(3rd's pov)

Illya didn't know when she fell asleep, but she slept soundly. It would be perfect if not for the light coming from the window and landing exactly where her eyes were.

Yesterday was a mess for the young girl, and Illya didn't expect to have a peaceful night like this, so she felt strange.

Shirou's advice from yesterday was still on her mind, and it probably would take some time to decide what she wanted to do.

"Hey, Illya-san! How are you feeling!!?"

Seeing her Master awake, Ruby, the kaleidostick, called her. She was equally worried about her.

"Oh, hey Ruby. Surprisingly good." Illya answered as she rubbed her eyes.

The difference between today and yesterday was evident to the magic wand, so she allowed herself to tease her Master.

"Ooh~ Is it because of your Onii-chan?"

"W-what are you talking about, Ruby!?"

"You don't need to say anything, Illya-san. I understand. Love for magical girls is like fuel for their magic. That's how it should be!"

Ruby loved everything magical girls related, which was the reason why she abandoned Rin and made a pact with Illya to begin with.

"We already went over it. It's not like that!!!" Illya denied Ruby's accusations.

"It's a shame. I had this love potion for a girl that would want to use it, but if there isn't one, I'll just throw it away." Ruby showed a small vial with supposedly a love potion, and Illya took the bait.

"Wait, wait!!! Don't be too hasty. We don't need to throw it away right away."

Illya didn't plan on using it but Ruby having it would be dangerous, so she confiscated it. It's not like she plans on using it in the future or anything like that.

The wand allowed Illya to take the potion that had mysterious effects on whoever is going to drink it while giving a knowing look to Illya.

After Illya hid the "love potion", Ruby asked about today's plan.

"So, are you planning on staying home today? I wouldn't blame you for doing that. You deserve a break."

Illya shook her head in denial.

"I don't want to trouble Sella or Onii-chan even more."

Even if she wasn't entirely back to normal and she had a lot to think about, Illya didn't want to be a burden to her family, so she started dressing up, ready for school.

When she was finally done dressing up, she could smell something amazing coming from downstairs. Without realising it, Illya started following this scent, and she found herself in the dining room where breakfast was ready before she knew it.

In the kitchen, a young girl saw a familiar figure in an apron washing the dishes. Noticing the newcomer, the boy stopped what he was doing and turned to her with a gentle smile.

"Good morning, Illya."

"Morning, Onii-chan."

Seeing her brother Illya's mood improved, but something wasn't right...

Shirou was at home, and he should have club activities today, so it was strange that he was still at home. Sakura also wasn't present. She usually helped around the kitchen and is absent mostly when she has club activities, is on class duty, or is busy.

Illya's confusion was visible on her face, so Sella, who had just entered the room without doing anything important like cleaning or cooking, which was also out of the ordinary, answered.

"Shirou insisted on skipping the club today to make breakfast for you."

What Sella did next was so unexpected and out of character that Illya started questioning reality itself.

Sella... sat down and started enjoying her meal without complaining.

Illya pinched herself to wake up, but nothing happened. Sella didn't understand the disbelief that she saw in the white-haired girl's eyes and stopped eating as it was awkward to be stared at for an extended period of time.

"W-what is it, Illya-san?"

"Why aren't you working?"

Illya's question caused silence in the house until Shirou started laughing like crazy.

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

It was the first time Shirou laughed this hard, which caused Sella's cheek to redden. It wasn't the end of her embarrassment, though, as Leysritt, her sister, couldn't let a rare chance like this slip away.

"Sella, where did your maid pride go? Didn't you say that I let myself mellow down too much and reprimanded me about being too lax? What happened to that?" Leysritt said that in her usual emotionless voice, but every word was like a knife stabbing Sella.

Hearing all that, Sella was at breaking point and was about to run to the kitchen, throw away Shirou, and start working as usual, but she was stopped by the same boy she planned to hurl.

He put his hand on Sella and Leysritt's shoulders.

"I haven't laughed this much in forever, but you shouldn't push Sella too much since she agreed to relax more this week."

This whole exchange was confusing for Illya.

'What was so funny for Onii-chan to laugh that much?' She thought.

Then it hit her.

"No, Sella!!! I didn't mean it that way! It's just that you are usually already working when we eat breakfast..."

Illya didn't help with Sella's embarrassment, but there wasn't much time left to talk. Otherwise, she and Shirou would be late for school, and they need to eat something first.

After that, Shirou went with Illya to her school, making sure that she was okay, and from what he saw, it was better than he expected, which was great.

At the entrance, Illya unexpectedly was pulled into a hug, and while she usually would be delighted by it, being hugged in the presence of her classmates was embarrassing, and she voiced her complaints out loud.

"Onii-chan, not in front of everyone..." She didn't try to break a hug, though. Not even a bit.

