That Ever Illusive Utopia

[RadiantBeam]

that doesn't means she knows much about sex, though

Nasu disagrees.

[ILurkNoMoar]

Everyone knows dragons are just really big, scaly cats that breathe fire.

Thus, Saber is a tiny possessive cat.

Saber is a dragon?

Or Saber is a cat?

Fools! Saber is a LION!

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Nasu disagrees.

Nasu can go choke on my​ sword. All three feet of it.

....It's a longsword, you perverts.

[Lycodrake]

Nasu disagrees.

Mushroom man is off in his RM 99.9% of the time, Beamu.

[RadiantBeam]

Mushroom man is off in his RM 99.9% of the time, Beamu.

Just saying, is all. He has Saber acting like a virgin in her first H-scene and then knowing how to please a man in her second.

[Lycodrake]

Just saying, is all. He has Saber acting like a virgin in her first H-scene and then knowing how to please a man in her second.

I take it as it is: Nasu has no clue how these things actually go.

[Aiden]

Nasu disagrees.

Saber knows how to please a man, uh huh!

[RadiantBeam]

Saber knows how to please a man, uh huh!

Clearly, she had her true first time with Lancelot.

[SeiKeo]

Just saying, is all. He has Saber acting like a virgin in her first H-scene and then knowing how to please a man in her second.

What if she's blown a dude but never gotten it properly herself

[Aiden]

What if she's blown a dude but never gotten it properly herself

... I guess Lancelot got that threesome after all.

[forumghost]

The real way that Lancelot and Guen began their affair:

Arturia: "The future of Camelot is uncertain. If only there was some way my wife could produce an Heir..."
(Lancelot bursts in) "For Your GLORY!!!!"

[Elf]

Clearly, she had her true first time with Lancelot.

Then why was there blood in the first H-Scene!

[Aiden]

Then why was there blood in the first H-Scene!

Because Shirou's body is made of swords.

[ILurkNoMoar]

Then why was there blood in the first H-Scene!

According to legend Avalon keep Arthur's blood from ever spilling when it was in his possession. Because Saber didn't have Avalon handy at the time... blood was spilled.

[Aiden]

According to legend Avalon keep Arthur's blood from ever spilling when it was in his possession. Because Saber didn't have Avalon handy at the time... blood was spilled.

Mine is funnier.

[ILurkNoMoar]

Mine is funnier.

Shirou is a sheath that can cut just as well as any sword!

[Elf]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

What Ifs . . .

“This is the office,” Archer said as he awkwardly gestured to the desk, computer, and file cabinet in the front office. He looked down at Saber, who’s wide, emerald eyes took in everything. He walked over to the desk and rested his hand on the computer he had cobbled together from thrown away parts himself. He said, “I keep information here, and hard copies in the filing cabinet. Not to mention pretty much all billing is done here as well.”

Saber bit her lip and said, “. . . I do not know how to use a computer.”

“Well, I’ll teach you,” Archer said as he patted her shoulder and she smiled up at him. “I mean, it couldn’t be any worse than Rin.”

Saber chuckled and said, “Yes, Rin loathes technology. I do admit I have fun playing video games with Taiga.”

Archer looked down at the petite former king and asked, “Really?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod and a smile, “I enjoy Shadow of the Colossus and Taiga has been trying to get me to play Devil May Cry. She says Dante is ‘delicious’.”

Archer smiled at that and said, “I bet she’s happy to have someone to play with.”

“Of course. Sakura shuns such entertainment, Shirou is far too busy, and Rider would rather read. I find it enjoyable,” she said with a nod.

He took note of that and silently thanked Fuji-nee for giving Saber something to do. He said, “Well, if you can work a PS2, then you should be able to work the computer.”

“It does not look like a marketed brand, so did you make it yourself?” Saber asked as she peered at it, one small hand resting on the monitor.

He nodded and answered, “Yeah, it’s cobbled together like Frankenstein’s monster I guess. Most of the components were given to me when I was still working for Raiga. For a yakuza group, there are a lot of wanna-be hackers and gamers with plenty of parts to spare when they were updating.”

“Do you make everything you own, Archer?” Saber asked with a slight smile.

Heat brushed across his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck. He said, “I just don’t like things going to waste, that’s all.”

“Neither does Shirou,” the petite blond said with a shake of her head as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Sakura is forever telling him to throw things in the shed away, but he cannot bring himself to do it.”

Archer scowled and thought, Everything in that shed can be repaired to working order again. He asked, “Why?”

“Apparently they can buy new things with the money Sakura brings in from Zouken’s former accounts,” Saber said.

Archer felt his scowl deepen and he replied, “Yeah, but they’re not made as well and are harder to repair. Then you’re buying new over and over again in some vicious cycle.”

Emerald eyes blinked slowly as she looked up at him, a slight frown forming on her lips. She tilted her head and said, “Shirou says almost the same thing.” Then she smiled with a shake of her head. “You two are a like in that matter.”

“We’re a lot alike in a lot of ways,” Archer said with a snort as he opened up the door to the shop proper.

