ARCHER ♤ an unknown hero. ♤ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
swordedpast) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-04-20 04:27 pm
swordedpast) wrote in towerofanimus2013-04-20 04:27 pm
Precious and few are the moments
Characters: Archer (swordedpast), Avenger as Shirou (destructiveprinciple/heroicprinciple), and Saber of White (no_longer_a_king)
Setting: Outside room 3-16, the morning of April 20th.
Format: Prose for now.
Summary: In the aftermath of the event, Archer seeks relief from his guilt and rage in the only way he knows how.
Warnings: Violence, self-loathing, and death.
The message left for Shirou is like a gauntlet thrown down. Which is suitable enough, since Archer was wearing gauntlets himself pretty recently.
Meet me outside my room. 3-16. As soon as morning breaks.
Whatever morning may be in this tower, Archer knows well enough Shirou's habits of waking up early to greet it. After all, they're the same as his once were. Now, he rarely sleeps anymore, so it doesn't matter for him. In fact, he's spent this past night, since being returned with his mind intact (such as it ever is), brooding on all the least convenient floors.
That's over with now, though. He's prepared to make amends for what he's done. Not that he really can, but this is the next best thing.
He'll cut Shirou down, and then Arturia will arrive, the Saber in white, and cut him down. Maybe he'll keep repeating the process afterwards--that would be nice. Anything to eliminate all traces of Shirou Emiya from this tower and all of existence.
swordedpast), Avenger as Shirou (destructiveprinciple/heroicprinciple), and Saber of White (no_longer_a_king)Setting: Outside room 3-16, the morning of April 20th.
Format: Prose for now.
Summary: In the aftermath of the event, Archer seeks relief from his guilt and rage in the only way he knows how.
Warnings: Violence, self-loathing, and death.
The message left for Shirou is like a gauntlet thrown down. Which is suitable enough, since Archer was wearing gauntlets himself pretty recently.
Meet me outside my room. 3-16. As soon as morning breaks.
Whatever morning may be in this tower, Archer knows well enough Shirou's habits of waking up early to greet it. After all, they're the same as his once were. Now, he rarely sleeps anymore, so it doesn't matter for him. In fact, he's spent this past night, since being returned with his mind intact (such as it ever is), brooding on all the least convenient floors.
That's over with now, though. He's prepared to make amends for what he's done. Not that he really can, but this is the next best thing.
He'll cut Shirou down, and then Arturia will arrive, the Saber in white, and cut him down. Maybe he'll keep repeating the process afterwards--that would be nice. Anything to eliminate all traces of Shirou Emiya from this tower and all of existence.
no subject
Shut up. Shut up. He pisses him off so much. So just shut up.
"Ah... Hah, ah!" He takes a breath of air. A confirmation that he will stubbornly continue to fight. "Like I'd want your mercy."
Shirou grits his teeth together in defiance of that agony and barely parries the Servant's next attack aimed for his chest, shaving off the impact of the vicious blow with a purely defensive block. The crashing of the blades throws off sparks. The impact shakes his arm and a finger snaps. It comes with another cost, that block; the sword in Shirou's hand shatters.
It takes a moment to project an replacement.
no subject
"Death is merciful for someone like you. Even if it doesn't last."
There. The sword Shirou had in one hand is gone. Archer's ready to make his final blow. He's ready to end this.
While Shirou's ability to block is pitifully limited, Archer stabs forward for the killing blow.
no subject
The sword Archer thrusts forward punctures his chest, and scraping against bone, its sharp blade stabs cleanly through the bulk of muscle and warm organs to the other side of the boy. Shirou's eyes widen slightly.
"—Gah, ah..."
He can feel the steel lodged inside him, a final blow dealt to him. All the warmth and feeling in his body dissipates with a familiar swiftness—death. Shirou coughs a few times, blood coming up and flowing southward to drip off his chin. His remaining sword stays clenched tightly in his hand for a second before his fingers loosen reluctantly and it vanishes.