"Sorry, I just want you to know that no matter what you are going through, I'm always there for you. Either as a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen to your problems, or just to give general advice." There was one more thing that Shirou planned to be for his little sister.

A blade to cut her enemies.

If that wasn't enough, if fate itself would try to down Illya, Shirou would create a blade powerful enough to sever said fate.

(E/D: I have read enough wiki pages to know where this is going. For context I have read 139 wiki pages and I still don't know everything about fate. And yes I counted…)

They said their goodbyes, and Shirou continued his way to school.

(Illya's pov)

Why was everyone teasing me about Onii-chan hugging me? I mean, I know why, but it doesn't make it better. The whole time before the lesson started, I was teased by all of my friends.

But now, since everyone was focused on the teacher, I could use Onii-chan's advice to the fullest.

First, what I want... It's easy. I want to go back to my normal life. I don't want to fight anymore.

Then, I should imagine what I would lose by choosing this path. I don't even need to imagine it. The consequences have already started showing themselves. I haven't talked with Miyu at all since the accident. No, I just didn't have the courage to face her. In other words, I would probably lose all the connections that I made.

I don't want that, but I should finish my thought process first.

Now that I 'know' what would happen if I abandoned all fighting, let's try thinking about how the other choice would change the events.

What if I decided to stay and fight together with Miyu again. There was only one battle left, but...

I shook my head. I didn't want to think about it.

Right! What would I lose by choosing to fight? That's easy. I would lose my normal life.

...

In the end, it's my everyday life vs my friends.

Why can't I choose both...

"...ya.. lya... Illya!!!"

My thoughts were broken by an angry tiger.

"Taiga?"

I got smacked by the textbook in Taiga's hand.

"Don't call me Taiga. In school, I'm Fujimura-sensei to you and all the others in this class too! Don't think that I didn't notice some of you giggling! One more person calls me Taiga again and I'm giving you a surprise test!"

"What!"

"Come on!"

"Boo!"

The students protested, but no one was dumb enough to call her Taiga and test her patience. No one wanted a test, after all.

"Ta-"

I was proven wrong... by one of my friends, no less. I sometimes forget how stupid Tatsuko can be. Thankfully, she was stopped by the person seated next to her.

---

I was thinking about my problem the whole day, but I couldn't decide in the end. It's too big of a decision to make in one day. The school doesn't expect us to decide about our future until high school, and now I'm forced to choose if I want to fight bloody battles or lose my friends.

"Illya-san, so what are we going to do?" Ruby asked me.

"We?"

"That's right! I'm sticking with you. I don't care about the cards or anything like that. We have a contract, and nothing is going to change that."

… I was tricked into this contract, but... it feels nice hearing her support. I will need it because I'm going to face Rin-san soon. Thankfully, I have a plan...

---

I was holding a stick with an attached letter on its other end while bowing slightly.

"Last night, you suddenly fled, so what are you doing right now?" Rin-san asked.

"... It's a letter."

Rin-san took the letter. "Well... I thought that it would turn out like this."

"Yes... so could you wait for my answer for a few days before you try to retrieve the last card?"

"Yes, no problem- Huh? What do you mean?" It seems that my question surprised Rin-san a fair bit.

"I still don't know what I should do. On the one hand, I don't want to fight for my life. The truth is... I started doing this magical girl thing just out of curiosity. I thought it was for fun, but later, I learned the truth. Not only did I almost die a few times, I almost killed my allies because I lost control of Ruby."

"You can't lose control of me, Illya-san. Besides, I don't have any attacking abilities. As long as my Master, you, doesn't swing me, nothing, even the smallest of spells, won't come out."

I know what Ruby was trying to say. I was paralyzed because of the poison last night, and I couldn't move until after the explosion, but it couldn't be me. I'm... I'm just an ordinary girl. It's impossible that I could do that without Ruby...

Rin, seeing that I went quiet because of what Ruby said, observed me quietly as if she understood the reason for my silence.

I broke the since by continuing what I was saying before Ruby interrupted me.

"Sorry, as I was saying, I experienced scary things, but I also made friends. Miyu, Luvia-san, Archer-san, and you, Rin-san, and I feel like abandoning the thing that brought us together would be like abandoning all of you. I'm torn. That's why I'm asking you to give me some time to think about all of this."

"*Sigh* I expected you to give up, but colour me surprised… We can't wait for more than 3 days, so decide by the end of this time." Rin showed me a small smile.

I said my goodbyes and returned home, happy that she had given me a chance and hadn't forced me to decide on the spot.

(3rd's pov)

Illya and Rin met up in the evening to talk about Illya's decision, and after most of the things were clear, they separated. When Illya was gone, Rin scratched her head.

