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I DON'T OWN THESE FATE CHARACTERS
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Saber, with her sword overhead, brings down the legendary sword Excalibur onto the the Holy Grail. The grail, being pierced by Saber's mighty Excalibur, disperses into a large magnitude of spiritual particles flickering as though they were fireflies in the presence of the setting sun's orange and yellow rays. Shirou Emiya looks onto this marvelous spectacle as well as the young, armor clad woman that has overcome the multiple grueling obstacles to get to this shining moment of victory. Shirou gazes in amazement as she loses the ribbon that was keeping her hair in the stylish braid. Her hair now flows freely down to her back and begins to sway in the wind. His heart rate picks up as watches his victorious Saber bask in the sun's rays, appearing as though she is the heroic angel that he always felt that she was. The only thing missing from her fitting the description would be the marvelous wings appearing from behind her back and spreading themselves into the now essence filled air.
"She looks… so beautiful standing there," Shirou thinks mentally while still admiring everything there is to the woman that he had fallen in love with so long ago.
Saber slowly turns rotates herself to cast her eyes upon the master that has helped her accomplish her goal of destroying the Holy Grail and open up to the world. The armored, young woman stands and looks at her master while a feeling of regret begins to slowly creep its way into her once joyous heart. Moments after staring into the eyes of the man that she has come to trust, she notices a sparkle off light appear on the side of Shirou's face.
"Shirou and I have accomplished the goal of destroying the grail." Saber thinks to herself looking at Shirou's face. "We have rid the world of a possible evil, but now…why do I feel as though I may have committed a grave mistake."
The King of knights comes to the realization of why Shirou has begun to shed tears as well as the origin of the creeping feeling of regret as the sword that she possesses as well as her body begins to feel heavier than ever. Saber closes her eyes for a moment. She quickly reopens them in hopes to fight back the building emotion that is about to overtake her while also displaying a smile to cover her coming sadness. She knows that her body is about to scatter into the wind and vanish from this era.
"If I possessed the time to apologize to this Shirou for committing this selfish act of mine, I would. I know that his heart must be breaking to see me about to vanish from his life. I can only hope that Shirou will be able to forgive me for deserting him one day. I know now why he so desperately tried to stop me from going back. This feeling of sadness that has entered my heart makes my heart feel as though there is some unknown force constricting it, trying to crush it death." Saber breaks from her train of thought noticing that her strength is beginning to fade at a more rapid rate than before. Saber opens her mouth and begins to speak to Shirou.
"There is only one thing left that I must tell you," she says in a barely audible volume.
She raises her hand up to her chest and begins to speak again.
"I love you Shirou," she says softly as her body now becomes as particles of essence that mixes in with that of the Holy Grail's, adding to the beauty of the sight that Shirou is observing.
Shirou watches as the sparkling material against the sun begins to fade from view at a faster rate. The stability in his legs begins to give away which in turn makes him drop to the ground landing on his knees. Still staring at the now empty space in front of him, the tears in Shirou's eyes begin to drop as though they were apart of a raging waterfall.
"Saber…..You got what you wanted." Shirou whispers sobbingly gripping his chest. The red-head's heart feels as though it is about to be ripped out of his chest. "You got what you wanted…But now I've been left here all alone. I was living my life one day after another helping others in hope to become a "hero of justice", but when you made your entrance into my life you helped me become that champion that I so longed to be. You also taught me how it feels to be in love." Shirou's cries begin to increase in volume while beginning to slam his fist into the dirt knocking it into the air. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME DAMN IT!" he shouts into the silent space, before dropping his defeated head back to the battered ground.
********
The sun is quietly rising on a small battlefield. The battle torn land smells of death as hundreds of bodies lay at the base of the hill that is being occupied by the victor of the recent battle. The sound of heavy inhalation and exhalation is being emitted from the lone warrior located atop the blood soaked earth. Arturia Pendragon is crouched down on her knees supporting herself with the help of Excalibur as she tries to regain enough strength to finally stand up.