Archer can notice Shirou's last, futile attempts to remain standing while impaled on his bloodstained weapon before that too, ends with his life. The teenager's vision flickers. Sputters. He can't focus. Even the pain becomes distant, unimportant. A familiar sensation, dying.
The world goes black.
Archer is left standing alone in the hallway with Emiya Shirou's empty-eyed, lifeless corpse.
no subject
She could not think of what the worst he'd been forced to tell could be.
Earlier that morning she'd gone down to the lower floors to hunt. Being in bed the day before to sleep her exhaustion away had left her restless and her love of hunting had been rekindled in the Tower. So she had spent the morning snaring and preparing some rabbits for cooking. Part of her even mused the idea of offering the game to Archer to cook for Rin, as she had before.
She had just stepped off the elevator onto the floor hers and Archer's rooms were on when she heard the telltale sounds of battle--the striking of blade against blade and flesh, the shouts of two people arguing.
Those voices belonged to Shirou and Archer.
Arturia had dropped the rabbits she'd strung up to present to Archer and ran for their rooms. Why would they be fighting? Especially now when what people needed the most was to think clearly? When Archer knew she would be coming to speak with him?
When she turns the corner it's as Archer's blade made the killing blow and Arturia stops cold, her face going sickly pale at the sight before her. No. No. Nononono. She'd told this Shirou she would protect him. She told him she would not let the monsters of the Tower get to him.
And she had failed. Again. For a brief moment she's back in the church in Fuyuki standing above Shirou's decapitated corpse, Excalibur bloody in her hands and Kotomine saying something about her being worthy of the Grail. Everything after that moment is still a daze to her.
"Archer: What have you done?"
In that moment, she forgets death is not permanent here. All she can think of is the fact Shirou is dead, Archer had killed him, and she had failed to keep her word once again.
no subject
It feels good when his sword cuts through Shirou's chest and slices the life right out of him. There's almost a hunger in Archer's eyes as he watches the life drain out of the boy.
This might not always have been what he wanted. He might have wanted to see something else at the end of a fight once. Even when he claimed to pursue self-destruction, he might have wanted an answer above all. But right now, he just wants to see that familiar face go dead. And that's what he gets.
For a fleeting second, he feels almost peaceful. He holds Shirou Emiya's life in his hands and he's wiped it out; what more could he ever ask for?
Then he lets the body slide off his sword and reality returns to him. It won't last. Even if it did, it wouldn't solve anything. Their souls are separate things here, and Archer will remain--
But not for long. A bitter smile twists up his face as he sees Arturia approach. Good. This was also in the plan. This was definitely just a part of the plan, and he can't let himself succumb to the hurt he feels upon seeing that look on Saber's face. He's good at covering things like that up, so he just smirks.
"What have I done? It should really be obvious, Saber." He gestures at the slumped body with his bloodied sword. "I've corrected some small thing about this stupid tower. For a little while, Shirou Emiya is no longer in it."
no subject
If she let everything she held precious get destroyed.
She's never felt rage like this before, never felt pain. Not after she had cut down Shirou herself, not when she'd been forced to cut down every last man, woman, and child of Camelot. It's hot enough she feels co.ld, white-hot ice running through her veins as she stares at Archer, as Caliburn appears in one hand in a white-knuckled grip.
Don't cry. She promised Archer she would never let him see her cry again on that day she first arrived in this god forsaken tower. There were no words in her as she took Caliburn in a two-handed grip and charged at Archer. There are no further words she can say, only rage and the copper smell of Shirou's blood fill her senses. All that matters is making sure this enemy can never ever hurt Shirou again.
no subject
So he lifts his own swords in front of him to swiftly block Caliburn, and he lets only a savage grin show on his face. "Good!" His voice is nearly a roar. "Follow your pain and see if you can finish the job, Saber!"
