the ending takes it.

Well damn. That was truly a slap on the face huh? Thanks for this unique experience.

Really fucking retarded

This was great. Thank you.

You know the first time I watched UBW I had no idea that archer was Shirou. It took me by surprise when I finally figured it out. I love the fate series through they are my fav.

Noice

AAAAAND by the time I read the first paragraph I knew where this was going! Nice!

I may have complained a bunch—as befits my nitpick nature—but I really enjoyed reading this.

The start is a bit off from canon(which I am a stickler to), in that Nasu notes that Archer escaped and survived on his own by devouring some small animals and picking up caches he had prepared beforehand, referencing how EMIYA was someone who was used to fighting on his own and preparing for such circumstances. Also, the reason Shirou survives Ea is because Archer projected a Rho Aias, which Shirou then copied himself when he used UBW.

Also, Nasu has denied Archer being Fate Shirou, but I personally like to think it's so, so I'll not comment on that.

Still nothing to make me think it deserves an M rating, tho.

Nothing in this chapter really warrants an M rating, I feel. Still a fairly nice rendition of the internal monologue Archer might have had. The Word of Nasu about EMIYA's age at death is something like "late 20's to early 30's" while other works iirc stick with calling him as a man in his twenties. So 24 isn't altogether wrong.

I love the misunderstanding Archer had about Shirou handing Saber over; its such an important part of the scene, that Shirou straight up tells Caster he won't accept that despite the huge build up for it. That he won't just mindlessly sacrifice himself, when it won't solve anything. But here Archer only sees the worst in him, letting his own prejudices and bitter anger color his perceptions and judgement, leaving him to think that obviously a suicidal fool like Shirou would hand over Saber without a second's hesitation.

Archer assuming Saber was going to the temple because of Shirou makes little sense(though that is what happened), as in Fate Shirou is the one who tells Saber they won't attack the temple and Saber goes off alone. Archer doesn't know that Shirou was pulled in, so his assumption is off.

Also, it wasn't Avalon. That sheath is explicitly noted to be impossible for him to recreate. Rather, what he did was the very same thing they explained earlier in the scene(in the VN, at least). Shirou tried to wash out Caster's magic with his Od, but found it impossible. Then Caster boasts that its like trying to wash away a solid item(or was it mud? either of those) with plain water. She says that she could do it to completed magics with her magical energy, but that's because she's a witch from the age of the gods. This is all a set up and a slap to the face, to show how advanced Archer has become with his magic. Going from being unable to break a subtle control spell as Shirou, to being able to shatter frozen space that ought to have been enough to immobilize even a knight-class servant. Rin notes the next day that Archer came back almost out of magical energy and while he did do some fighting and did use Caladbolg, neither of those things has been shown before to be quite THAT taxing.

I liked it, tho. :P

love it

What a good ending, this was a great fic! I had fun reading this and I'll be on the lookout for more of your stories.

Wow. I was about to comment on Chapter 10 and praise you for ending it so brilliantly that I was going to reread it from the beginning, but then you decide to come out with this and TEAR MY HEART OUT AHHHHHHH. Archer deserves this happy ending more than Shirou does and it will be that way for all eternity.

I was going to suggest that you can bring Archer into the Prillya-verse albeit during the Ainsworth arc (if you've read it that is). It might've been cool to see Archer's reaction to a universe where Illya is just a normal human (excluding the magical girl stuff).

Anyway, it really has been a wild ride and I hope you continue to write fics as great as this. Good luck on your next one as I will definitely check it out.

I was wondering how you would leave archer alive, and while I'm slightly disappointed, leaving it vague was probably smart. In the vision of saber at the end you had her say I love you, implying it was in fact the fate route ending, so does that mean the epilogue is archery going to avalon? I hope so! I don't think I've ever heard of a theory for archer like that. Good chapter!

Good chapter as always, I was really looking forward to this fight! But you said it took 24 years for his ideal to fail him, and since he received his ideal at 12, wouldn't that make him 36? Also extra!archer is not the same person as fate!archer, although they have a similar origin. Sorry for being nitpicky.