At some point in every woman's life, they think how hot it would be to be fought over by two men. Unfortunately, the reality of that situation is far from ideal. At some point, you stop feeling like a person and become more of a commodity or a concept. For Ria, that meant she had become a battlefield. Sore, bruised, tired, and sick of the fighting, she was close to throwing them both out so that she could have peace again. Every day they fought over who would make meals, who would shower with her, who would run errands with her, who would spend time with her and when, and of course, who would sleep with her-getting pulled in every direction they took every opportunity to catch her alone and be intimate just so the other didn't have a chance to. Finally, she reached a point she never thought she would where all she wanted was to go back to the way things were when Cú was Proto and their relationship hadn't been soured by infidelity and death.
Now officially over them, Ria set some ground rules. "So here is how things are going to go. I've put together a schedule for when both of you can do things. Sat/Mon/Wed I sleep with Cú and Em you will cook. Sun/Tues/Thursday, I sleep with Em, and Cú will cook. This gives you both a weekend day with me to spend time together. Friday, I either sleep alone or can choose who to sleep with. Everything else is by invitation only. That means if I don't ask you to come with me, don't. I can't stand you two up my ass all the time."
"What about when we go on missions? Are you regulating that too?" Em asked with little impudence.
"Do I need to? Because if that is the case, I will borrow or summon another servant and leave both of your dumbasses at home!"
Her anger flared as she stared him down, causing Em to cross his arms and turns his head away and Cú to look down at his hands and frown as he sat on the couch.
"Now that that is settled, I'm going to go out for a bit. Don't kill each other."
"No promises," Emiya said before dematerializing.
Grinding her teeth, Ria rubbed her temples at how childish he was while Cú continued sitting there quietly. Turning to leave, her fists clenched, Ria heard Cú's voice in my head.
"I'm sorry. I never meant to make this stressful for you. Would it be easier if I bonded with someone else?"
Ria stopped as a sharp pain ripped through her heart, causing her to bring her hand to her chest. When she caught her bearings, she turned to look at him with a slightly angry and surprised look.
"It's an honest question. I would fight for you until death, but it isn't what you want, and it hasn't solved anything. It has only made it worse." He sighed. "No matter how I try to show you I love you more than anything or anyone, I can't reach your heart like I used to. I can't find the absolute adoration and passion you used to show only me."
He placed his head in his hands as he leaned forward.
"He twists every gesture I make, turns every word against me, using my past as leverage. I'm constantly fighting against him to reach you." He goes silent a moment, and all Ria can only wait in nervous anticipation, unable to process this turn of events. No matter how angry or annoyed she might be, she was unprepared to lose either of them.
"When I came back, the first and only thing I thought of was you. I wanted you with me more than anything. It was excruciating to realize you were with someone else because I had to acknowledge how badly I failed. Now that we are back together, I realize that maybe I never really knew you and that...."
Tears well in her eyes, and her voice catches in her throat. It was one thing for her to say, and know in her heart that it was just her being angry. It was another to have him say it when it had been him that had started it all.
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Flash Back (Proto Cú)
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"Let me be your knight, Ria. I will love and protect you always." Cú was on bended knee, holding her hand as he held the back to his forehead while he swore his loyalty and devotion to her.
"Cú I..."
"I won't accept no for an answer. Be mine now and always."
She smiled through the tears. "Now and always."
Then he rose and kissed her passionately as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.
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Flashback End
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"...maybe you never truly loved me. I always forced myself on you...I wouldn't blame you if that were the case. I was hot-headed and young with romantic ideals. I was unable to fathom why you wouldn't love me, so I just accepted that you did without ever letting it be true. Now we find ourselves here at this moment where you no longer enjoy me or us....if there even is an us..." He shook his head slightly. "Even this hurts so badly. No answer doesn't hurt."
"Cú, how can you...?"
"I want what's best for you, and if my love isn't what's best for you, then we shouldn't be intimate anymore." He got up and looked at her. "But I find myself unable to be in your presence and not be intimate, so the best thing for me is to leave and let you be happy without me always reminding you of negative things."
