would be best for you not to see such things, Emiya Shirou, and I believe Sakura was glad that you didn’t because it would have only gotten you excited without an outlet,” Archer said with a dismissive wave of his hand as he approached Rin.
Saber automatically stepped out of the way as she observed the two of them. They were such dramatic contrasts with one and another. He was so large and dark while she was so petite and fair, his hair was white, hers fell in ebon waves, he had eyes like steel and her eyes gleamed like polished aquamarines. She reasoned that the two of them fit together rather well and knew that Rin deserved such a person on her side.
Archer looked at the pile of discarded books and said, “Seems like someone was displeased.”
“I’m a little pissed at my father right now,” Rin said with a sigh as she shook her hair back.
Sakura’s eyes widened as she walked over to her elder sister. Rin stiffened for a moment before pulling Sakura into her embrace. Saber watched as Shirou walked over as well, holding Sakura from her free side, the girl cradled by her sister and lover. Saber half expected Archer to head for Rin, but he stood at the side, his arms crossed over his broad chest and watching with his unreadable eyes.
Rider nudged one of the books with her foot and said, “This place holds grief for everyone.”
“I suggest burning it,” Shirou said with a fierce look on his face.
Sakura bit her lip and looked up at him. She said, “We can’t do that, Sempai.”
“Sakura’s right. It would draw too much attention and I don’t want some half assed mage to be able to analyze this place and try to do what Zouken did,” Rin said with a sigh.
“However enough money could be made by selling these books that someone could pursue a law degree,” Archer said suddenly, his eyes looking over in Shirou’s direction.
Rin jolted and she asked, “You a lawyer, Emiya-kun?”
“Don’t you laugh at him, nee-san,” Sakura said with a frown.
Shirou flushed and ran a hand through his hair. He said, “I’d still be upholding justice and helping others, but I wouldn’t put Sakura or myself at risk. We’d been talking about it a lot for the last few days.”
“His grades are good enough, he’s just going to need to study his ass off to get into a good college,” Archer said with a shrug.
Shirou’s eyes lit up and he said, “Well, I’m not going to end up like you.”
“You’d better not, or I’m going to get in line to kick your ass,” Archer said with a half smirk and a shake of his head.
Saber shifted ever so slightly as she watched the exchange as Rin and Rider joined in. Rider taking Sakura's side, Rin and Archer teasing and bantering with each other back and forth and finally Shirou and Sakura in the center of their own love. All the while Saber was apart from them, but then none of them would understand how or what she felt. So she simply watched them with a twang she didn’t want to place as they planned a future she had no place or desire to be part of.
Honestly, I'm not too pleased with how this chapter came about but hopefully next chapter will be better. Then again, next chapter the real meat of the story will begin.
Originally Posted by Elf
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