10ONE SHOT
For Archer A.K.A Emiya, the latest Holy Grail War that he was in was surely one of the top ten most bizarre and fun Grail War he had the pleasure of participating.
Apart from Rin still being his master, there were quite a lot of changes in this war.
First by some miracle Caster a.k.a. Medea ran into Luvia Edefelt and Shirou Emiya, who was just about to leave the city after failing to summon a servant and the later was escorting her to the airport, after killing her master and formed a pact with Luvia.
Bazett was alive after being found by Luvia and after being treated by Caster, at the insistence of Shirou.
Lancer was freed from Kotomine's control shortly afterwards and returned to being Bazett's Servant.
Shinji had an unfortunate accident and was dead along with Zouken, while Sakura was back to being Rider's master for the war, Saber was most accommodating to Sakura's needs after she and Caster got rid of the worms in her body.
Illya had also joined their side after being rescued by them form Gilgamesh, alongside Berserker and Saber had somehow restored her body to look like her real age and even increased her lifespan by considerable years, measuring in thousands now.
Though Saber later did that with all the masters while giving them a honest to Root healing factor and increasing their circuit quality and capacity to above Dead Apostle Ancestor level while giving them quite a lot of research materials for their Magecraft.
Her reasoning for doing this was to make sure that they would be able to not only survive the Grail War with their increased abilities but also handle any later threats.
He and the others were going to face Gilgamesh at the temple so it would be the last of all the major problems for the war as all had agreed that while they could destroy the corrupted grail no one was really sure of the fallout from the destruction of the grail.
He knew that very well and had already told the others that destroying the grail with powerful Nobel Phantasms was not always the best idea, especially since none of the heroes' NP were powerful enough to purify the grail and most of all they did not have Excalibur, due to Shirou summoning a different Hero under Saber class. A Hero who by all means should have only being able to be summoned under the Caster class.
His idiotic counterpart, who seemed to be not too foolish enough to try to follow his path due to his now official Harem, had somehow summoned RIN THOSAKA as Saber for the Holy Grail War.
After all it was pretty hard to mistake the Heroic Spirit version of his master when they looked exactly the same with the only difference being their attires, with one in her trademark red and black themed clothes while the other had a more Kiritsugu themed clothing with the trench coat and suit. Hell they even looked the same age as well.
This had also resulted in her being the first servant of the war to be recognised, not like he didn't already knew them already, and painted a large target on his master for her potential to become a Heroic Spirit. Though Luvia was and still raging about the fact that Rin had become a heroic spirit and not her.
He from the get go abandoned the idea of killing his past self after seeing her. It was not worth the trouble he had to endure every time he had to face a Heroic version of his master.
Every time he had faced her in a Grail War as a servant, she was always a Master of the Second True Magic and a damn Jewel Craft Master or a Magical Girl who like to spam Divine Busters like they were out of style, that version of Rin even had the audacity to tell him that Divine Buster was her Basic attack, a damn A+ rank Anti-fortress spell as her basic attack. Even Berserker ran from her after their first encounter or as she called it her befriending session.
Though all things considered every time Rin Tohsaka was summoned in a grail war, she was always overpowered and had broken abilities like a certain Gold Bastard and the Grail War always resulted in something abnormal, especially the Fifth Holy Grail Wars like the current one.
The Heroic Spirit Rin Tohsaka a.k.a. Saber of the war was like one of her many counterparts that he had encountered.
She was a master of the Second True Magic and was also a master of her family jewel craft and had excellent martial arts. But what made her different was that she was even the master of the Third and First True Magic and was incredibly skilled with all kinds of weapons from swords to modern firearms not to mention that she seem to have a thing for helping people like a certain wannabe hero of justice.
Still even if she was proficient with swords she was nowhere near as skilled with them to qualify for the class and so far she had only used her magecraft and magic in the war like a caster class. The only thing that still reminded them of her status as the Saber class was her chosen name for the war as she insisted they call her Saber, and you don't argue with her when she insists, and her Class' inherent magic resistance.
None of the Servants or the masters was able to find out why she was summoned under the Saber class and not as a Caster and the dream cycle that Shirou experienced had only showed him her memories of the Fourth and her version of the Fifth Grail War and nothing new.
Once Shirou had even asked her and she had said "What else would I have been summoned as but the Servant of the Sword?" that had really thrown everyone out of the loop.
Still whatever the reason was he was simply happy and content with how the war had played out, even if Saber had to go on and spill the beans of who he was.
Watching the antics and shenanigans of his counterpart and his Harem and then going fishing with Lancer and Berserker now and then or just getting drunk and duking it out in true male bonding spirit while Saber somehow managing to control them and order them around, even if she was not Arthuria, which shows just how strong and dangerous her personality was. Life was not perfect but it sure was great.
They were able to enjoy these short happy days knowing that all might not come back when they faced Gilgamesh.
12312312312
The plan was simple as far as everyone was concerned, Saber would engage Gilgamesh as she had the highest chance of victory and only when it looked like she needed help would the other step in along with Archer and Shirou as their reality-marble were the perfect counters for Gilgamesh but Saber had stated that she wanted to fight him one-on-one for some personal reasons.
While no one doubted her ability they were still sceptical of her victory. She silenced their doubts by telling them that she had a reality-marble which she was going to use against Gilgamesh.