Then he turned into a caster and walked over to her before taking her chin lightly in his fingers. "Despite what happened, these are my favorite memories." His thumb runs up and down her cheek. "I wanted more memories like this."
"Cú please...". Ria's voice was weak as she placed her hand over his heart only to find they were suddenly back in the cabin in the mountains.
A shiver courses down her body, and he pulls her against him.
"Wh... what...What is...this pl...pllaaaa...place?" She stutters from the cold.
"This is the inside of my marble, the Desolation Marble. It shows you the moment of greatest despair as it happened. I have come here often and relived the day I left and destroyed your trust."
He reached out his hand and led her inside the bedroom.
"Why would you torment yourself like this?" She asked as they stepped into the room with the sizeable fur-covered bed.
"Even my death as Caster wasn't as sad as this moment. As soon as I came home and saw you under the covers, my heart broke, and my grief began consuming me. I realized you were my world and that nothing was better than the pure love you gave me. If I had lived past the next battle, things would have been different." He raised his hand and began stroking her hair as he looked into her tear-filled eyes. "All I ever did, to a fault, was make you cry."
Sniffling, Ria ran her hands slowly over his chest. "I cried because I loved you without limits both times. No matter what I saw or heard, my love was greater, and I knew it was shared."
"That it was. That it was."
Ria then placed her lips on his chest, and he closed his eyes as tears began to form.
"Even now, I selfishly want you. I want that smile back, that flushed face, that needy and pouty girl who had eyes only for me."
Leaning her head against his chest, Ria wrapped her arms around his waist. "I miss this. I miss just being with you and doing things. Yeah, we slept together a lot, and we didn't do anything for us, but my time with you was never stressful like it is now."
"Not being stressful was probably the only thing I did right."
Looking up into his eyes, she smiled. "I don't think we can go back there or here, no matter how bad we want to."
"Then where do we go? Or do we not?"
She sighed. "You have always been mine. I held onto loving you this whole time. I don't think I would forgive you if you went to someone else."
She began playing with his hair, something she had always done when she felt insecure. "Don't leave. Please. I want us to find a way to make this work. You are etched into everything about me."
He half smiled. "I am powerless to resist you. I always have been. Just tell me honestly do you love me, and if so are you in love with me?"
Looking into his eyes and around the room, Ria was reminded of her nostalgic comfort that day. It had been their haven, their little reality as they researched the philosopher's stone. While they were here, it truly felt like time had stopped.
"I do not love you the way I did at this moment, nor do I love you the way I did when we started this journey as Proto Lancer. I cannot. The innocence died."
He put his forehead against hers as his lip quivered slightly, and his hands cupped her cheeks.
"I love you the way only true love can. Angry at your faults, frustrated at your mistakes, dirty at the way you manipulate my body in its moments of pleasure, open for all the shit we have been through, securely knowing no matter what, our love won't change. It is an adult love, one that brooks no falsehood and harbors no delusions. I cannot un-love you, Cú, and I do not wish to. I want you to be honest with yourself and stand up for how you feel like you used to do. I remember numerous times you almost battled servants you thought would take me away from you. Now you give in, thinking only of what you feel is best for me. What is best for me is to have you with me loving me, fighting with me like the team we are. Yes, Em complicates things, but I do not love him more. Our feelings are young compared to yours and mine, and he still has a long way to go to be what you and I are." She wiped a tear from his eye. "Be the man I've loved for so long, my heaven."
Voice-breaking, he does his best to reply. "Only for you, Mo grá."
Then the marble fades, and they return home to the living room.
"Will you come with me today? There are things I need to do to get ready for the upcoming mission."
"Of course. Knowing you, you have taken on too much and need an extra set of hands anyway."
Smiling at his first genuine smile, they walk out the door shoulder to shoulder, not as Lancer and Master or Lovers, but as partners, friends, and soulmates.