Here is a Arturia Pendragon pre-series AU.

(Warning this is an Emiya Shirou-free zone)

Chapter 1.

There was a gaping hole in court that everyone knew to be missing with the exception of the King herself. Sir Kay felt responsible for the King's lack of insight as he was one of three people who held her secret. More so, he took on a key role in fostering his sister into a brother. In Arturia, they sought to create the perfect successor to the throne of Caerleon. Merlin taught her governing, Sir Ector military strategy, and Kay was his sister's instructor in things regarding manliness.

Kay being the person Arturia interacted with the most was the first to sense the growing disconnect within his sister. At first Kay assumed she was going through a mere phase, but as years passed the disconnect blossomed into a noticeable deficiency. His sister was solemn, callous, and standoffish, all qualities acceptable of a ruler yet for Arturia it went deeper.

When Kay spoke to Merlin, the sorcerer failed to understand the issue and really how could he? By default the magus powers put him on the fringe of humanity. The only person whom he could speak with was their father but Sir Ector was away securing the borderlands. Therefore, it fell on Kay to have a conversation with his sister years in the making.

The King's study was a drafty circular gray room with a great view of the woodland area that lay north of the castle. Facing away from the window was a heavy cherry wood desk. It was carved in the shape of a lion with the legs being the paws and the lion's back making up the workspace. The lion's mane was bent in reverence to the person sitting behind the desk, giving the impression of total submission. This piece of furniture stood in contrast to the simple daybed and a table set that furnished the rest of the room.

Arturia sat hunched at her desk fixated on a scroll. Her chain mail cuffed her neck and scaled down her arms over her fingertips. A yawn spilled into the palm of her hand and she excused herself in lieu of the vacant room. Then pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face and read as it slowly dropped back into her eyes.

Kay waited in the arch of the doorway, until sensing his presence Arturia flicked her eyes up. Her thin chapped lips pulled into a dull, uneven smile. "Kay, you're here." She dipped her head, prompting him to join her. "I'm glad you're here." She narrowed her eyes, was she happy to see him?

Kay bowed slightly before approaching her desk. "Your majesty, you were missed this evening." He reached into his robe and dropped a cloth of bread and dried cheese on her desk.

Arturia smiled at the food and picked off a piece of the cheese. "Oh, Really? How did Sir Gareth fair in my absence?"

"He did well enough, seeing as the festivities in the dining hall show no sign of stopping."

"Good, let the men have their night. It will likely be the last of such evenings they enjoy for a while. For you see, I have been composing a letter to King Leodegrance." She withdrew a parchment from beneath the scroll. "It's been slow going." She cleared her throat and read.

"To my allies in the North at this time Caerleon can only send half the cavalry and heavy swordsmen that Cameliard has requested. Sincerely - Arthur Pendragon." She glanced up from the letter, "What do you think?"

Kay caught sight of the amber and green dragon seal that had yet to notarize the parchment. "It's simple and to the point. King Leodegrance is going to hate it. Perhaps you should add more words to buffer the disheartening news."

Arturia stared intently at the letter, releasing a frustrated sigh. "I don't want to buffer anything when by the morrow I'll be sending men to their death."

"This is likely so," Kay agreed. "Which is why you should be sending all your cavalry and a few thousand footmen men to ensure they do not."

Arturia blinked, then blinked again. She was certain she had given the order not to be disturbed by anyone. Especially family. She was not sure who to throw into the stocks the guards or Kay for being annoying. Either way, she was seething from his lack of, she scratched her chin. She couldn't put him in the stocks because... Oh, right, he was her brother. She brought her fingers to her face and massaged out the stress. "It's shit. I know it's shit. But it's the best shit I can do." She slouched, causing her chain mail to pinch into her neck. "You don't agree with me do you?"

Kay wanted nothing more than to reach across the desk and bring her into a hug. Instead, he reached for a goblet then filled it with Ale and pushed it across the desk. "You look tired Arturia."

"I'm exactly tired." She snapped. "Everyone wants me dead, I want the opposite."