Saber walked into the shop, her pony tail swaying behind her. He admired the view of her slim neck and the long column of golden hair swaying against it. There was a slight sheen of sweat on her pale skin from the summer heat. She looked up at him with a tiny smile and said, “I wonder if that is the reason the two of you do not get along.”

“Something like that,” Archer said as he followed her into the shop. If you knew the half of it, Saber.

He reached out and turned on the light. A sudden buzz filled the room before the high ceiling and well ventilated room was flooded in bright, greenish-white light from overhead. There were lamps with more natural yellow light on some of the worktables that he sometimes used if something he was doing had color sensitive parts such as wires and fuses. He gestured and said, “Well, here it is.”

******

It was clean. And organized. The workshop had all of its tools and parts neatly lined up on a wall of metal shelving. There was no trace of debris or stains on the thick grey concrete floor. Wooden worktables had tools neatly arranged on them, some even bolted into the tables themselves. There was a shelf that had repaired items complete with white tags attached to them with painfully small handwriting on them.

Saber distantly heard the buzzing of the fluorescent lights over head. Smells of lemon and other fresh smelling chemicals were thick in her nostrils. She looked around the rather large workshop and its Spartan organization in amazement. My knights could have used a hand like his, she thought with a shake of her head remembering the fact that Kay’s quarters were a chaotic mess and that Guinevere had a horrible habit of leaving personal effects out.

Lancelot and Gawain had been neat, but Gawain had seemed fussy about it. Her sometimes stand-in could not quite hide the look of distaste in his eyes when he became muddied or blood stained his armor and blade. The blond knight of the sun was always the first to clean himself off after any battle or event, as if he could not stand the sight of himself soiled.

She studied Archer and found herself oddly reminded of Lancelot before things went terribly wrong. Merlin, you should have warned me, you old fool. She wondered if the two of them would have gotten along, or if they would have become rivals.

Guinevere would have liked you, Saber thought as she looked at her Archer. She then found herself voicing the thoughts aloud. Her cheeks heated up as she quickly looked away from Archer’s wide eyed blink.

He asked, “What?”

“Guinevere would have liked you, if she could have met you,” Saber said with a shake of her head.

His eyes widened even more, and his pearl grey eyebrows were almost touching his hair line. He asked, “What makes you think that, Saber?”

“Gwen was rather insightful. It was one of the reasons I chose her as my ‘queen’,” Saber said as she looked away, “She was very good at reading people. A talent that I did not have.”

“I’m sorry,” Archer said as she felt large, hot, and heavy hands rest lightly on her shoulders.

She shook her head and replied, “It was my folly, not yours. I was glad that Lancelot was attending to her. He was giving her what I could not.” But I was jealous. Not of him bedding her, but that I could not have even that bit of comfort for myself.

Suddenly she was pulled close to hard muscles and she inhaled the scent of steel and forge smoke. She rested her head against his chest as he held her, his cheek resting on the crown of her head. Saber took comfort in Archer’s arms before turning in his embrace to wrap her arms around him as well. “I should not dwell in the past,” she whispered against his shirt.

Archer was stroking her back and she felt him place a kiss on the top of her head. She sighed slightly as he said, “But those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” Then he tightened his hold around her and she stared up at him.

She ran her hands down his back as well as they held each other. Archer said, “We can’t change the past, no matter how hard we try.”

“I know, but . . .” Saber said with a sigh as she shrugged her shoulders.

He nodded and said, “But there are regrets.”

“Yes,” she replied with a nod. Then she laughed, shook her head, and said, “I find myself thinking what it would have been like if you had been one of my knights.”

Archer’s grey eyes flashed like quicksilver as one of his rare, true smiles spread across his face. The white of his teeth was startlingly distracting against the dusky hue of his skin. His gruff voice was alight with mirth as he said, “You know, you’d probably kick my ass once a day for being a disobedient bastard. In case you didn’t notice, I don’t play well with others.”

“You play well with me,” Saber said with a smile.

His cheeks reddened and he said, “Well . . . That’s . . .”

Heat filled her cheeks at the implications of her words as she looked away. “I did not mean it in that connotation,” she said, her words stammering over one and another, “But . . . I will not deny that you played very well with me.”

Archer looked away, his cheeks reddening even more as he cleared his throat. An image filled Saber’s mind of a knight in red and black armor with exotic features and white hair. Eyes like the smoke that would arise in his forge, because Archer would have also been a blacksmith, she was certain of it. This knight would be defiant, acting for the needs of her subjects and saving all he could. He would have rebelled at actions that she would forever regret, perhaps finding ways to keep those regrets from weighing on her shoulders.

He would not have any close friends among the other knights, except for maybe Lancelot, but would be a friend for Guinevere and a curiosity to Merlin.

And I would be with him at night. He would have been my consort, and there would have been no betrayal, Saber thought wildly. Then she shook her head at the fancy and looked up at Archer. No, we would have been found out, as Lancelot and Gwen had. Except he would have turned on his once comrades without question to protect me.

She smiled at him and he blinked down at her. Then she held him close and he returned the embrace. His voice was hoarse as he asked, “Saber?”