That really put an end to any arguments from them. Rin Tohsaka with True Magic was broken enough but on top of that a reality-marble. All heroic spirits agreed that they really had no chance in winning the war, even with Gae Bolg all Lancer was able to do was get hit by his own spear against Saber.
123123
Everyone was in position Lancer was at the temple gates with assassin, Archer was in nearby building ready to snipe using arrows, while Berserker and Caster were with their masters nearby and caster had set up a scrying spell to watch the battle between Saber and Gilgamesh.
Archer knew Gilgamesh was quite enrage at the appearance of the Saber, he had proclaimed her as the false Saber for not only having the audacity to take his beloved Saber's place and forcing him to come to this place and duel her using a powerful geas but also for not fighting like her class demanded. Gilgamesh had even proclaimed that he was more less fake than her for at least he occasionally fought with the bow and had skills in it but Saber did not even have the mediocre skills in swordsmanship to live up to her class.
Gilgamesh had finally found someone he hated more than him, it seems. Still the stage was set for the battle and Archer could only watch how it ended. Even from a distance he could still hear what was being said between the two Servants
"So you finally came you faker." Gilgamesh all but growled and here he thought he was the faker.
"Yes, why already thinking of running away are you goldie." Rin retorted and archer could not help but wonder if she got that from him in the past.
"You're efforts at enraging me are pointless, faker."
"Why? Lost all will and wit to argue with a girl did you."
"No, simply because I've reached the limits of my rage and now there would be only being your execution."
"And here I had thought of so many great lines to banter with you and you're acting like a B-grade villain." Archer really had to snort at that as did everyone.
Gilgamesh only reply was to send a dozen weapons at Saber's direction which she effortlessly dodged and redirected using the Second.
"Well I guess that's the end of the conversation it seems but I just find myself unable to keep quiet and there a poem that's coming to my mind which I just can't help but want to share."
It was then Acher and the others knew that Saber was going to unleash her Reality Marble.
Even as more and more weapons came her way she just stood still and redirected them using portals and kept on talking.
"But first let's take care of the issue of me not acting like someone from my class should act, Shall we."
Like an unseen arrow one of the weapons was able to not get sucked into the portals and seemed to be on the path of reaching its target. It was then all heard Saber say the two words that they least expected to hear form her much less thought of her being someone to utter those words.
"Trace On."
A metallic clang was heard as the weapon that was on it way to hit Saber was blocked by two all too familiar blades.
Gone was Saber's jet black hair and in its place was a mane of metallic white hair and in her hands two Chinese daos, one pure black and the other pure white, opposite in every way yet complementing and completing each other like yin and yang. The Twin Married Swords Kanshou and Bakuya.
"Now, tell me Gilgamesh still having complains how un-Saber like I am."
There was no words, no growls from Gilgamesh only the endless rain of weapons from the golden gates of Babylon.
"It's rude to interrupt a lady you know and I still haven't even started reciting my poem. Still I take the silence as your permission to go ahead."
Even under the endless rain of weapons and the sound of the exploding earth and the metallic clangs of weapons her words were heard by all who were present.
"You should be honoured Gilgamesh for this is a poem which depicts the very nature and soul of the man I once loved and whose ideals I now carry on, searching for that unreachable dream."
Archer knew what was going to happen and for roots sake he should have seen it coming by a mile. He had even found out how Shirou had even summoned her in the first place, who would have thought that a reality marble could be catalyst for summoning. The clues were all there in front of them, her need to help others, her ways of solving all the problems and her cryptic statement about her being the Servant of the Sword. But none could have ever guessed it for it was all but impossible to even complement but aren't heroic spirits the very embodiment of impossible actions.
After all it was impossible to achieve a Reality Marble the ultimate representation of the soul and only six human had done it so, much less one that was similar to another.
"I am The Bone of My Sword,
Steel is My Body, Fire is My Blood,
I have been broken and re-forged,
From the fires of hell, by the hand of Heaven,
As a incarnation of the sword, a loving blade,
Inheriting his ideals, Chasing the ever distant Utopia,
This is the symbol of our love eternal,
behold the world of endless swords,
His legacy, his last gift,
My Unlimited Blade Works"
An:- So this is just a snippet a thought an idea after seeing the last episode of UBW and it was just something that came up.
It simply started with the thought of how much Rin was in love Shirou and in order to prevent him from becoming like Archer this Rin pushed the boundaries of her magecraft and became a master of the second magic which she used to aid Shirou.
Then using the second she and shirou just had a few adventures before even Rin was effected by his distortive viewpoint. A point that she had already started to walk the path to become a hero of justice like him. Slowly but surely both grew stronger and stronger and more distorted as they gre to love each other but just as Shirou had changed Rin so had she as she was able to instil some pride and common sense into him.
Then in a when a disaster strikes Shirou gives his life to save Rin and even gives her Avalon. This breaks her down mentally and Zelretch helps in consoling her (not the best idea but hey he's not heartless) and after being consoled Rin decides to uphold Shirou's ideals and chase them. for Zelretch had said that if she wanted to see him again she had to never cease chasing that ever distant utopia.
Then Rin does just that with a bit of self-preservation and common sense she was able to realise Shirou's ideals and had full accepted them s her own, resulting in the reality marble. Her other skills were gained in her never ending quest before she was summoned to the fifth Holy Grail War. And hijinks ensures.
I don't plan to continue this but anyone who wants to adopt it and expand on the idea and are free to do so.
