The summoning circle blinked brightly as the white clad Servant emerged.
Taking a short second to smooth out the edge of the dress, she tried to think what she was doing, before-
"I am Servant Saber, a pleasure meeting you, Master."
She blinked. What were those words she had just spoken?
Information filtered through her brain, and she blinked in surprise.
Holy Grail War?
Masters? Servants?
Magi?
"…I see…" She muttered, glancing up at the person -people- she addressed as Master.
"…I was summoned as a 'Servant' to fight in this 'Holy Grail War' with my 'Master'"
Another short pause. "I better hope this isn't another play from Merlin. I've decidedly had enough of them."
"I would agree, though I believe that Merlin might not be at fault, for once."
Saber's eyes widened as she glanced at the woman before her.
Mirror Image.
That was her first thought. The woman looked exactly like herself, only wearing a battle gown of a different color than her own-
…dress?
Master and Mirror Image completely forgotten, Saber glanced down at her own clothing — actually taking time to look at it — and frowned.
"This… is not what I'd normally wear, admittedly."
It was much too elegant, for one. And much too frilly and feminine (though, if she were to admit it, she liked it, somehow). Normally she'd wear something that would conceal her gender more than this… dress.
"I agree again, it is not."
Saber - and when did she start thinking about herself as Saber anyway? - looked up again, coming face to face with her Mirror Image. Her hand went to her sword, thankful that it was still there.
"Who are you?"
There was a silent snort to the side, and she glanced at the man -her Master.
"I am Saber."
Saber blinked. What? "Impossible, I am Saber."
'Saber' glanced at her sword, smiling wistfully. Saber narrowed her eyes, noting that the lookalike has not drawn any weapon yet.
"Caliburn, the sword that chooses. How long has it been that I laid eyes on it?"
"Wha?"
Her weapon was indeed Caliburn. A Caliburn that was vibrating softly, almost happily.
She glanced at the woman in front of her, her eyes widening. "Merlin did say that there are many impossible things in the world. This occurrence seems to be one of them."
Her lookalike and her Master - who is now standing next to her - smiled. Saber continued her thought. "You are me. Somehow."
'Saber' smiled. "Indeed. Even if we were aiming for a different Servant."
Then she frowned. "Though I cannot for my life recall anything of the sort happening."
Her frown deepened, and she let out a soft growl. "I retract my earlier statement. This is the work of the Flower Magus, all right."
Saber flinched back. This other her was scary. What could have Merlin done to earn her ire?
Then something dawned. "You are me from the future, right?"
'Saber' nodded.
"Then can you tell me what happened? To Ector, Kay or-"
"No."
Her gaze was solemn. "It would do you no good to gain knowledge of the future."
"Ah, I see."
She would trust in the judgement of herself.
Her gaze turning to her Master, something on her mind, as she frowned.
Something was missing.
Saber glanced between the tree of them. "…How is Master going to keep us apart, if both of us are 'Saber'?"
Her Master grinned. "Firstly, it's Shirou Emiya. Secondly, we'll call you Saber Lily."
"Oh?" 'Saber' looked at the newly christened Shirou -though, Saber noted, they knew each other obviously.
Admittedly, she wasn't too fond of the nickname either. She was about to object, when her counterpart spoke up. "I believe it suits her. How did you come up with it?"
Wait, what?
Shirou explained jovially. "Her dress reminds me of the flower, so I thought it suited."
"…" Saber, or rather Lily now, tried to suppress her twitching eye.
She wasn't really that fond of the flower, so why would her older self say yes?
She shot her a questioning glance, which was answered with a small smile. "It is the favourite flower of Guinevere."
"… King Leodegrance's daughter?"
"Do you know any other Guinevere?"
"…well, no." Lily thought for a second, before she relented. "Fine, I'll go by Lily then."
Her gaze turned from her future self to Shirou. "Who are you really, and how do you know me?"
He blinked, muttering something about 'bossy women in his life', to which Saber elbowed him, before he reintroduced himself. "As I said before, my name is Shirou Emiya. I'm a third rate Magus with an affinity for swords. As for how I know you," he glanced at her future self, who was watching the exchange, smiling softly.
"You -or rather, Saber here- was summoned by my old man into the fourth Grail War. Circumstances later, I summoned her into the fifth, after which she stayed due to even more… circumstances."
He smiled sheepishly at her, and Lily looked back, nonplussed. "These 'circumstances' have obviously nothing to do with this weird summoning, right? Or the whole future knowledge?"
"No, of course not." His grin was infectious, however, and Lily found herself drawn to it.
She grinned back, Caliburn humming softly.
"How were we able to summon you, anyhow?"
Saber asked a very good question. One Lily didn't have the answer to, unfortunately.
From the knowledge gained through the Grail or whatever, she knew that one had to be a Heroic Spirit or a Counter Guardian to be summoned - as well as dead.
