A/N: I have been a die hard fan of Fate series since Fate Stay Night and watching Fate/Zero again gave me so much feels ;o; So, I gathered my courage and wrote this piece on Saber and Gilgamesh, one of my favorite OTP *spazz* I hope you'll enjoy it, it was quite complicated to write, considering how complex are those characters and the theme set I used for this challenge.
A Clash of Kings
#01 – Air
Gilgamesh was looking at her, at her blue eyes, at the way her pink lips pursed imperceptibly when he felt the cold and the steel of her sword's edge grazing his skin; and then, he realized, her weapon was invisible yet it was a genuine threat.
#02 – Apples
Arturia shouldn't listen to that voice, she really shouldn't listen to that deep and suave voice, Gilgamesh's rich voice, which had been chanting in her head since she had seen him naked – "Why do you reject pleasure? I can give you everything you desire, Saber, and even more."
#03 – Beginning
As the powerful beam of light was wiping out the Holy Grail, Arturia was watching, powerless, her redemption slipping through her fingers; alone, at the top of a hill littered with her fallen knights, she cried, new beginnings were often disguised as painful endings.
#04 – Bugs
All he wanted was servants, humans worthy of him, the King of Heroes, and if he needed to destroy the whole world to find them, Gilgamesh wouldn't hesitate to do it.
#05 - Coffee
In this world, there was a drink called "black gold", and Gilgamesh failed to understand why everyone found this hot (or cold) liquid so good, especially when Arturia was enjoying it so much as she couldn't stop drinking it day or night.
#06 – Dark
No matter how long and how much Arturia thought about it, their relationship between him and her was not meant to be: Gilgamesh was way too arrogant, his pride and ego were taking all the room in his heart, rotten to the core as if it were a black hole, so how could he love her?
#07 – Despair
"Submit to me, Saber." whispered Gilgamesh into her left ear as he tightened his grip on her chains, violently, a wicked smile drawn on his face while he was tearing apart her dress.
#08 – Doors
Trails of blue, silver and gold were mapping out the path she had taken in those endless labyrinthine corridors; she couldn't escape him, even though she had got away from him more than once.
#09 – Drink
Sometimes, Arturia wished she had gone back in time; when she savoured the victory in busy and crowded taverns with her soldiers, when she trained with the prideful Knights of the Round Table, on the wipping lilies fields, in the cold caverns or near the castle, for Camelot and for Britain.
#10 - Duty
He always asked her this question, and it started to annoy her, because no matter the world, the dimension or the alternate universe where they would meet, this arrogant bastard would never understand; Saber glared at Archer, holding firmly her sword, "I don't care about my needs and my desires, a true king must be willing to sacrifice everything for his people – that is my duty as King of Britain."
#11 - Earth
Gilgamesh had collected in his Gate of Babylon all the treasures that the world could offer him, he had taken the time to appreciate them, to enjoy them, and to master every pleasures that could be taken from them and yet, even though he didn't want to admit it, deep inside, the King of Heroes felt empty – misunderstood by his own people, by the humans and by the gods, he sat alone on his golden throne.
#12 – End
The moment Arturia passed her arms around his neck, pulling his body against her, rustling his messy blonde hair in the process, she knew it was the end for both of them: they kissed.
#13 – Fall
Spears, arrows dug deeply in her tights, back and ribs, Arturia was wounded by Mordred and other treacherous knights during her last battle, the battle of Camlann, where she had lost the most important thing for her – her country, which couldn't be saved anymore.
#14 – Fire
When Gilgamesh saw the burning and consuming fire in the eyes of Saber, her determination to walk on the path of a martyr no matter what, he couldn't help finding that tragedy, that self destruction, magnificent.
#15 - Flexible
"What are we?" asked Saber, upset, as she tried to hold back the King of Heroes who wanted to kiss her again, and again, before the blonde male narrowed his red eyes, smiling – he was leading her astray, more deceiving himself than her though.
#16 – Flying
Some things never change; since she was a child, she had been living in a silver and bloody cage: hiding her gender, wearing the crown, protecting the country – it was her destiny to be a ruler, so it was normal for her to cast aside all her emotions, to become heartless, inhumane.
#17 – Food
Once he had tasted a meal once, Gilgamesh wouldn't eat the same thing twice, so why was he still craving for Saber's sweet and delicate body so much?
#18 – Foot
"Before being a woman, Archer," said Arturia with an assertive voice, "I am the King of Britain, the King of Knights, I won't bow down to you and become your Queen." she then smirked, before adding proudly while she was standing before him, making tickling her chains at her wrists, "You might have my body at your disposal for now, but you will never have my loyalty."
#19 – Grave
He couldn't care less about Saber's words, for Gilgamesh, there was only one person who was loyal to him, and he was dead now.
#20 - Green
Saber didn't know why but since several cycles of the Holy Grail War, she had been attracted to the Archer class – what was the name of that babylonian king again?
#21 – Head
Gilgamesh was the son of the King of Uruk and the goddess Rimat Ninsun, surprisingly praised and lauded by his infatuated subjects during his childhood, his mother called him affectionately her little sunshine because she thought he was the ideal king for the kingdom.
#22 – Hollow
Absolutism, oppression, duress, the capital city of the ancient Mesopotamia was the shadow of what it used to be; no one in the kingdom could understand what had happened to Gilgamesh, no one.
#23 – Honor
Arturia loathed that arrogant king from all her heart; when Gilgamesh had raped her on the battlefield, he had reminded her that she was a mere human, that she could have emotions, that she could be owned by someone else and that she could be defeated as a woman – her pride had been damaged.
