Counter Guardian Arturia @ Tower of Animus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
no_longer_a_king) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-08-29 10:26 am
no_longer_a_king) wrote in towerofanimus2013-08-29 10:26 am
Entry tags:
ITP: Avenger
Characters: [AU5] Saber and Shirou/Avenger
Setting: Floor 62; The beach
Summary: Arturia thinks Shirou is ready to go monster hunting with her and takes him to a floor to see how well he does. Little does she know she's gotten more than she's bargained for.
Warnings: Violence, character breakdown, Avenger's mouth, the mun's squeeing over the big reveal.
[After things quieted down, after Arturia had some time to process what had happened, and contemplate things, she returned to the Shirou in the Tower to resume their training. He was used to her having days where she couldn't face him, though they were getting less and less frequent, especially now that he knows the reasoning behind her odd behavior. She will not tell him of the shadow child who saw her off, and the school ID she had been given is tucked safely in her trunk for now. No, they need to get back to training.
After a short hour of fighting, she'd realized something: Shirou had improved. His senses were sharper and there were a few moments where Arturia had to put in actual effort to block his hits. It made her lips quirk into a pleased smile and she told him he was ready. They made arrangements to meet up just before sunset on the beach. Not too far from an elevator (though Arturia loathed them by now), and not too easy to fall off of. Shirou's abilities would be in tact here and soon he could test his mettle against the monsters themselves.]
Remember to keep close to the stairs.
[She says as the sun sets in the distance. Some part of her is filled with pride that Shirou's come this far, that she's letting Shirou get this far. For so long she'd been afraid to let him fight. If nothing else what happened with the phantoms reminded her of how hypocritical that was. Shirou had done the same thing to her, though he had been very vocal about it. Arturia, on the other hand, just kept telling him he wasn't ready with nary an explanation. Not that Shirou asked for one.
But now? Well. Maybe he can start helping her with her maps and finding the secrets here. Maybe next time she goes downstairs, she can see about him coming with her.]
This particular floor tends to have mostly Chuchus and Miniblins. Dangerous, but there's never too many of them. We can move on to another floor once we've cleared out this one.
Setting: Floor 62; The beach
Summary: Arturia thinks Shirou is ready to go monster hunting with her and takes him to a floor to see how well he does. Little does she know she's gotten more than she's bargained for.
Warnings: Violence, character breakdown, Avenger's mouth, the mun's squeeing over the big reveal.
[After things quieted down, after Arturia had some time to process what had happened, and contemplate things, she returned to the Shirou in the Tower to resume their training. He was used to her having days where she couldn't face him, though they were getting less and less frequent, especially now that he knows the reasoning behind her odd behavior. She will not tell him of the shadow child who saw her off, and the school ID she had been given is tucked safely in her trunk for now. No, they need to get back to training.
After a short hour of fighting, she'd realized something: Shirou had improved. His senses were sharper and there were a few moments where Arturia had to put in actual effort to block his hits. It made her lips quirk into a pleased smile and she told him he was ready. They made arrangements to meet up just before sunset on the beach. Not too far from an elevator (though Arturia loathed them by now), and not too easy to fall off of. Shirou's abilities would be in tact here and soon he could test his mettle against the monsters themselves.]
Remember to keep close to the stairs.
[She says as the sun sets in the distance. Some part of her is filled with pride that Shirou's come this far, that she's letting Shirou get this far. For so long she'd been afraid to let him fight. If nothing else what happened with the phantoms reminded her of how hypocritical that was. Shirou had done the same thing to her, though he had been very vocal about it. Arturia, on the other hand, just kept telling him he wasn't ready with nary an explanation. Not that Shirou asked for one.
But now? Well. Maybe he can start helping her with her maps and finding the secrets here. Maybe next time she goes downstairs, she can see about him coming with her.]
This particular floor tends to have mostly Chuchus and Miniblins. Dangerous, but there's never too many of them. We can move on to another floor once we've cleared out this one.
no subject
[ Avenger sits upright, grains of sand falling out of his unkempt hair and blood from his wounds still drying in places, using first his elbows and then his hands to brace against the sand as the sensation of mild disorientation rapidly fades, and his dull yellow eyes can focus properly again; on the sight of Saber fighting the Big Daddy and catches a glimpse of the bewildered, confused look in her eyes when she glances at him, who's sitting on his rear behind her, before falling the lumbering creature with a sword through one of the broken portholes.
It roars, struggling before toppling down with a heavy crash.
Saber slowly, steadily turns to face him. Her undisguised shock is evident by itself though she retains her composure.
He cocks his head to the side, then he laughs, the noise coming out weakly since he was tired, annoyed, and completely out of prana. Tension coils in his body, haplessly aware that right now she held the advantage. There was a sword in her hand.
There's a bruise reddening on his forehead, though Avenger was bruised in many more places than that. ]
Hmm? Sorry, wrong guy.
