#poisonedarrow

Some process.

    Fate's a bitch . 

    Regis knew that much. It was really fucking obvious, what with the hands it was so fond of dealing him and many others. From random things that seemed to go wrong out of nowhere to really shitty circumstances that no one would change people's destinies were almost certainly filled to the brim with crap. Well, some people got the longer end of the stick and weren't really required to deal with such troublesome things, but hey; people like that were a rarity.

    Looked like it was fond of sick humor too. The day he found his soulmate through the timer on his wrist was supposedly the day he met a stranger who so happened to have a connection to him somehow. Indeed, he did meet someone new; albeit one with an incredibly familiar face. How strange (or was it fitting?) that the person who triggered the counter zeroing out would have the same face and voice as Archer, who defended him in the Holy Grail War a couple of years ago.

    As partners, they were hardly what anyone would call 'close'. They might have gotten along okay after a while of interaction following their rocky beginning, but there was only so much that could develop between two people over the course of two (long) weeks. Neither were very sociable nor very amicable. Not only that, but there was a whole list of things they'd rather do than bond, especially with the circumstances.

   Still, that didn't stop her from staying behind to allow him a chance to escape when things went awry. Not only that, but she even left him with enigmatic words that promised that they'd meet again completely out of the blue. Then, and even now, what she said made absolutely no sense to the red-headed magus. When Servants died, they were gone for good; that was that. Not even resummoning them would do anything; it'd just toss the Master back to square one.

   Yet, there she was just a few moments ago. Okay, it was clearly a completely different girl given the facts but the impact was felt just the same. For a moment, his mind had registered the newcomer's presence to be Archer's and had stopped for a moment prior to returning to reality.

   And so, any and all bits of relief and shock were callously discarded and his countenance returned to its usual apathetic demeanor as he left her to her own business and continued on with his own. Most people would probably ask him why he didn't pursue her any further after feeling the slight jolt the last zero would send up his arm. If he were to answer, them, he's tell them for one that doing that to a stranger of all people was creepy. Secondly, Regis had other, better things to do other than chase fairy tails. Lastly, if the rumors really were true this time around, they'd surely meet again.

   Pfft. I'm starting to sound like Archer now. Damn. Upon catching himself thinking that, the man couldn't help but sigh and shake his head as he lied back on the couch at home and stared at the ceiling.