Armored Girls (Slice of life/Fate fanfic)

Act 8: Under The Pale Moon

"Shirou, listen very closely, if you were stuck in a world just like the one I described, what do you think would give you the most freedom?" Looking around the room, I could see everyone was thinking about the question. They all probably had their answers, but the one I know is the truth of the world. "The answer is to become a raven, in other words, a gun for hire who could be scouted by different groups to complete different missions. You'd be free to choose whatever mission you wanted, to live as you please and to die a hopeless death in a nameless field. To be free, is the fight no matter if your intentions are good or evil, to live and die a dogs death is the only salvation left in a world as twisted as this."

At my words, everyone was left in a stunned silence. No one spoke, rather they took their time digesting the words and trying to understand the very meaning behind it all. "A raven, is that the nickname you give to people like White? Someone who choose to walk down a path that left both a meaning and answer in their time?" Rin asked as she still looked to be in thought about the words I spoke.

"Yes, it's a nickname, but it's also something that means so much more to me, to my pilots, and to the very same people who either fought or died for their ideals." White said as she took hold of the conversation and shifted the attention over to herself.

"Hold it, you said pilots, not pilot, we're there more than one person using you?" Archer spoke making White seem rather discouraged, her eyes dropped down as she thought back to her life as a machine. Her eyes, they seem distant. I kind of want to know what she's feeling right now, but now isn't the time for that.

With a sigh, she looks up at Archer, and answered his question with a straight face. "Yes, but they were both killed in one way or another. Both were friends, and they both met an end that left little meaning to a world filled with chaos." Archer gave a sharp sigh at her words.

"They must have been idiots then." Archer mumbled as he starting thinking again about White's words. Though, the girl in question seemed to have reacted to Archer's poor choice of words.

"You take that back." White said with a rather sharp edge in her voice. Archer, in turned gave a resolved face as he stared back at White.

"Why should I, a fools death is a fools death, nothing more and nothing less." White seems to be visibly getting more and more ticked off at Archer's words.

"At least they had a choice, to choose what they believed in and to die by their ideals. They all fought, and they all had their answers. So, what did you fight for? What costed you to lose everything you held in life? Was it something you choose or did you just pick up a dead man's words because everything else around you held no meaning." Archer, seemed to have visibly shook at her words. At first he seemed rather surprised, but was quick to change that into his resting frown.

". . ." Nothing was said, not between the two nor by anyone else. Looking around the room and seeing the silence, Shirou looked down in thought as he thought back about White's words. Her answers, her resolve, and why she speaks with such a defined out look on the lives of her pilots. He held his reservations against White's words, but he could also agree with her.

"White, are you trying to carry their ideals with you?" Shirou asked, in a rather straight forward and simple question. He wanted to to know, and I guess everyone else here in this room probably also wants to know that answer as well.

". . . I'm the craft that symbolizes their ideals, I'm the image of freedom, reason, and truth. I'm White Glint, the pride of Line Ark's military, and the top ranked NEXT of my time. . . To carry on the voices of the dead, would go against everything a Raven stands for. We choose our own paths, whether its right or wrong." White, looks down for a bit, but slowly she looks and turns to face me. Her blue eyes shine, with a firer determination found in only those with a strong conviction in their hearts. "I'll choose my own path, just like those pilots, I'll walk forward without looking back and carve out my own legacy."