Chasing You Through Time

A Victory

The next morning we had breakfast, Emiya his typical hard exterior. I spent the morning trying to get a reaction out of, but it seemed for all he cared last night didn't even happen. Last night didn't make me angry, it hurt yes, but I wasn't angry. What was annoying me though was how easy he let it lie. The annoyance left me unsteady all morning, that when our battle came, I was ready to vent. Our fight began, and the movement felt good. It wasn't long until I had the upper hand, but he was quick to keep up. Again, and again, and again, I drove him to the point where I was sure I had him, but he always got out of it. Just like yesterday, he seemed to read my mind, eventually leading to his victory. Gae Bolg was rolled a few feet away from me, and Emiya had a white blade to my throat.

"I win." His voice was hard, but there was an apologetic look in his eyes. It seemed that he knew these fights weren't right, that he held something over me that led to his victory. Next time, I'll get him.

Next time came, and he won, and the next, and the next, and the next. It was the greatest losing streak I had since my training days. Though I was losing, I could feel the battle becoming more and more in my favor, it becoming more difficult for him to slip through my fingers. The anticipation was killing me, watching my victory get closer and closer, but never come.

A week without victory had passed, and with each day, the distance between us began to grow. I don't know why this win was so important, why this fight was making everything feel off. All I knew was that when I won, things would go back to normal. Maybe once I won, we would finally talk instead of letting that night go unspoken of. Emiya was hiding behind his blades, and I would break through to him.

We were in a battle, and I'd counted thirty of his blades broken; he was hanging on by a thread. A wide involuntary grin arose on my face, as he stumbled. I drove towards him, but he bent back out of the way. His foot came up around my neck slamming me down into the dirt. I felt his knee pressed against my back, his hands on my wrists. Damn it!

"Damn it, damn it damn it!" I growled into the dirt.

"What? A sore loser?" He muttered to me as he got up.

"It's not about that."

"Then what is it about."

I stood up and froze. "...I don't know. But Emiya, we need to talk." He stared at me blankly for a moment, but I saw something in his eyes that registered what I was referring to.

"Whatever it is you want to talk about, I suggest you leave it for tonight when we don't have a job to do."

With that, he walked away. Clenching my fist, I watch him leave to the men. Everything he did just seemed to do pissed me off more and more.

During the day, I tried to focus on the men rather than Emiya, putting myself in a better mood. All of the soldiers had made remarkable progress in the past week. I just wish Cal could be here more often, he's been everywhere in the city except the training yard. Although he does stop and check in at times, he doesn't say much, other than what applies to the men and battle preparations. But then again, Cal's never really been one for casual conversation. When we first met it took weeks before I could get him to talk to me about anything other than the necessities. I need to get with him and have a drink sometime this week, stress doesn't look good on him.

Like most nights this week, our walk back to the inn from the training yard was quiet, till the point that I couldn't take it anymore. My feet froze in the street. Emiya walked on until he realized my feet weren't moving.

He sighed, turning around. "Cu--" His words were cut short when he met my eyes. "Why are you glaring at me?"

Glaring? Was I? Shaking my head, I walked forward, closing the space between us. "Let's talk."