"It appears that I have returned to my rightful place in time." She says to herself. Arturia slowly raises herself off of her knees with the help of Excalibur. The more pressure she applies the further the golden blade sinks into the ground. Finally, after being able to get the necessary strength to accomplish her goal, Arturia stands atop of the hill. With a small amount of force she slowly pulls her blood stained weapon out of the crimson ground. Upon releasing the sword from its earthen prison, a sharp pain shoots through her stomach, sending her tumbling back down to the ground covering her wound and releasing Excalibur from her grip. Arturia lies on her back in order to analyze the extent the damage upon her body goes. After observing herself, she notices that there are multiple slice marks in her armor where swords had made contact with breast plate, shoulder, and arms as well as the gapping hole in the abdominal part of her armor where Mordred's blade had pierced her. The blood still flowing out of the wound, Arturia looks up at the dusky sky. "This is what I choose to return to I see?" she asks herself withholding a look of pain from her face. Feeling that attempting to stand would be futile, the king of Britain lies atop of the earth staring off into at the dusk sky. Not longer had she given up hope of getting off of the battlefield, Arturia hears the sound of approaching footsteps. She turns her head towards the small path that descends to the bottom of the land structure. "I wonder if this noise is that of an ally or an enemy. Regardless, it will come to my realization soon enough." Moment's later, a brown horse carrying a person draped in white cloth approaches. The rider gets off of the horse and quickly places his hands behind Arturia's head.
"My king! Are you alright?" asks the man beside Arturia.
Arturia turns her head to face the person that had come to her aid. She opens her eyes wider to better her ability to identify the man that has come assist her.
"Now that you are here Bedivere, I am feeling better," Arturia says with slight smile on her face.
Bedivere gazes upon the injury that is located at Arturia's stomach and releases a sound of shock.
"My king, you have been heavily injured. I need to get you to doctor as soon as possible." Bedivere begins to pick her up. Placing his arm around her neck Bedivere successfully brings the king to her feet. The aiding knight turns around and puts his hand on the horse's face. Bedivere slowly moves his hand down to the horse's nose, which in turn makes the animal, put itself on the ground placing its legs beside its body. The king's knight places the injured woman on the rear of the horse. He begins to mount the horse only to notice that Excalibur is lying on the ground. He hastily walks towards the location where the sword is lying on the ground. Bedivere picks up with sword by the hilt and takes it back to the horse.
"Hang on tight sire!" the man says pulling on the back on the horse's mane to cue it to stand. No sooner had Bedivere instructed, Arturia places her both of her hands around his waist firmly dropping her head into the driver's back. The horse picks itself up rocking hard forward and then straightening itself up. "Lets go!" the male in white shouts signaling to the horse to go by whipping the reigns up. The horse lets out a loud neigh of acknowledgement and speeds off in a gallop. The duo descends the hill and begins riding off into the grassy lands. It seemed like an eternity to Bedivere from when he and his king had descended the mound surrounded by death and arriving into the thick, hot forest. They had been riding long enough that Bedivere notices that the sun has risen by the traces of sunlight beaming through the top of the trees. The horse dodges the trees left and right, barely being able to dodge them all. The duo comes upon a sparkling, blue stream with fish swimming and barely audible noise indicating the harshness of the current.
"Bedivere…stop the horse," Arturia wearily says breaking the rhythmic sound of the horse's hooves and the long silence that they had experienced on their journey back to their homeland.
"We are almost home though my king!" Bedivere exclaims shifting his glaze back to the weakened woman holding on to his white clothing.
"Stop the horse please Bedivere," She says once more, this time her voice sounding with a bit more authority. Bedivere bites down on his lip to the request knowing that he cannot disobey an order from his king. Coming to this realization, Bedivere says nothing and does what his injured lord asks of him. Pulling back on the reigns, the horse's head shifts to the side in unison with its legs ceasing to continue moving forward. Arturia stiffens her arms and grips down on Bedivere's sides in the effort to push her head off of Bedivere's back, but only to fail due to the lack of strength and pain that has brushed over her body. "Could you help me down?" the dying woman asks in a friendlier tone in comparison to her last request. Bedivere tosses his left leg across the animal's back.