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He blocks Caliburn, but with a sound that's half roar and half misery she brings Caliburn up and swings it in a wide arc to strike at his side. It's sloppy. So horribly sloppy, but she's running on pain and instinct and she's just too damned tired and numb to care. What Archer says doesn't even register to her. All that matters is she needs to stop the thing that hurt Shirou, the thing responsible for Shirou's pain.
Maybe then the pain will finally stop, even if she knows deep in her heart it'll only make it worse. She doesn't even have the excuse of Saber's curse eating away at her mind: this pain? This rage? It's all her and no one else.
no subject
But not like this.
"You're not doing your best, Saber." His voice is a bit calmer now, but it still has more than a hint of a snarl. "I'm no swordsman and I managed to block that. Try harder!"
She's coming at him with a sword even he could barely project if he tried. She's coming at him in a rage. Saber shouldn't be like this, even if she's not Saber any longer. He shouldn't be using her this way.
That only reaffirms his determination, though. He needs to die, at least for a little while, and Saber should be the one to land the killing blow.
He lashes out with his swords once more, all brute strength and anger, no technique.
no subject
Through the pain and rage his words reach her and this time they wound her pride, one of the few things she still clings to. One of the few things keeping her sane. The sword in her hands is one Shirou had projected when they fought Berserker together and defeated him.
Maybe that's why she was twisted by the world so: to constantly remind her of what she had done.
In this state instinct takes over and Saber was practically born for the art of the sword. She dodges his swords easily, twisting to the side. His blade manages to cut the hem of one of her skirts, but that doesn't matter. It'll repair itself in time. Arturia manages to get behind him and swings Caliburn, aiming to pierce him through the back, all her rage strengthening the blow to be sure it'll get through his armor.
no subject
Archer swings Kanshou and Bakuya once more, but the movement is slow. He was distracted: distracted by the beautiful blade Saber wields. Caliburn. The lost sword that he once, so long ago, saw in dreams. In his rage, he slips long enough to let himself think, maybe it's not so bad if I can be cut down by something so beautiful--
The sword leaves his vision even as he thinks that, and he snaps out of it. She's behind him now. That's no good. Archer spins around to meet her.
With his speed, he has time to do that before her blow lands. But he doesn't have time to actually lift his swords to block the blow.
Caliburn cuts through his armor with a crack and slices into his chest. Archer staggers and slides forward on the blade, then smiles faintly, distantly.
no subject
It's so much like Shirou's it makes her heart break all over again and in an instant the pained look on her face changes to one of sheer horror. Archer is among one of the many possible futures Shirou could have had and now he's on her blade and smiling at her in a way that is so reminiscent of how Shirou looked at her before he kissed her.
"Ar-Archer....?" her voice is faint and that's when it clicks in her head.
Archer knew she had been coming to speak with him.
Archer knew how seeing Shirou dead would affect her.
She looks up at his face, the sense of betrayal, the sense of being used breaking a dam within her and tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Arturia does not sob. She does not wail. The tears spill down her cheeks as she reaches out for his shoulder and, with some effort, pulls Caliburn from his chest.
"Why...?" she asks as she eases him to the floor. Something amidst her warring emotions screams at her to keep him from falling, at least, to let him have some peace as he dies.
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It's not that he's afraid of the darkness coming at him. Even before he was in a place where he'd come back again and again, Archer hadn't feared death in a very long time. It's just an acquaintance dropping by at this point.
He struggles to speak around the growing sense of disconnection from his body, around the blood bubbling up in his throat and trickling from his mouth. He manages a little. "...you had that wish once. Destroy everything of myself...it's way better that way. I--" He chokes on blood before he can continue.
But Archer still looks up at her with a pure smile. "Saber..." He gets his voice back for a few seconds. It's so close to Shirou's voice. "Don't cry."
He lifts one hand, now free of any swords, and tries to touch her cheek. He wants to wipe away those tears. But he doesn't have the strength. His hand slides down to his side. "Ah, sorry."
It's not as if his eyes weren't empty before, but now what light there was fades from them.