He nodded empathetically, the fact that people did want her dead was no lie. This was not the conversation he'd been anticipating, but nonetheless he was ready to have it. "King Rience has announced that after he takes Cameliard he intends to ride into Caerleon to take off your balls. They say he takes the hair off his enemy's balls and spins it into a tapestry for his wife. So if you're asking my counsel, I think we need to crush Rience at Cameliard before he can march on us. We should send every man we've got to fight for your balls."

Arturia rolled her eyes. "You know, the only thing more exhausting than posing as a man is the constant threat to my fictitious genitals." She chuckled, and the air from her laughter pressed uncomfortably against her armor. "Fine," she pounded her gauntlet on her desk. "If I cannot personally ride into Cameliard and kill the bastard myself, I shall coerce Merlin to go in my stead."

Kay "tsk'd" his disapproval. "Since when have you ever coerced Merlin into anything?"

"Oh, you know-" Arturia reached for her goblet and took a drink. "There was the time it rained."

Kay shook his head, having no recollection of ever hearing of this "rain story" from her.

Sensing his confusion, she sought to clarify. "While I was training with Merlin, our hut flooded because the roof had a giant leak and I asked Merlin to-" Arturia paused, her eyes widened. "He made me dredge out eighteen buckets of water. Only we didn't have a bucket. I had to use my hands."

"I can assume at some point Merlin gave you some sort of magical bucket, eh?"

"No." Arturia spat bitterly. "The floor became flooded." She shivered, recalling the dampness that evening. "It was the kind of cold that went straight to the bone."

Kay nodded. "Surely, Merlin created a magical bed for you to sleep on?"

Arturia took another long sip of her wine. "There was a mold that grew over everything. He never mentioned it's toxicity until I slept in it. I got really sick and it lasted for days." She paused, and brought a hand over the part of her chest where the wheezing had hampered her breath. "Then finally he cured me."

"If Merlin refuses you a bucket and a bed on the coldest of days. What is the likelihood of him riding to destroy your enemies?"

A frown made its way across her face as she got caught in the memory. "He really cannot be coerced can he?"

"Here's a thought or rather an idea." Kay's spoke quickly as he foresaw an opportunity to merge his agenda with her plight. "Marriage- Arthur." He knocked the desk, causing Arturia to jump. "It's an asset you've yet to utilize. King Rience has a son and King Leodragence is reported to have a daughter of great beauty. If they were to marry their households could not war. Then Rience would not be able to march on Caerleon out of Leodragence's loyalty to you. With Rience and Leodragence backing your claim to the throne all the other nobles would fall in line. After which we could announce your interest in taking a bride. Should this come to pass I guarantee your enemies will be throwing their daughters at you."

Arturia's nervously rubbed the bridge of her nose inadvertently scratching off a pimple. She pretended to have a sword in her hand and mimed putting it back into the stone. Kay scowled at her, and pressed on. "The King sets the example and the court follows. Your knights will not marry before the King does, and it is causing a divide. There are two parties at work: Those who follow in your celibacy and those who break their knightly vows in the brothels."

She could feel the heat rising in her face. "I doubt that my being married will cause a man to stop visiting those places. But for my amusement please tell me, how does one even find a bride?"

Kay tried to think of what he knew about women. "I believe it starts with the intent. It is said, a lady's mind jumps from adoration to love, and from love to matrimony in a moment. By default You need only say you want a wife and there will likely be a lady whose mind does such for you."

Arturia paled. "How horrifying. Do you think my mind is like that?"

"I suppose your feminine flightiness has been subdued by your masculine training." He didn't want to further frighten her so he was as methodical as possible. "There is a betrothal ceremony that includes the binding of the arms and the collection of the dowry. Then you sign a marital contract." He smiled to himself. "It shall be a grand event with lots of flowery smelling things and white doves, everyone loves such things. For you, especially, a wedding is our best opportunity to soften your image."

"My image is very soft." She pinched her cheek. "It's completely palpable."

"My Kingly sister, you have a severe reputation."

Arturia perk up in her seat and glared at him. "What do you mean severe?"

