Chasing You Through Time

End of the Line

Emiya woke me up the next morning with breakfast, as usual, but when I went down to meet him in the common room, he wasn't there. I checked his room, wasn't there. I checked the kitchen, wasn't there. I checked the library, wasn't there. Eventually, I made my way outside, and finally caught sight of him, though, where he was walking from made me smile. "So you do like Liath!" Emiya had just exited the stables. Looking down at his hands, I could tell Liath had licked them. "What were you doing? Feeding him more apples?" He stayed silent, and I laughed when I realized the answer was yes. "Here," I handed him the water skin I had slung at my side.

"Thank you." He popped open the cap, washing the horse slobber from his hands.

"Why the sudden interest in my horse?"

"I don't know, do you ever visit him? I never see you go to the stables."

I raised an amused eyebrow. "Go and see him? No, there's stable hands to take care of him for me while I'm here." By the look on his face, he didn't like my answer. "Emiya, he's a horse, a horse that's well taken care of."

"Still," he handed the water to me and began to walk away. "You should at least check in on him once in a while."

I chuckled, "You can't help but care, can you?"

"Let's go, Cu."

"Yes, yes." Smiling at his back, I followed after him.

That day went well, other than the fact that Cathal chewed me for not being there yesterday. Apparently, I forgot to send a message to him telling him we wouldn't come. Come night though, that didn't faze me, I had something far more pressing and pleasant on my mind. On our walk back, it was Emiya who grabbed my hand. "Wow Emiya, I'm shocked, I never thought this day would come so soon. You grabbing my hand!"

There was a small smirk on his lips, but he never looked at me. Then that smik fell and he glanced at me. "Two more days." His eyes were back on the road, and squeezing his hand, my gaze went there as well. I tucked myself closer against him, and we walked on in a comforting silence.

That night and the day after, he stayed close to me, making sure he could make every second worth his time, but still refused to kiss me. I think I understood what he was doing, being with me as much as he could now, because he wouldn't be later. When night came, I began to get really anxious. If I wanted to win this, I needed to do something quick.

On possibly my second to last walk holding hands with him back to the inn, an idea came to mind. "Emiya, we should do something tonight, and before you say no, hear me out. You should have a drink with me tonight."

"No."

"Hey, I said hear me out first. In this bet we have going on, I'll admit, you're most likely to win, but before that time comes, I want to share a drink with you." He glanced over at me unsure. "Please, just do it for me. Besides, we can even celebrate your probable victory." I leaned my head on his shoulder, looking up at him. "What do you say?"

Emiya was silent for a long while, almost long enough that I thought that he may have completely spaced out, but then he sighed. "Alright, Cu, I'll do it. But only one drink, okay?" I didn't respond, and had no intention of agreeing to that term. Emiya just stared at me, then sighed again, looking forward with worry painting his face. "I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?" I just kept on smiling, watching the road ahead.

Emiya sat down at a table, then I went and got the both of us a beer. "Here you are, my good sir." I sat down and pushed his mug towards him. Emiya gave me a nod, and cupped the mug between his palms, staring into the dark liquid. "Take a sip, I want to see this officially."