[ The corrupted aura that roils off him and within him is revolting, pungent in the most unpleasant and horrible of ways, sickened with taint. It hangs over him like a shadow. It's not at odds with the rude smile on his face. ]
no subject
The Big Daddy's corpse is forgotten as she tried to feign confidence. This person is injured--covered in Shirou's injuries--and his laugh is weak even if he's being incredibly rude. Is this another trick by the Administrators like those shadows had been?
If she wasn't trying to stand her ground, she'd probably be screaming in frustration.]
Who are you? What did you do to Shirou? [And how had she not noticed if something was wrong before?]
no subject
He debates trying to stand, despite the constant ache in his ribs, and decides he might as well do it since it's difficult to get a decent running start from a sitting position. Ignoring a broken bone or two and the painful array of injuries left on his body from the fighting, Avenger awkwardly scrambles to his feet. And. . . Wait, she hadn't figured it out? Huh. How to explain the 'Shirou' she saw a few moments ago and him were kinda one and the same, since he's basing his personality and body off him as a vessel. ]
Oh?
News flash, Emiya Shirou ain't here to do anything to. [ Wow, don''t be an asshole to her over Saber not jumping to the immediate, rather implausible conclusion of Shirou being a complete faker, you jerk. He shrugs, blood leaking from his side a little from his standing up. ] So-o I didn't do anything, Saber. Just ran out of energy at a bad time, I guess?
no subject
Caliburn wavers for just a second before she forces strength back into her hand and stands straighter.]
Ran out of--
[What?]
Who are you? What do you mean he isn't here? [Again, her mind is refusing to accept the truth it's beginning to put together.]
no subject
I'm Avenger. [ Insincerely; ] Nice to meet ya'!
[ He's frank about giving his class title. Given his tendency to be honest if rather meanly cheeky and unhelpful when asked the correct questions by people, the Servant didn't see any reason to bother with lying, much less about this. It's not like identity fraud was that big of a deal. ]
I mean, he's not present in the Tower and has not been for several months. Ever, for as far as I know. [ Hand resting on his hips, on the dirtied pants he's wearing, he looks at Saber and down the length of the sword she's pointing at her, noticing the tip shaking for a moment. They're standing on a beach strewn with the corpses of dead monsters, the light only coming from the stars in the sky and the staircase; it's not a pleasant scene. ]
no subject
You mean....
[....and all of it had been a lie. A lie like their bodies, their powers. This time it was not even a lie the Administrators had perpetuated. This had been Avenger's own doing and what reason did he have to lie.]
You mean Shirou was you the whole time?
[That the only Shirou present had been that broken shadow in her bed? The shadow that had sat on her chest when she'd last been revived?]
no subject
He crosses his arms over his chest, feeling the fabric of the shirt crinkle. If he'd looked at it from her viewpoint, he would probably realized she would consider it all a lie in the same vein as the lie the administrators imprisoned them within and call it betrayal. He doesn't look at it from her viewpoint; that idea of empathy doesn't occur to him at all. Avenger confirms it with a kind of inappropriate casualness; ]
Yeah, we're the same.
[ His head tilts and he chuckles again, his lips stretching a little wider like he's not bleeding and there isn't Caliburn pointed in his direction, but that still comes out weak, tired. But still far from docile, merely verging on the edge of tolerable. ]
no subject
[That's all she can say really because what can you even say to finding out the person that has been keeping you sane the last few months is not who you thought he was? That he was nothing more than a lie?
Arturia can practically pinpoint the moment she feels something inside her crack and break. It's not her heart. She long ago broke her own heart when she beheaded Shirou by her own hand. But now.... now...
She lowers Caliburn, dismissing it entirely. Avenger might have that awful aura, but he's weak, tired. And wearing Shirou's face.
As long as he wore Shirou's face, she would never be able to strike him.]
I see. [Her voice doesn't sound like her own. It's strange, knowing she's in control, but being unable to really do much but react. She should be screaming, she should be demanding answers, she should be doing a hundred other things.
But what's the point?]
I apologize. I should leave you to your business then.
[And so she turns, walking for the stairs. Anything to get away from him.]
no subject
Alright.
[ Her calmness, her lack of vehement outward or vocal reaction to what she's learned is telling, though he doesn't care (isn't capable of caring) enough to be concerned about it. The expression on her face is blank, and Avenger is a tad surprised to realize he recognizes it; the look of something crumbling, surely and steadily.
The silence from before lengthens. Saber turns her back to him and walks away. He doesn't stop her, makes no move to follow her retreat or prevent it. ]
. . .
Hey, don't go apologizing needlessly.
[ He tosses the remark after her just as she's walking up the stairs, as if to slam it into the back of her shoulders. And then, too tired and injured to maintain his material form without exerting a lot more effort than he wants to right now, Avenger slips into spirit mode and vanishes from the bloody, dark beach. ]