A Twist of Fate (Fate Zero & Fate Stay/Night:UBW)

Chapter 14: A Future and a Past

Two weeks after Avantina's return.
Avantina was seated at a table in the Emiya residence alongside her cousin and three friends, enjoying the meal before them. Illyasviel and Rider had been on holiday in Germany since last week, leaving the rest of the group in Fuyuki. Suddenly, they heard a crash outside.

By instinct, everyone readied their weapons and stepped out the doors. A hooded figure stood in the centre of the courtyard, his physique that of a man's. Avantina was in front of the party, wielding her dual katanas, intuition rang like a hundred bells at once.

His build...the stance he's taking... It can't-

"You have four seconds to identify yourself. I can kill you in two."

Even Archer clenched his bow a little more tightly, relieved to be beside Avantina and not before her.

"You've only grown more fierce and beautiful since I last saw you," answered the stranger, pulling off his hood. Avantina nearly dropped her swords.
"Diarmuid," she breathed.

How heavy hope must have been. To lower her swords for even such a fraction. That would've been all an enemy would have needed. Avantina snapped back to vigilance, fought against the hope attempting to sting her eyes.

"Diarmuid failed to materialize when I gave my wish to the Grail. How do we know you're not an impostor?"
"I could tell you of how I nearly killed you the first time we met, but..." And at this, Archer saw the same hope pooling in the stranger's eyes. "Is tú a chuisle mo chroí."

Avantina lowered her blades, mind reeling.

It is you. Where have you been all this time?

"I came here to see you...and explain. May I?" he beckoned to the open doors behind the group. Avantina nodded to her friends to put away their weaponry as she turned around and headed back into the house. The stranger, taking that for a yes, followed her in.

She laid her swords on the edge of the dining table, not looking at Diarmuid. He rushed forward, wrapping his arms around Avantina and burying his head in the nape of her neck.

"My love. I wasn't sure you'd be alive, but-I had to come-I had to see you for myself..."

Avantina looked uneasy in his embrace.
Discomfort? thought Archer. Or guilt?
Archer was about to pry her from his grip until Diarmuid pulled back with a puzzled and hurt expression.

"Is something wrong?"
"There is something you must know, but I'll speak after you've said your piece."
"Very well. We should settle down first."

The party took their seats at the dining table and Diarmuid began.

"On the day you made your wish, I saw everything from within the Grail. I saw the others materializing but I was chained and surrounded by a lake of fire. The Grail told me it wasn't going to let you have everything you wished for. I tried breaking the chains that bound me, to no avail.

Then an angel parted the lake and approached me, saying you had fought valiantly and deserved to have your wish fulfilled. He destroyed the chains and we battled our way out of the Grail. Time does not flow at the same pace within the Grail as it does here on Earth. By the time we escaped, I stood in the same place where the Grail opened before. Only, three months had passed."

Diarmuid spoke again, this time to Avantina.

"I understand it's impossible to believe, but-" at this, he reached for her hand.
"Leave us alone," she said to her friends, flinching away from Diarmuid. "Do not enter this room until I say so."

Archer and Lancer gave pointed glances, but with a nudge from Saber, followed the rest to another room.

"Diarmuid, when I died and woke up in Heaven, I saw your wife and children. I saw Grainne."