"Sire, please try your best to stay in the upright position." Bedivere says placing his right hand on Arturia's chest in efforts to keep her from falling off upon his dissention to the ground. The knight easily dismounts the horse and focuses back on his king. Placing his left hand on Arturia's side, Bedivere now helps her off of the tame steed, but notices that something is odd.
"What is this?" Bedivere asks to himself. Without thinking Bedivere slightly pushes down on the king's chest to indulge his curiosity. Arturia notices the slight movement of her knight's hand and is suddenly struck with a sense of fear.
"Oh no, I think that my secret has been discovered," Arturia thinks gritting her teeth, but not being able to move Bedivere's hand from her chest.
"So our king was actually a woman." Bedivere thinks to herself.
After a few seconds, Arturia finds herself standing on the solid ground beside the horse and Bedivere.
"Thank you," Arturia says after standing upright. Another sharp pain radiates in her abdomen causing her to clutch her body once again. Arturia notices a tree to the right of her, so she decides that this would be a perfect place to call her resting place. She increases the pressure on her stomach as she lands on the ground hard earth. The fallen king lazily picks up her head and sees Bedivere holding onto her bloodied Excalibur.
"Bedivere, my faithful knight, would you perform one last act for your king?" the king asks dropping her arms and playing with dirt.
"Yes my lord," Bedivere answers bowing his head.
"Would you return Excalibur to the Lady of the lake?"
Bedivere gazes at the sword that he has been asked to dispose of.
"If my king wishes." the obedient knight say turning to her horse to carry out the king's wish.
Bedivere hoists himself onto the back of the brown mare and then gallops off to fulfill the king's request. King Arturia glances around to observe the scenery that she has now noticed. She listens to the repeated chirpings of the birds throughout the forest along with the hypnotic rustling of the trees leaves as the moderate wind blows them making causing each group to rub against each other.
"Nature is quite a beauty to behold," Arturia says eyes beginning to become heavier by the second. "I suppose that is that true that a person does not realize the beauty of what they possess until they are about to part from it," she says with a smile creeping unto her face before she blacks out due to exhaustion.
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"Saber!" comes a shout from somewhere off in the distance.
The blonde's emerald eyes open lazily. She raises her index finger in hopes that the action would give her the jump start needed to assist her in forcing herself from her resting area. The worn out woman tries her best to raise her hand off of the pillow, but the blonde beauty finds it difficult to accomplish this task. She fully opens her eyes to notice the vibrant rays of the sun beating down onto her face. Saber releases a loud yawn also miraculously finding the strength to outstretch her arms and roll onto her side. No sooner had she done that, a knock could be heard coming from her and Shirou's door.
"Saber! Are you awake!" the same voice shouts from behind the door.
Saber sits up on her side using her arm to prop herself up.
"Yes I am!" She yells back with little projection in her voice.
"Everyone's waiting for you at the table. Please do hurry because I'm starving!!!" exclaims the voice. Saber now recognizing that the voice belonging to Taiga.
"I will do my best to not delay everyone any longer," Saber says now picking herself up off of the futon that she just occupied. Upon hearing Saber words, Taiga walks away to the kitchen area to sit back down with the rest of the "family". As the blonde is standing tall in her white t-shirt and blue shorts, she looks around the spacious room to find her usual white shirt and blue skirt folded up nicely on top of Shirou's dresser. Along with her clothes Saber notices a mirror placed in the center of the dresser surface. Just as a moth cannot resist the call of a flame, Saber is drawn to the piece of furniture in the same fashion. She stares at the mirror examining the figure that is being reflected back to her.
"Now I don't have to pretend to be something that I am not," she whispers, scanning her physical features inch by inch with her hands.
Saber finishes admiring herself and begins to dress. After making sure that her clothes are acceptably situated on her for public viewing, the blonde heads to the kitchen to join the other house guests in the kitchen for a routine breakfast to start the day. Upon entering the feasting area, her eyes come in contact with the eyes of the other bodies populating the house.
