Will comment on the commentary later, but for now, a little something extra.
Why? Because I forgot to share this here from my Spacebattles equivalent. It's late but happy April Easter Day.
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It was their third base in two weeks since the war had started, now on it's way to the fifteenth day. It didn't have the homely feel of the first, and the second was not as well kept as she remembered, but this third base offered a bird's eye view of Fuyuki down below. Saber found herself coming here on watch, or at least that's what she told herself.
A lot had gone wrong in this war, or at least out of the norm. Battles against masters were put on hold, resorting to only reactionary conflicts. The third base alone was given on a loan of Taiga's grandfather. And for a time she had spent time patrolling with others instead of her master, before finally being "enrolled" as a transfer student at Homurahara. And then there was that case with her Shadow, now Persona.
Briefly, Saber's hand conjured a spinning card over the palm. She technically had the aptitude of sorcery because of her Dragon Core, but focused her skillset on her sword and trusted her sheath to heal her. Even now as a Servant, she used a style of wind magecraft for short bursts and to veil her sword. This Persona now, D'draig, was something else entirely. And yet she thought she had seen something like it once before in one of Merlin's many spells.
It was nice trump card though (no pun intended). Even if it provided yet another hint of her identity, it was not tied to her legend as extensively as a Noble Phantasm, and worked on powers separate from them. It helped that her master and his friends were well versed in these powers, but...
She frowned. Shirou Emiya wasn't fit to be a master. Not because he lacked the skills for it; his naivety and low mana reserves were well compensated by his versatility and connections. But he was simply too kind, prioritizing on stopping the Shadows and distortions of Palaces instead of confronting the other Master-Servant teams. Saber herself couldn't let people to die by consequence on her mission, and he was open to her criticisms instead of pretending she was a naïve girl, but...
No, it was more accurate to say they were partners. After her last master (ironically his own step father), she had been well prepared of just being a sword of his disposal, focus on the shared goal and try to keep confrontation to a minimum. He took time to know her, cook for her, and immediately compromise when she so much as twitched hearing an objectively bad idea. Even on a disagreement it was easy to talk to him because he didn't see her as a familiar to be ordered, a king to be cowed by, or even a defenseless woman. Just a peer and comrade at arms. Who happened to be a woman, but it was progress.
"Ah, there you are."
She turned to see her master walk up to greet her. "Shirou."
"I thought we told you to rest," he said. "You burned a lot of energy that last fight, and on top of the Command Spell too..."
"It was nothing," she said quickly. "The war is far from over and I can't afford to rest long. Someone may try to attack us while we're resting." It happened twice before, and she couldn't afford to rest just yet, not when the enemies were on edge and aware of them.
"Saber, we're all grateful for what you did for Rise, so you don't need to keep working yourself to death. We already have the perimeter secure and monitored."
"It is my duty as a Servant. I simply acted because you told me to."
"Weren't you the one who reminded me about the Command Spells, though? Just before you dove off after her?"
The Servant of the Sword blushed and looked away. "That was... well..."
She didn't have time to think. Rise was falling off with the broken section of the rooftop and she barely had time to catch her, much less tell Shirou. The command spell certainly helped give her enough reserves to use Prana Burst to slow their fall, but she didn't actually EXPECT him to do so, much less everyone thank her and send her breakfast in bed the next morning.
Their appreciation was almost embarrassing.
"A-Anyway, I also needed somewhere private to think and reflect. The roof here was just most convenient."
"Heh, fair enough."
And so they leaned over the roof railing in silence, gazing down the night streets as the people walked by unaware. It was calming and reminiscent of her time watching down her citizens from her castle.
"I have forgotten how nice this all is."
"Saber?"
"A lot of things are the same here. People are complacent of the bigger problems, while good men and women continue to fight for what they think is right. This war is very much a struggle of ideals than moral conflict, and yet beings like Shadows take advantage of this confusion. They don't care about who rules or who wins, just what is in front of them."
She sighed. "In a lot of ways, when I see this city, this time, I can't help but to feel I have failed. If I had done something different when I was alive the first time, or in the wars that followed. I wanted a great era of peace for all my people, that I strongly wished for a chance to change my fate.
"But meeting you and your friends was... comforting. And you reminded me that even if Camelot had fallen, the world itself is still standing. That generations of people continue to live and grow. It makes me relieved to see that will never change."
"You make it sound like you're going to die soon."
"It's inevitable," she said. "Short of a wish of renewal, even the victor Servant will disappear once the grail stops supporting my existence. And that's if this war was ideally what it was supposed to be."
In another time, maybe Saber wouldn't have cared if the grail was corrupted, so long as her wish came true. But growing to know the people of Fuyuki, and from Inaba, she couldn't in good conscience sacrifice their world for Camelot. None of her knights would have wanted that.
"But maybe there's another way to stay?" Shirou suggested. "Like, make a pact with Tohsaka, or reside in the other world?"
Saber shook her head. "Temporary measures at best. My existence would always be on a timer, ready to be depleted if not careful, and I owe all of you too much to be a burden."
Shirou's face scrunched in displeasure. She could tell what he was thinking; that she deserved better, and to be with friends that cared for her.
"But even so, I have come to terms with this."
He was surprised to see her smile softly. "Most heroic spirits in my position only get maybe one chance of a new life when fighting the Holy Grail War. I've been in enough of them to see that the world, but this time around was especially rewarding."
"Saber..."
"I have died for my country, Shirou. That much I have accepted, and I wanted to try and give Camelot its second chance. But now I know that as long as people, humanity, as a collective whole can survive, then that would be honoring the dream me and my fellow knights had fought to accomplish in the first place."
She turned to him with conviction in her eyes. "We'll win this war and make sure an incident like the Fuyuki Fire will never happen again."
For a long moment, they stared at one another. There was a strong trust that no mere Master/Servant relationship could explain, and they were both ready to face whatever hardship came their way.
"Thanks," he nodded with a smile. "I'm counting on you, Altria."
Her true name. To hear a man dubbed her master call her that with such trust and ease felt... nice.
And then, something in her heart suddenly stirred. The Persona metaphorisized from a draconic knight waving a battered flag to a shining, armored knight with a claymore-sized Excalibur.
I am... no, we
are King Arthur.