#24 – Hope
Every time they were summoned to take part in the Holy Grail War, they hoped that things would be different, in the past, in the future, and between them.
#25 - Light
Running at the speed of light, Saber dodged his swords, his halberds – every Noble Phantasms that Archer was throwing at her while he was watching her, his arms crossed, thoughtful, would they always be meeting on the battlefield?
#26 - Lost
Gilgamesh hated humans, they were weak, their stupidity was limitless and what they were seeking in life was simply vanity yet he loved when Arturia listened to her needs, when she clung to him, calling his name and not his class, when she showed her emotions, sadness, lust or agony – in other words, he loved her when she was humane.
#27 – Metal
As soon as the little girl drew out Caliburn, the sword from the stone, people shouted out their joy, and nobody saw that her small hands were shaking.
#28 – New
So many conflicted feelings, it was the first time for Saber that the longest and hardest battle was raging inside her own self.
#29 – Old
His bestfriend had once told him, "You are kind. If only people could trust you, they would realize that you are good to the ones who have pledged allegiance to you."
#30 – Peace
A moment of relief, where time was suspended, Saber and Archer were playing chess in the huge manor of Einzbern, discussing happily about warfare stategies while snow was piling up on the stones.
#31 - Poison
He hadn't realized it, because the effects were triggering slowly, but Gilgamesh was falling in love with her.
#32 – Pretty
At first, he had found her noble ideals laughable, then he had found, thanks to the banquet with Rider, the way she had lived her life pathetic and yet she was still entertaining to his eyes, how troublesome.
#33 – Rain
When the Lady of the Lake gave her the sacred sword, Excalibur, and the power of Avalon, the nymph promised to the King of Britain that her people would be saved, although a lot of them had already fallen.
#34 – Regret
Arturia wished she had never become a king, that way she wouldn't have seen the fall of her country and she wouldn't have met Gilgamesh in those endless cycles of wars.
#35 – Roses
Twisted, it was wrong the way they loved (hated) each other, the way they fought every time they met in a castle, a forest, at the corner of a street, near the river, anywhere, losing themselves in the heat of the battle.
#36 – Secret
Archer was the most powerful Servant in the Holy Grail War, everybody knew that, but did they know that the half god and half human king had fears and weaknesses too?
#37 – Snakes
Though he knew it awaited all, when his bestfriend died, killed by the gods without mercy, death had never inspired him grief or fear until that moment, him who had been ever living a life of luxury, collecting riches, bedding women, Gilgamesh went on a journey to search for the Herb of Immortality, a sweet aroma that loved snakes.
#38 – Snow
Cold, Arturia was cold to everything Gilgamesh was saying to her, it was as if something was broken inside of her, as if she had lost the will to fight him – to live.
#39 – Solid
She had lowered her guard, because of him, she had been foolish to embrace what her emotions, what her heart had dictated her to do; Saber picked up her sword and put her armor on because before being a woman, she was the King of Britain, the King of Knights.
#40 – Spring
When Gilgamesh emerged from the spring, it was too late: the snake had stolen the Herb of Immortality, gaining the property of shredding, and, as he looked at the shred skin in his hands, the young man laughed until his sides ached.
#41 – Stable
"Why won't you be mine?" shouted Archer, throwing out a long sword from his Gate of Babylon which crashed into in her leg, yet Saber stood her ground, taking support on her concealed sword, and yelled back at him with hopelessness, "Step aside, Archer. The grail is mine!"
#42 – Strange
Usually, people would breakdown when they realized that the Holy Grail, the divine artifact which was said to grant any wish, was a farce, a joke imagined by the Church and by the Mages Association to summon Angra Maiyu, a corruption which destroyed everything on its way – but not Gilgamesh, he would laugh.
#43 – Summer
Arturia didn't know how but she had been materialized in his era, in Babylonia, to his sides, and Gilgamesh was way too different from what she remembered, maybe it was because of the heat, of the blinding light reflecting on the golden objects, of the infinite sky, of his gentle smile, of – what he said, "Will you rule the world with me?" that she hesitated for a moment, while he was dragging her to him and approaching his lips to hers, to answer that she couldn't.
#44 – Taboo
"Say you like it, Saber." grinned Archer, as he was listening to her moaning, trying to hide her pleasure with her hands, although he knew that she knew that her body was betraying her – he thrusted in her again, and watched her calm composure collapse with a smile.
#45 - Ugly
He had always wanted her for bad reasons; Saber was a king, a knight, a female warrior, a maiden due to the principles she had imposed on herself in her past life, and all those reasons had made Gilgamesh think of her as a treasure he must possess, because collecting treasures was like breathing for him.
#46 – War
"Archer, this is the last time we fight."
#47 – Water
Closing her eyes, Arturia was sitting near the lake; she needed to rest – how could she understand Gilgamesh, the reason why he was feeling those feelings towards her when she had failed to understand the wishes of her people, of her own soldiers serving her during her life as the King of Britain?
#48 – Welcome
After her sword had pierced his heart, she watched Gilgamesh fading away, welcoming his death, as he managed to touch her cheeks and whispered painfully, "Some things are beautiful for the very reason they are unobtainable."
#49 – Winter
The wind was blowing on the hill, and even though Arturia hadn't obtained the Holy Grail to saver her country, she felt at ease somehow despite the cold air of loneliness.
#50 - Wood
How absurd it was to fall in love with a foolish king, a human who had accepted a destiny she couldn't fulfill, a woman who didn't understand him, stopping at his flaws and his mistakes, as she had rejected without mercy everything he had tried to do to conquer her, laughed Gilgamesh, walking in the deep forest where he had lost his immortality thousands years ago – what an absurd but entertaining journey.