"Good morning Saber!" Rin, Taiga, Sakura, and Illya say in unison.
"Good morning to everyone," she replies with a smile, and her fingers intertwined in front of her. The blonde servant looks around the table to notice that everything was present. The seating, the food, the instruments used to eat, and the people. She freezes and then double checks the eating area again. After finishing her second scan, she noticed that there is one big thing missing. Unable to find it, she decides to ask the others.
"Does anyone know where Shirou is this morning?"
"I think he said something about running to the store," Illya says. Saber's face briefly displays a look of sadness as she wanted to have a nice breakfast with Shirou sitting beside her. No sooner had she had that thought, the feeling of an ominous presence seemed to come to Saber. The other four women watched on as Shirou slowly closed the gap behind her with his arms raised above his head.
"Boo!" he says attempting to wrap his arms around the slender, young woman standing up. As his arms almost encloses her body, he feels his body move on its own in company with his view doing a complete three hundred sixty degree turn and him landing on the breakfast table. As Shirou lands on the table, the weight of his falling body is too much for the fragile furniture to handle and it breaks in two with a loud cracking noise accompanying it. Saber not realizing what has happened looks down at the now downed Shirou.
"I am sorry!" she shouts after brining her hand to her mouth and her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Everyone looks down at Shirou in a gaze of awe. Then someone breaks the silence.
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" are the sounds that escape Rin's mouth as she can't contain her laughter at Shirou's failed attempt to grab Saber. No sooner had Rin began her laughing fit, everyone else quickly joins in. Saber stands in place observing the reactions of everyone and thinking about the events that transpired in a mere minute. Arturia removes her small hand from in front of her mouth and shows a small smile to the person that she had just embarrassed to the entire room. Suddenly Saber hears a thumping noise coming from behind her. She turns around investigate the source of the rhythmic beat. Her arm goes up to the door and she slides it open…
*****
Arturia slowly opens her eyes to the sound of thumping coming from in front of her. It takes her a minute, but the source of the disturbance of her sleep is none other than Bedivere returning from his quest.
"I have returned the sword to the Lady of the lake your majesty," he informs Arturia as he lowers himself from on top of his mare.
"Thank you very much Bedivere. You should be proud that you were able to fulfill one of your king's last wishes."
"Thank you, sire! How do you fare?" Bedivere says biting down on his lower lip.
"My health has not changed." Her breathing becomes more audible. "I did have a dream whilst I was asleep for that short amount of time." Arturia's breathing slows down again. "Tell me Bedivere; is it possible to have the same dream more than once?"
"If you desire it enough, the dreamer can make it happen sire."
"That is great news," Arturia says her eyes beginning to close more and more. "Slumber is beginning to overtake me Bedivere. I think that it will be some time before I finally wake again."
"You should rest my queen. You have earned it." Bedivere says kneeling onto one knee.
"Bedivere, do not insult…" king Arthur begins to say before she gets cut off.
"Sire…you are the way that you are born. I would prefer to honor you in your last moments as the woman ruler that fought valiantly for her people. That is only if you permit it my lord." Bedivere pauses. "In regards to your secret sire, fear not, for it will follow me to the grave. I swear it. Bedivere says placing his right hand on the young woman's shoulder.
"If that is what you wish Bedivere," Arturia says. "And…thank you." She adds.
The eyes of the armor wearing blonde close slowly.
"I have known of you since your childhood sire, and I know your life has been full of turmoil. I can only pray that you will be able to find the peace in the afterlife that you were unable to receive while you were alive." tears now falling from his red eyes.
As the life fades from her body, a small, purple glyph appears on the area where wound had been inflicted on the former king's abdomen. The glyph begins to pulsate and darkens in color the longer it is visible. Slowly dark clouds begin to creep into the area of the forest where the lifeless King of knights lies.
"I fear that horrible events are in store for us." Bedivere says looking up at the cloud filled sky.
TO BE CONTINUED….