"I didn't think our talk would go that way. It looks like I was mistaken about Illya, and so were you, Miyu."

A girl with black hair and the same uniform that Illya wore could be seen with complicated expressions. On the one hand, she was happy that Illya thought about her so dearly that she would fight even when she was scared, but on the other hand, Miyu didn't want to be the reason Illya started fighting again.

Because she is her friend.

"Well, that was unexpected."

Both Miyu and Rin turned their heads quickly to the source of the voice, as there shouldn't be anyone here except them.

Leaning on a tree with his arms crossed, which became his signature pose at this point, was Archer.

"... How long were you there?" Rin asked, annoyed that she didn't notice him until he spoke.

"Long enough to know what's going on." Archer gave a curt response, not elaborating any further, infuriating Rin even more, but she didn't show that... because she wanted to hear his opinion. Archer may be rude and sarcastic, but he has shown to be reliable and had knowledge beyond what they knew.

"So, what's your take on all of this?"

Archer didn't answer immediately. It was a sticky situation and a difficult choice to make. Shirou didn't want to let Illya fight for two main reasons.

The first reason is pretty apparent. He didn't want Illya to put herself in dangerous situations, but he also knew that sooner or later, she would get in trouble because of her upbringings. If she wanted to fight for her friends, then he wouldn't stop her, but that's where the second reason comes in.

The only card left to retrieve was the Berserker card, and it was probably the most dangerous one.

Berserker or, in this case, Heracles. He is one of the most famous heroes in Greek history. On his own, he is a very powerful servant even without his Noble Phantasm, but with it, his battle prowess rises to another level.

God Hand, this Noble Phantasm turns Berserker's body into a tough suit of armor and nullifies all attacks Rank B or lower. This ability alone is dangerous to fight against, but that's not the end of it. Heracles is known for many feats, but his most famous one is unarguably the Twelve Labours. That translated into his Noble Phantasm, allowing him to come back to life 12 times, and he grows resistant to whatever killed him each time.

The scariest part, though, is that Berserk is his weakest class to be in, so you could say that it's a blessing in disguise.

In short, defeating Heracles is a herculean task and is nothing short of a miracle. Shirou didn't want to bet his sister's life on a miracle that could or couldn't happen.

He was hesitant to continue fighting without Illya because of one thing. Rin had already promised Illya to wait for 3 days at most, and going back on her word would strain their relationship, and it could even extend to Miyu by some leap in logic. After all, Miyu is the only one besides Illya to have the power to teleport to the inverse world, so if she didn't want to, no one would be able to start gathering cards again.

Shirou wanted to avoid it because it was clear to him how much Illya treasured these relationships. After he gave her the advice yesterday, she is still indecisive, which means that her wish for a normal life is on a similar level to her friends.

It was a choice between putting Illya in danger or destroying her relationship, but there was also a third option...

Archer made the choice that he believed to be the best in this situation.

"Let me fight alone tonight."

"Huh? What does this have anything to do with my question?" Rin asked. For her, it looked like Archer jumped over her question and decided on something.

Archer proceeded to explain his thought process, which included his observation of Illya and some information about the Berserker that he knows. Not all, though. He only shared the bare minimum to let Rin and Miyu understand the danger of this last card, but that didn't answer one question.

"Archer, I won't ask you how you know the things that you said or why you are helping us because what you said to us after our fight against Saber isn't entirely true, but do you really think that we would let you fight against someone you describe as a monster among monsters? Whether we want it or not, you're part of our group."

Rin's words somehow warmed Shirou, and he smiled under his mask. She is nicer than she lets people know.

"Rin, think logically here. You've seen me fight before, and you know I'm more than capable enough to deal with a Servant."

Shirou lied. He may be on the level of a Servant and be able to fight against stronger opponents, thanks to his versatility, but to fight against Heracles, he would need to go all out to get out of this fight alive.

"And with no one around, I could fight more destructively and focus solely on the fight. Besides, I can heal all of my injuries quicker than anyone here. Just drop me there and get me after I get the card. Just tell Illya that I lost my patience or something and collected the last card."

Rin processed to carefully go over Archer's words until she connected all the dots, and her eyes went wide, but before she said anything, Archer made a gesture of silence on his mask.

"Speech is silver, but silence is gold. Some things are better left unsaid. I have my own reasons to fight alone, which I won't share, so I can't expect you to trust me, but I believe that this is the best course of action right now."

"What eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over, huh?" Rin used another idiom that perfectly described the situation.

"Exactly." Rin understood perfectly what Archer was trying to do, but she couldn't understand his reason for doing all that. She knew that it was something he deliberately avoids talking about. She also realised one more thing about Archer.

"You are a big softie, you know that." Rin smirked at Archer, but Archer remained silent.

---

END

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