And Lily was sure that she was very much alive still, when she went to bed.
Still, recounting the tale might give some insight to her summon -and the dress.
"Bedivere, Kay and I were going over a map of the forests surrounding our current camp. It was said that a friendly spirit lived there, so we were thinking about crossing it, that we may gain advantage over the invading forces."
Lily grimaced at the memory, just as Saber nodded her head. "I remember that. I can guarantee that the plan will come into fruition."
?
What happened to not telling about the future? Shaking her head lightly, Lily continued.
"After that, there was a commotion outside -it turned out that one of the soldiers had his birthday- and there was a small feast."
There was a short silence.
"I had too much a drink, I believe, and before I went to bed, Merlin handed me something that would ease my growing headache - the growing …hangover, isn't it?"
Lily could see the cogs turning in her older self's head as she continued. "That was the last thing happening before I fell asleep and woke up here."
Shirou looked contemplative, glancing between herself and her older self.
"Saber…?"
Her voice was but a growl.
That did not happen to her.
"Merlin!"
This came out a little later than I would've liked, but, well... Pokemon Go happened (and final school week, but that is secondary :'D).
And I've kinda-sorta waited for the Camelot chapter release, too... without actually playing the game or understanding what happens...
I have absolutely no other excuse other than that. So, sorry. But! Bors should be out in two weeks top.
And I feel that I'll never finish the cover...
Anyhow, this was the special Chapter for E.R Man! I thought that teasing would've been fun, but then it struck me how strange it was that Lily is the 'naive, innocent' version of Saber, who still has to mature – considering that she should be dead if she was summoning material, meaning she shouldn't be able to 'mature'. So it revolved around that, rather than the teasing she and Saber will, without a doubt, get.
Little Sister Lily yay! Also, confusion over the usage of 'Saber'
Ahem, the reviews:
MBenz4268: Thank you :)
Polar Wolfstar (Guest): Thanky you very much for all of the stones; it eases my search-time considerably xD
Euridice II of Macedon: I'm happy that you're following this despite the pairing not being to your liking. I won't lie, this review made me smile like a little girl at Christmas. I'll definitely include Morgan, since so many are asking for her, and the Lady of the Lake (Vivianne). Dunno about Nimue and Morgause. And thanks for the Gemstones!
marduk-report: Don't worry, friend, I didn't know either at the beginning xD I agree with her portrayal, though. The sad thing is that by now, every time I read some novel about King Arthur, I'm saying 'but he's a girl!' because I got so used to it xD Also, Bedivere. Bedivere, my favorite knight, you deserve so much more love 3
Deer-Shifter: Huh, you learn something new every day. I didn't know that tidbit about the love potion. I'm happy that my portrayal of him was alright, I kinda winged it xD. Their partnership would've been rocky at the beginning, to say the least.
OBSERVER01: All tree of them will be summoned, don't worry :D
HikariNoTenshiSan: That... that sounds beautiful xD Men stay at home and cook and clean, whilst the woman goes about knightly (or faeryishly?) things ;D
idea. getthe: I'll admit that I didn't even think abut that. The idea is funny as hell ^^
Selias: Noted. Opal is already taken by Iri, though
CG-3m1y4: As of now, you can imagine him, I suppose? I did think he had brown hair in a ponytail, admittedly, but FGO kinda went with something else... now I'll have to redraw him on the cover, ugh.
I doubt that I'd do Ilya and Miyu (maybe as an April joke?) Ector will be summoned, but I still have to decide which class, and I think I'll really stick with Merlinite and Aquamarine, though Agravain's personality is a bit different in my HC. And lastly, I try to stay as closely as I can to my summary as possible. And you're right MHX deserves more attention! :)
Guest: She'll be featured
YuukiAsuna-Chan: Thanks
E.R Man (Guest): I'm glad you liked his characterization xD it kind of 'came with the flow of the chapter'. Dunno bout the winner. I'd say it's a draw. I used Lily, but Alter will be around sometime as well. Can't have one side without the other, after all xD
I admit, I thought Tristan was a woman at first, and my thoughts went: 'Nooooo :C'
Thankfully, He Is A Man. Also, I am a firm believer that most of the main knights let their hair grow long because of Saber's own long hair. Totally. Because they were so fond of their pretty king xD
Vhosek: Cuteness Overload: Over 9000! Ahem, Rider really doesn't fit into this, sadly.
j6unlimited: Already in my 'To-write' list :D
Guest 2: Reading this review brought a smile to my face, so thank you ^^
BukkakeNoJutsu: Thank you very much!
I'll admit that when I started this Fic, I never thought it would get this popular! As of this writing, Gemstones has 234 Favorites, 239 Followers, is part of 2 Communities, has 132 Reviews and 28,847 Views! I thank you all very much, because you make me a very happy, idiotically-grinning person! So a big Shout-out to all of you who contributed to the above numbers!
Thank You! And till next Chapter!