“Nothing, I am just glad that I can know you now,” she said with a shake of her head as she fought back hot tears that wanted to spill forth.

He bent his knees so they could look each other eye to eye. A wet brand trailed down her cheek that he captured with his thumb. “Saber, talk to me,” he said in a soft voice as he wiped another tear from her cheek.

She smiled at him from her tears and rested her hands upon his. She gripped his work roughened hands, shook her head, and said, “It is nothing but a flight of fancy that, in the end, changes nothing.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, his eyes darkening as he frowned.

Saber bit her lip and answered, “That even if you had been one of my knights then it would have ended in ruin, perhaps even more.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered before kissing her forehead. She closed her eyes at the contact and gave his hands a squeeze. Then he let go of her before falling onto one knee.

Saber blinked and moved to grip his shoulders, but he shook his head. “No, King Arturia of the Britons,” he said as he looked up at her, “Just, let me get this out before I mess it up, okay?”

Saber blinked and then nodded, her chest tight and her head light. She took a step back from Archer as he looked up at her. “We can’t change our pasts, no matter how hard we try.” He snorted and shook his head. “Believe me, I know. It just screws up in the end or you realize that the best thing you can do is try your best and keep going.”

“And I am going, now,” Saber said, “What I mean is, I am striving to live again in this place and time that are not my own. The reason that I am thriving again is kneeling before me, when I should kneel before him.”

“I want to fight by your side. I want to be your sword when you do not want to take arms,” Archer said in a soft voice, “And I want to make you smile when no one else can.” The memory of that night had been forever etched into Saber’s memory. His promise to her. And Archer was kneeling before her.

She wished for Caliburn in her hands. Not Excalibur, but her sword. The one she missed even now. She wanted to touch each shoulder of it before formally proclaiming him as hers, but she did not have Caliburn.

Then she dropped to her knees as well and Archer’s eyes widened. She scooted closer to him and took his hands. She whispered, “But he would not let me kneel before him, so I will kneel with him.”

“Saber,” he whispered as his grey eyes searched her face.

She leaned up and forward, lightly brushing her lips against his. That flash of fire hit her veins at that touch, desire began to gnaw at her core. Saber wanted to take him into her, prove her words to him, but Archer wanted to prove himself to her.

Then she said, “I need an equal.”

His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her into his lap. She nestled in his arms with a smile. He said, “Geeze, give a guy an impossible task why don’t you?”

Saber laughed at that and just enjoyed the moment. “I think you are up for the challenge.” Then her stomach rumbled, reminding her of the reason she initially came. She blushed and said, “Now, let me mooch for food.”

“Yare, yare, you really are a bottomless pit, aren’t you?” Archer asked with a chuckle as he brought both of them to their feet.

The former king simply smiled and replied, “Well, that complements a man who enjoys cooking, does it not?” Archer’s laugher filled the shop.

[RadiantBeam]

Oh my God, the fluff. THE FLUFF. I CANNOT CONTAIN IT ALL WITHIN ME WHAT IS THIS.

That aside, I'm amused at gamer!Saber. It just seems to be generally accepted by the fandom that she would enjoy playing video games.

[Elf]

Oh my God, the fluff. THE FLUFF. I CANNOT CONTAIN IT ALL WITHIN ME WHAT IS THIS.

Saber x Archer fluff is SURPRISINGLY easy to write. Like . . . I don't know, but I LOVE writing their fluff.

I do want to have a lemon scene where they fuck in the workshop, because that would be . . . yessssss.

That aside, I'm amused at gamer!Saber. It just seems to be generally accepted by the fandom that she would enjoy playing video games.

I mean, I could see Saber doing it and liking it. Like I could so hear her lead a raid in WoW or some such.

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

.....I think I've finally figured out what getting to me about your Archer Elf.

He's not enough of an asshole.

I'm serious, you never put him in a situation that would require him to go For The Greater Good in morally precarious situation, where he turns on his friends and allies for the benefit of the Greater Good. Not since one fic where he ultimately lets Rin die in an Bad HF End, but that was more Archer giving up. What really struck me was Saber thinking that Archer would turn and defend against the betrayal of his men, when no, he really wouldn't. Now maybe this is Saber's flawed perspective, but I get the feeling that this is just a bit of Archer worship seeping through. Emiya Shirou may want the people in his sight to not cry, but EMIYA has followed Kiritsugu's ideals as best as he could and would turn on his friends if necessary.

EMIYA's not stupid like canon Shirou, he can weigh the odds and predict outcomes pretty well. The loyalty to friends and family is an appealing societal value that a reader views as positive, but in my mind, EMIYA just doesn't have that loyalty. He's gone too far down Kiritsugu's path.

This was still a good chapter but, I dunno. I remember you once said that Beam lacked bite, but for a long time I haven't seen in Archer for a while. He's gone too far down the path of hurt/comfort where he needs someone to come in and heal his wounded heart, instead of his heart being damaged, scarred, but ultimately functional and by God he'll keep going no matter the odds. It's....irritating me a bit.

I'll keep reading this story, but the angst and Saber and Archer nosing around a waxing poetic about each other's qualities and how they're not good enough for the other is getting tiresome.