He gulped. "I mean like less than fun, but not entirely joyless. Just, you know, severe."

"You mean humorless." She dead panned.

"Yes." Kay admitted.

"And dull?"

"Sort of."

She arched her brow. "Joyless and grim?"

"All those things seem to apply to your situation, not your person."

"I've got a realm to rule I'm not meant to be…" Arturia looked around her study for anything that might exemplify her glorious sense of humor. Her eyes fell on a large map mounted to the wall. She did enjoy cartography, but relented maps were very boring. "There are things I do for enjoyment that are so immensely gratifying that you my simple brother cannot wrap your head around."

"Admit you are too busy for fun."

She dropped her head on the cool surface of her desk. "A King admits nothing."

He chuckled, but did not enjoy witnessing her stress. "You're good with other things like..."

Arturia sat up and removed her elbows from the desk. "I've got good table manners."

"Yes, women love that in a man." Kay assured her. "Manners are the mark of an honorable man."

A blush spread over her nose as Arturia pictured herself courting someone. "I've lived as a man my entire life and find women as baffling as they do. For everything about me that is a female I've practiced the opposite. It's a flawed system. Like apples and oranges, men and women live separate lives from each other until marriage. Then they become a fruit basket."

Kay pressed his lips together, forcing down his smile. "I should think your being female would give you an edge. You can instinctively anticipate the fairer sex before they anticipate you."

Arturia stuffed her fingers beneath her armor in an attempt to massage the base of her neck. Her chain mail hardly allowed her access to her own skin, thus scratching was most tedious. "There are some logistical issues with what you are proposing. First and foremost being the fact that I'm not a man."

"Yes, that's been your problem since birth." Kay replied. "A marriage would be little different from what we've always done. Which is hide you in the eye of the public."

"But what about my armor? The fact that I can never take it off. A wife would know something was amiss."

"Then we'll find you a very stupid wife."

"Kay, do you hear yourself? Even a stupid wife would know!" Arturia found herself gripping the edge of her desk. "I can't- I can't coexist with a woman. I need, I need, privacy." She gestured to the space around her. "I need my domain."

"See right there," Kay interjected. "What you just said right now. Married men have been saying it for years. You're very good at this already."

She slowly closed her eyes, and exhaled. "Kay, I want to be able to disrobe in the privacy of my own rooms."

"My dear sister, no one is asking you to live with the queen. When you marry, we will turn the south east tower into the Queen's tower and put her there. You will hardly have to speak to her even less see her. In fact, we'll solve all your problems and find you a blind bride."

This helped ease some of Arturia's nerves, not the blind wife part, but the idea that she was not expected to reside with the Queen. "What's currently in that tower?"

"It's condemned the whole thing needs renovation." Kay replied.

She took another sip of her Ale, "this queen of yours is going to be costly."

"Costly and time consuming. Marriage is one of those things that goes on and on."

"Right," Arturia kept her tone neutral despite her turmoil. "Yet you encourage my own union."

"If it means taking a proxy wife, then you my dear sister-brother must do your part for your country."

"I need to find a woman who can be trusted with my greatest secret." Arturia put down her goblet, reached for a cloth and pressed it against her scratched off pimple. "She needs to be beautiful, intelligent, humorous." She paused as it occurred to her. "I'm not good with jokes it would be agreeable to wed someone who is."

"Yes," Kay said. "It would be ideal if you fell in love with your bride."

"Love," Arturia mused. "A marriage to me would bring on to my spouse misery as they would have to marry King Arthur."

Her statement made Kay soften, it was becoming clear what needed to be done. "I believe your sovereignty will be solidified when you prove that you're more than just a boy who pulled a sword from a stone. For you, marriage is your best hope to grow up in the eyes of your people."

Arturia held the cloth tighter to her face as she stared blankly into space. "Kay, once more this is a terrible idea. What is worst is that I'm more convinced than ever that I need a wife."

"My dear sister we'll find you a proxy wife and then we'll find you proxy children. Perhaps Merlin can make you a magical prick."

"KAY, please, stop talking!"