help 2

MAKOTO X ARCHER!!! i was thinking about shit really going down again. 👀

like, once makoto has to confess to her husband that she’s carrying his child the one thing she hopes for is that he at least will stop hurting her until the baby is born. it might not seem like a lot to expect of him, but makoto desperately needs some kind of reprieve. he dotes on her sweetly for a couple of days and it tricks her into a sense of false security.

but it doesn’t take long for him to start hitting her again. he’s a disturbed man with a collection of complexes that he takes out solely on his wife. makoto cries harder than ever before, not just because he’s more of a monster than she thought, but because she actually believed he would stop. she curls up on the floor, trying to protect herself from him and prays archer isn’t there to see this.

the marks are obvious. there’s no getting around it. makoto flinches as she applies medication to the cuts on her hands and face, looking more than a little dead inside. her voice is cracked and raspy when archer walks in, frowning intensely when he gathers her into his arms. makoto exhales as she’s held against him, though she’s unable to let go of the tension in her body. she whispers to him that she’s okay, but that continues to travel farther and farther from being the truth. she says she wants to exchange mana with him and while archer is hesitant, he can tell that makoto needs to lose herself in something, if only for a little while. he’s sweet and gentle with her, though his eyes can’t help but see the bruises that mark her skin and the scar that takes up half of her abdomen. they lie together for a while and he gladly lets her curl up against him kiss his face with so much affection.

one day, archer and his master share a dream. it’s about his past. it’s about shirou and how he worked tirelessly to help others; how he spent so many long nights in the shed trying to perfect his craft. it’s about his dedication to caring for his loved ones, and it’s about shinji. how they would exchange glances during school and after brushing their fingers against one another on the walk home, they wouldn’t even make it out of the foyer of shirou’s home before they were tangled up with their mouths crushed against each other. it was about shinji baring his soul to shirou, but not quite enough to let him know how dire his situation was. it was about shirou holding him close and telling him that he would always protect him, and watching him all night, listening to him breathe against his chest.

when makoto’s husband awakens, he’s livid. in an instant he knows who “shirou” is and even worse, he knows that shinji is makoto.

archer is struck with a bad feeling, sensing the rising temper of his master. when he throws open the doors of the room and starts shouting. makoto immediately stands, trying to diffuse the situation and takes a slap to the face. he spits at her, lip curling when he growls that he doesn’t know what she is, but she disgusts him. eyes full of fear, she’s frozen. he found out. aside from losing archer, this is what she was the most scared of.

archer appears in front of her, stone faced as he protects makoto from her husband; his master. he laughs at him, overcome with anger in a way neither archer or makoto have seen before. he mockingly asks archer if he loves makoto. he calls her a thing; a monster. he says he can’t allow a creature like her to carry his child. he tells archer that he’ll be the one to kill her. he tells him to say goodbye.

makoto’s heart stops. she can’t move. she can’t breathe. maybe if it’s archer who kills her, it’ll be okay. she prefers that to the alternative.

as makoto’s husband raises his hand to call on a command seal, a quick and unseen slice cuts it off. he doesn’t even realize it until it hits the floor.

with a sharp call of her name, archer throws the severed limb at her and she snaps from her daze just in time to catch it. knowing that she has to transfer the command seal before her husband dies she immediately calls upon her spiritual healing — a skill she and archer discovered she had together. makoto’s husband watches in disconnected horror, almost looking more shocked at makoto using magic more than his severed hand.

once the transfer is complete, she approaches him and shows him the back of her hand. she’s shaking, but her eyes are firey with determination. she wants to see him die.

makoto’s husband stammers, getting dizzy from blood loss. makoto doesn’t give him the mercy of finishing his sentence before she softly calls “shirou” and hears the satisfying sound of his head hitting the floor. his body follows. blood is splattered across makoto and archer’s faces.

she’s still shaking in shock when archer suddenly holds her tight, feeling their connection bloom between them. he’s so happy; so proud of her. she closes her eyes, tears spilling down her face when she thanks him for saving her. he gently presses his lips to her forehead and tells her that he exists to protect her. mouth quirking just a little, he fondly calls her “master”.

it’s a little surreal to think that they were both finally free of makoto’s husband. that his corpse was bleeding out at their feet. there’s nothing about him that matters anymore.