swordboning | IC Inbox

If you order it, perhaps.

[Otherwise, it would be so unconventional.]

[ On the rooftop most likely, away from Rin's ear, Saber stands in something excessively cute with all the ribbons and bows you could expect, but with a serious look on her face and hands on her hips. ]

Archer! I wish to speak with you!

[Not even turning to face her. Just keeping an eye out on the horizon-ish place.]

I'm listening.

You have been seeing to Rin's protection, have you not?

[ Ah, it's about Rin, what else would she actually come this far to talk to Archer alone about? ]

Of course I have. Where are you going with this?

I have been neglecting my duties in seeing to her protection myself.

[ She's been working, and other things, but it's been grating on her a little, that she feels still distanced from Rin. ]

I wish to take over those duties. And to see her trained in combat.

Rejected.

[Just one word.]

[ Twitch. ]

My skills are more suited to seeing that she is protected at all times!

Wrong. Your skills are more suited to engaging powerful foes. Mine are more suited for defense.

[ While that partly may be true, she knows more about combat tactics than anyone else, enough to know her own strengths and weaknesses, she doesn't like Archer being right. ]

I do not understand your motivations Archer. You had no trouble breaking your contract with Rin before. Now you act as if you worry for her safety.

Of all people, you're the last person I need to explain myself to. Give me one reason why I need to.

[IT'S A TEST.]

If we are to work together for the best interest of Rin, then we should be able to trust one another.

[ That's why! ]

I could explain myself for the next thirty days and you still wouldn't trust me. It's pointless.

[Sighing and turning to face her.]

I know how you are, Saber. One slight and your opinion drops significantly. Turn traitor and you will never trust them again. So why try?

[ She doesn't dispute that. But him telling the truth would still be in her and Rin's best interest. ]

Do not try to dismiss your actions as a mere slight. You attempted to kill Shirou on more than occasion. You think of yourself before others.

[ Why does she try? ]

I wish to keep Rin protected.

Did I? Think about that again, Saber.

This is an idiotic conversation. Just admit that what you really want is for me to admit that you're somehow superior and have immense insecurities about it. Either way, I don't want to be a part of that.

[ Saber is not trying to cause trouble with everyone, she's really not. She's just difficult sometimes. ]

My superiority has no place in this matter. I am attempting to understand you better. I do not wish to be enemies. There is no Grail to fight for, and no reason for us to be at odds.

No reason? No reason at all?

Who was it that instilled knightly honor in me? Who was it who reinforced that self-sacrifice made a person who they were, despite the fact that the same self-sacrifice ruined your life as much as it did mine?

You want to understand me better? Look at all your mistakes and multiply them by the entire world rather than just England. Then, you just might get it.

Then you do not wish to blame only Shirou, but myself as well?

[ Okay, that hurts, you've hurt Saber, good job Archer. ]

I do not blame others for the path that I had gone down. I failed my country, and my people, but they are my own mistakes. I only wished for Shirou, for you, to become the man you had the courage to be. If you wish to blame me...then so be it.

[ She lowers her head a little, showing sincerity. ]

Where's the courage in not having your own ideals? To borrow from your father and your Servant; faking as if your life meant something. Your mistakes were yours. Mine were because people allowed me to run unchecked; no soul, no spirit. Just clinging to the faces of others, hoping to once again see that smile yet never having anything for myself......

[ How does she begin to sum up the lessons she had learned watching Shirou? ]

You have always fought with someone else's weapons. That is your power, to borrow and make things stronger.

Now you're understanding.

Have withstood pain to create many weapons

Yet those hands will never hold anything

This life of mine will always be nothing because, in the end, nothing that is mine is real.

Shirou had found the opposite. He believed that he could make his ideals real, even if they were not originally his own.

[ She looks down at the ground. ]

I believe in Shirou and his ideals. You could as well.

There's nothing to believe in. No matter how hard an imitation tries, it can never be the real thing.

It does not have to be the real thing to be a life worth living. I understand your plight far too well, even if you will not believe me so.

I have no problem with living. However, I refuse to give up the only thing that is real to me.

[Which is protecting Rin.]

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