I don't know if I should be glad for being given the chance, or cursing the fact.
It was one of the many thoughts going through the mind of Emiya Shiro as he stretched. His arms and shoulders were still a little sore, in a way he couldn't remember them being in a long while. He'd forgotten what sort of strain fighting with his full capacity put on a mortal body. If it weren't for Avalon and the Eirei part of him, he'd likely be stuck with muscles pulled so badly he wouldn't be able to lift his arms for days to come, much less swing a sword.
The brief exchange between himself and Rider before Shinji gave in to his superior argumentative prowess wasn't the source.
He'd been so pumped by the events of the past day and a half that he'd forgotten a crucial fact, and had spent too much time explaining to Tohsaka as much as he could risk about what was going on. It was late evening by the time Rin had conceded to not try and order him around, not to try and aggrevate Sakura, and ...
... well, that was around the time when the Hound of Ulster made his appearance and crashed the little party, thinking it was only three humans and a single Servant in attendance.
This time around, Shiro had found himself fully appreciating the extent of sheer skill that the Servant Lancer had.
And though Rider had been succeeding at keeping the Irishman at bay, for the most part, it was also clear enough that she was being slowly worn down. The spear wielder simply had more endurance ...
Which was when Shiro had cut in, startling the Servant quite badly with the fact that he was more than capable of keeping up with the tempo of the exchange of ... pleasantries.
Whereupon the Irishman decided that a retreat was in order, and neither Master nor Servant nor whatever the hell it was Shiro had become felt inclined to give chase.
In Shiro's case, this was somewhat due to the fact that he knew where and to whom Lancer was going.
And now ...
Well, the sense of deja vu was growing. It had been a long, long while since he'd as much as seen the Emiya property. Back in the Reality that Was which he'd come from, he'd left it for Fuji-nee, Ilya and Sakura, simply because they were there and they had a use for it. Something he lacked because of his self-imposed ... and later affirmed ... quest.
The memories were bittersweet.
The house certainly didn't feel nearly as lonely as it once had. Or as he remembered it feeling, anyway.
Past and future intermingled in the tangle of Realities, one crossing over into the other to flow together in a melange that shouldn't rightly exist, but does.
Part of his reluctance stemmed from Archer, and the realization that, if he went through with this, he'd be willingly calling someone else into this demented homicidal game of last man standing.
Still ... he needed to make a decision. There was a deadline for which the start of the War was scheduled, and if that passed then the Grail would likely chose another Master of its own volition.
So, standing there, in the exact spot where he'd fallen when he'd first seen one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever experienced, moonlight flitting through the windows and giving the dingy interior of the small warehouse its illumination, Shiro went about gathering mana for the ritual. His mind set, he directed his thoughts into Avalon ...
... and stopped when the mana running through his body, burning its way through his nerves as if every single one had been converted into a Circuit, fluctuated.
Fluttered.
And released in an explosion of light and sound that had cats and dogs yowling for blocks and the people inside the Emiya residence rush outside to see ...
... a hole blown through the wall of the warehouse, as well as its roof.
... Shiro, one sword instinctively called to his hand, his mouth gaping open.
... a pendant Tohsaka realized _she_ was wearing at the moment - she could feel the weight at the end of the chain around her neck, damnit - floating and glowing in the air, it's chain around _Shiro's_ neck.
... a summoning circle pulsing with pure white light, that faded into a light pinkish and then a light crimson color before ...
And in that moment, Shiro knew that the universe was not finished fucking with him. Not by a longshot.
The Servant wasn't tall. In fact, she seemed barely as tall as Rin. Maybe even shorter. She was petite. Her hair ran down her back, winding its way towards the backs of her knees in a braid of pure ivory. She wore tall boots and black stockings, a black turtleneck top, a short pleated skirt ... and what looked like an appropriately sized version of the red coat-like garment Shiro could remember himself as Archer wearing.
"Are you my ..." she paused, red eyes blinking in puzzlement, then recognition, before she literally launched herself from the still slightly glowing circle ... to glomp onto Emiya with a loud cry of "ONII-CHAN!!!!"
Brought to you because of all those Doujins that have Ilya become a Heroic Spirit with an Archer-like motif.
True, here I'm casting Archer-ko as a Saber class, but what the heck. It's amusing.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm