Chapter One: Lucky
Today was not Saber's day.
The gentle autumn breeze Saber's blew golden locks airborne tickling her pink cheeks as she surveyed the view around her. The plane trees rustled, their remaining rusty brown and scarlet leaves dancing an awkward tango with the chilly tailwind. Skyscraper facades mirrored the evening sun, a rather unpleasant reflection of orange light that blinded Saber as she descended the marble steps leading up to Grail Mall, the largest high-end mall in the city. On ground level, people milled about the cracked pavement, some mobile some not, but they all had a destination in mind. Such a beautiful day, yet Saber could only sigh in relief that it was ending.
It was just supposed to be another ordinary day at her job working as an ordinary security guard at Grail Mall, but society wanted otherwise. Three coworkers had called in sick, effectively leaving Saber to train the substitutes, alone. Berserker was also there, but he is not really one for formalities such as commandeering or any communication for that matter, but that was not all. There also just happened be an attempted robbery at Tohsaka & Co. jewelers. Two men in black tried to steal the jewels on display and in the back vault. Luckily, Berserker happened to be on scene and was able to apprehend the robbers, but Saber was soon summoned by the police to restrain her coworker from "accidentally" killing the culprits through excessive force. Though it was often that she would be called to stop the Berserker from getting out of hand, she had her experienced coworkers to help. With only some beginner trainees at her aide, involving them would only result in more casualties, but that was not the true reason for her troubles. The real reason was the paperwork that she had to fill out afterwards.
In short, it meant overtime.
Saber rubbed her emerald eyes and sleepily began meandering, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. Maybe she'd get an ice cream cone, or buy a new pair of shoes, anything goes from the hours of seven to eleven. Just as long as she could catch the last train back to Midtown, Saber was fine.
She didn't want to go back to Morgana's. Even though she has only lived in her sister's luxurious penthouse for a month after her old apartment was torn down, she was fed up. Morgana's offer to house her seemed almost too good to be real, but Saber would rather have a roof over her head rather than think about the fine print, but settling in soon revealed the truth. The price she paid for her carelessness led her to a fate no better than being homeless. Her sister's promiscuous behavior and endless partying kept Saber up so often, she could no longer remember the last time she had a good night's sleep. She had been looking around housing sites to find a new apartment of her own, but all leads have so far turned up empty. Though she knew living in the city is expensive, she never expected it to be this expensive. The only hope she had left was her application at a popular share-house some forty minutes from work by subway. It was a bit far, but the rent was somewhat affordable and rooms fully furnished. She stayed up all night refreshing her computer browser when Camlann Share House announced the applications opened again and filled it out as fast as she possibly could when it was; it was undoubtable that she would get the spot.
Saber pulled out her cell phone from her royal blue cross-body, a gift she received from Ector before she left the countryside. Her housing application should have been reviewed already, today Saber just needed to call to find out the final verdict and hopefully begin packing her things once she arrived home. Saber dialed their number and pressed the phone to her ear, praying for some good news to brighten this terrible day.
"This is Camlann Share House" a smooth female voice cut off the repetitive ringing.
"My name is Arturia Pendragon. I have called to ask about my application regarding a room at your establishment." Crossing her fingers, Saber hoped for good news as the receiver told her to hold as she checked their system.
"Hello Ms. Pendragon, I have here the results of your application. Unfortunately, we did not accept your application." Her heart dropped,
"On what grounds? Why?"
"Ms. Pendragon, we are a very sought-after establishment, there were simply too many applicants."
"That's literally impossible! I applied the second the application opened!" the loud shouting startled some passing salarymen, but Saber ignored them, eyes widening in frustration.
"I'm very sorry Ms. Pendragon, but we are in high demand. Your application was simply submitted too late. You may try again in the summer when our applications open again." The voice was completely immune to Saber's growing frustration, it was like talking to a robot.
"That's such bull, my application was submitted five MINUTES after it opened!"
"We're sorry, but there were several applicants who submitted theirs before you."
"Is there any other-" Saber paused for a second.
Pleading for other options would get her nowhere with this monotonous machine.
"Actually—never mind. Thanks for nothing." Saber promptly hung up with a huff, not bothering to hear the woman's response.
The blonde woman shut off her phone and tried to slip it back into the front pocket of her bag, but she missed the opening and her phone ended up dropping to the concrete sidewalk, screen first. Her heart dropped, once again, as she carefully picked up the phone to find the screen shattered, a branch-like crack from the left corner to the right corner of the black surface.
Saber clutched her phone tightly, kneading her fingers into its sides angrily,
"FUCK!" her sudden outburst startled an old woman sitting on a nearby bench who promptly gave her the dirty eye.
"Impudent youth!" the woman muttered as Saber stormed past her wrinkly figure.
Saber didn't care, she was tired, frustrated, and basically everything except content with her current life. Her job is severely underpaid for the work she does, she has to deal with her stupid sister's sexual tendencies and partying probably for the rest of her life, and now the most expensive item she owned now has a huge crack in it. Nothing was going well.
Saber walked a little further down the street to find the small park she frequented on her walks to the subway and found a seat on one of the many empty park benches scattered throughout. She set her bag down beside her after taking a seat on the closest bench. The smooth plywood worn down from years of wear creaked softly on its rusted iron hinges as she searched for a more comfortable position.
Saber pulled out her shattered phone and examined the exterior closely. Her hand ran over the jagged crack and she sighed,
"If only I had spent another twenty for the glass protector I wouldn't be dealing with this mess."
Luckily the volume and lock side buttons along with the front home button seemed to work fine, and there were no internal hardware problems from what Saber could tell. That was probably the highlight of her day, if it could even be called that.
She looked up at the darkening sky and noticed it had clouded over with an ominous gray, but she paid no mind to the change, she probably just cannot admire the moon this evening, that's all.
The jagged crack traced roughly on Saber's tender thumb as she rubbed the scar mindlessly. She thought of Kay's parting words on how the city life would be, but back then, Saber had this sense of invincibility that no one could pierce through. She was vivacious yet notorious, daughter of Ulther Pendragon, there was nothing she couldn't accomplish. Morgana's stories about her lavish life in the city only fueled young Arturia Pendragon's arrogance. She thought, "If my stupid sister can be rolling around town with a G-Wagon and Gucci, so can I!"
But, the city was ruthless, it made no distinction between the strong and weak, so at the ripe age of twenty, Arturia experienced reality for the first time. She realized Morgana's lavish life was one of deceit, living gigolo to gigolo, draining each one's finances with false promises of love and bodily affection. In the city, it wasn't easy to start the life of luxury with honesty, that was the first lesson learned. The second lesson learned was that starting a normal life in the city was not so simple either. It took Arturia two and a half months to find a steady job as a waitress in an English teahouse and was only able to scrape by, paycheck to paycheck, along with some rainy-day funds and tips left by lavishly dressed trophy wives, but overall the pay was not great so she could only afford an apartment in the shadier side of town.
She lived a peaceful year, at least until she met Irisviel von Einzbern, heiress of the Grail Conglomerate. Their encounter was sudden, Irisviel waltzing into the teahouse one sunny afternoon hoping for a cup of tea and scones and ended up with just that and more.
There was an air around her that made her stand out, but it was not just her appearance. Despite her being sheltered like the other heirs Saber has met in her stint at the teahouse, Irisviel was the most curious of them all. She was constantly seeking knowledge, asking questions; she wanted to expand her world and break free from the mold she was in.
It seemed Saber said something right that afternoon because Irisviel took great interest in her and ended up offering her a position in her group's private security company, Chaldea.
Saber hesitated at first, at first, she thought it to be a scam, but after hearing how much it paid compared to her current job at the time, she made no wasted move to join its forces.
Immediately after quitting her job as waitress she enlisted in the training program and graduated with top marks in a record six months. Then, it took her just three years to rise up and become eligible for the superior "Saber" position of seven total, others being Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker, by merit of course. She did everything from bouncing to overnight watch. If there was a job, Saber probably took it. Not only was she looking for a better paycheck, Saber wanted to prove her natural competence, to show that she was admitted through talent, not through a back door.
The lead security officer, Ritsuka Fujimaru, was nice enough. Her first impression of him was that he was rather wimpy and always relying on his secretary Mash Kyrelight for assistance, but after getting to know him better she found him much more endearing. Though not physically adept, Ritsuka was someone who showed their true talent, leadership, and competence in times of crisis, being part of a security agency meant every call to action was an emergency, and in turn where his abilities truly shined.
The problems she has with her current job is more or less her coworkers. One thing that Chaldea lacks is a code of action. Of course, there was general guidelines on how to manage a situation, but Ritsuka tends to gravitate towards a laissez-faire approach to behavior, where as long as the agents do not destroy the building, each other or the customers, there will be no disciplinary action. This has led to some very "creative" interpretations of what is considered destruction.
Just today, when Berserker was holding two grown men in a chokehold, when Ritsuka made it to the scene and questioned him, he let them flop onto the floor and said only a sentence in his defense:
"They're not customers, the building, or us." and promptly strode back to his position, flipping his long blue ponytail so smugly even Saber could imagine his expression from watching his backside.
Another incident, among others, that Saber found particularly memorable was during last year's Christmas sales event, one of the most crowded days of the year. The Chaldea agents on duty that day were tasked with crowd control, seemed simple enough. Stick to the procedure, that's it.
On that day, the Archer and Rider on duty apparently thought it was a good idea to "improve" the crowd control system by bringing in a lasso and two very long chains respectively.
Four human pileups and one rope burn complaint later, it once again left Saber and her "leader" duties to fill out hours of paperwork.
She had thought about quitting on several occasions, but when she began writing her resignation letter she remembered Irisviel's kindness in pulling her out of her rut, something she did with her own good will, Saber could not bring herself to betray her.
It has been three years since she began working under Chaldea and four years since she moved to the city. Looking back, all four years were dedicated work. Four years of endless exhaustion, friction with her coworkers, and everything in-between. Saber couldn't remember the last time she went out for a fun night with friends, like how she used to with Gawain, Bedivere, and…
Shaa…shaa…
The rain came down suddenly, snapping Saber out of nostalgia and drenching her pressed black suit and covering her bargain bin dress shoes in a layer of shiny water droplets.
She sprung up from her seat, "Are you serious?!"
The weather forecast did not say it would rain, so Saber did not bother bringing an umbrella, not that she would have if it did anyways, and she could only use her cross-body as a shield. She stuffed her phone back in her bag and held it over her head as she began sprinting for the subway. It was not far from the park, but the heavy rain made the sidewalk far too slippery for rapid movement so she was quickly reduced to a light jog.
She got to the intersection between Main and 5th street and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green.
"Almost there…",
The color changed and Saber immediately dashed forward. She rounded the corner while being careful to duck under rainbow hordes of umbrellas.
The rain began to fall harder, so hard to the point where Saber had no choice but to seek shelter until the rain died down. The skimpy trees in the park before were not an option so the only other option was to find a hospitable building like a restaurant or a shop. She was getting hungry anyways so the timing was just perfect. There were no good places near Morgana's so maybe she could stop at the Starbucks in front of the station, pick up a latte and a sandwich for dinner while waiting for the rain before she went back; yes, that sounded like a great idea!
Sounded like a good idea, with emphasis on the hypothetical nature.
That plan quickly went out the window when Saber saw just how crowded the small shop had become, the entire ordering kiosk completely obscured by people seeking refuge from the downpour. She looked around to find another café or restaurant, but it was mostly one office building after another, a bit ironic because in most cases, areas around subway stations are always fragranced with the various scents wafting from all the food offered nearby.
At this point, Saber's bag and clothing were completely soaked so she was getting desperate. She left Starbucks and rounded another corner past the subway stop and ran to the left to see if she could find any place with food, and hopefully a towel.
This time, she was in luck. Past several glossy office towers, she saw an amber glow and a whiff of cooking smoke and quickly skittered over to see what it was, not that she cared, she'd take it even if it was a host club. All she wanted was to be dry and full; expecting any more would inevitably lead to greater disaster, as Saber had learned from today.
"Volumen…", Saber read its large signboard above its entrance.
According to the smaller print on the board, it was an Irish Pub. A rather strange name for an Irish pub and it made Saber curious as to the origins of the name. The one-story building itself was comfortably wedged in between two glassy high-rises making it stand out more. A pure white brick façade contrasted with the jet-black frames lining the square Plexiglas windows. A little flowerpot sat by the mahogany double doors situated comfortably under a slanted awning, the planted sunflower jerked and swayed against the rain. Saber could hear a distant sound of laughter coming from beyond the threshold, it seemed like a warm, lively place, it was a shame she had not found it earlier, but nonetheless she was happy she had found it today.
Yes, in that moment, despite all that happened before, Saber felt very lucky.
She grasped the black cast-iron door handle and was about to pull the door, but stopped herself when she realized her drenched clothing and matted hair were in no proper presentation for a restaurant. Saber released the handles and moved her hands to her suit and began squeezing as much water out of them as she could. The blazer shook out dribbles of water droplets and mist. Her hair was wrung out and "dried" using her hands as her shoes squished and squeaked in discomfort.
Even after all that she was still incredibly wet, and Saber decided the best thing to do was to stand outside a bit longer to dry off, at least until she no longer dripped. Time passed and the rain finally began to die down and Saber deemed the rain small enough to rush home on the last train. It was a shame she could not spend time in Volumen, but now that she knew where it was, she can stop by for a quick meal after work anytime she wanted.
The doors behind her swung open with a loud creak, startling her. She turned around to see a tall man about her age wearing a marsh green t-shirt, black jeans, and a half-length apron, clearly one of the workers at this establishment. He had vibrant amber eyes that drew focus to his mole under his eye and dark, curly hair pushed back with a narrow green headband, with a small chunk still hanging in his face. The amount of green he wore kind of reminded her of a leprechaun, except tall, handsome, and real.
Immediately, he took notice of Saber's form and walked over to greet her with a calm smile. Along the way, he picked up the chalkboard stand advertising the day's specials at the entrance.
"Miss, are you alright? Won't you come in?"