Disclaimer: Still don't own anything. Let's move on.

Out of Order (#3)

"So… Let me get this straight." Normally, a sentence starting like that usually doesn't end well but this was one of the few times it didn't; Ritsuka was just that confused. "You-" he pointed at his Caster Servant, "-are an alternate version of King Arthur and you-" he turned towards the Caster who fought in this Holy Grail War, "-are saying that King Arthur is actually a girl."

"Yes," they both said and nodded at the same time.

"I… I'm gonna need a moment to wrap my head around that," Ritsuka quietly groaned.

"Wait a moment. Just so we're absolutely clear, you're not Arthur Pendragon summoned as a Caster, correct?" Olga Marie questioned Artoria. "You're not like Cu Chulainn here who's normally a Lancer."

"Nope, I was trained as a mage instead of as a knight."

"...Alright then." The Director of Chaldea surprisingly just nodded and let it go. Instead, she turned towards the other Caster and asked him something. "Caster, the Saber who was summoned in this War was Artoria Pendragon whose Noble Phantasm is Excalibur."

Despite her not phrasing it as a question, Cu still nodded in confirmation. "Yes, that's correct."

"Is there anything else we need to know? Any information as to who's protecting the Holy Grail?"

While Olga Marie was discussing things with the Caster, Artoria walked over next to her Master. "Are you okay?" She asked in concern.

"Yeah, yeah. Just… I'm still trying to understand all this magic business and now I'm learning one of the most famous kings in the entire world is actually a girl," Ritsuka admitted, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, I was just used to the idea that King Arthur is a guy."

"I see, that's understandable," Artoria reassured him with a smile.

"...Artoria?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you so happy with being my Servant?" Ritsuka asked. "You're King Arthur. Well, an alternate King Arthur, but you're so happy that I'm your Master. I'm just… a normal high-school student who didn't even know that magic existed until a few hours ago."

"I…" There was not an easy way to explain she was actually the materialized concept of a Knight of the Holy Sword with the memories of a Fae version of a legendary king that Ritsuka will travel across an alternate version of the British Isles with. It would also be hard to explain that said Fae also had also fallen in love with him and her (Artoria Caster) feelings were the entire reason she (Artoria Avalon) existed in the first place. "...Because I can tell you're a good person."

"A good person?" Ritsuka parroted in confusion.

"Yup, a good person," nodded Artoria, "I know that no matter what you do, it'll be for what you believe is right."

That's right, she will be his Servant first and foremost before she would protect Proper Human History and the like. She vowed that she will always be in his hand till the end of time…

"Hey, you two!" Before they could continue talking, they heard the Director call out to them. "Come on! We're moving out!"

The Matchmaker

Merlin (metaphorically) cracked his knuckles as he prepared to start the day, his mind already filled with what sort of mischief he could cause today. Well, mischief was subjective. What he was planning to do was to finally get his Master that harem of Artoria that he has been planning for who knows how long.

Firstly, where was everyone?

'Master is still in his room. The Sabers except Lily are in the cafeteria, she is already training again. Archer is also in the cafeteria. So are the Lancers… Okay, nearly everybody is already in the cafeteria.' Merlin really shouldn't be surprised at all, this was Artoria he was talking about. With the exception of a couple of them, all variations of his king were eating breakfast.

Okay, second step: who will be the (un)lucky Artoria today?

'I went with the Riders yesterday and before that was the Berserker. The day before that was the Lancers…' Merlin recalled which Artoria he had already messed with in the past few days, 'So that means today would be… Caster…'

Now, just because he was willing to do this doesn't mean he didn't have any reservations about doing this sort of stuff. Well, it was mainly just with the Caster Artoria (specifically, her Third Ascension), he was not scared when it came to literally anybody else.

She did devise a method to kill him after all. At the very least, she wants his head and she could get it.

Regardless though, Merlin had already planned a way for his Master to completely fall heads over heels for Castoria as she had been nicknamed (by the flower magus). The court wizard had already long since started it by influencing Ritsuka's dreams to include Castoria for some time. He had done so for a couple of the other Artorias so it was not that difficult.

Okay, next step: find Artori- "Fou! Die Merlin"

"Hmm-Ack?!" Melin barely had enough time to react before, from out of nowhere, his familiar kicked him in the face again and knocked him down. "Ahh! Cath Palug?! What are you doing?!"

"Fou fou?! (What are you up to this time, you dirty old man?!)" Fou shouted at Merlin, having stumbled onto the magus with a mischievous grin on his face which was what prompted the small animal to kick him. Granted, he would've done so regardless but this time, Fou had a semi-justifiable reason to do so.

"Nothing new, Cath Palug." Merlin wasn't lying, he has been planning this entire thing for some time. Of course, Fou was not fooled by that one bit.

"Fou! Foukyu Fou! (Oh don't tell me you're doing that! That never goes well for you!)" Fou reminded Merlin, "...Fouuu? Fou Foukyu, Fou. (...You know what? Forget what I said, continue doing what you were doing.)"

If Merlin ends up getting Excalibured or whatever variation of NPs by one of the Artorias, then Fou wasn't gonna stop him. Turning around, he swiftly left the room to get something to eat.

"Where was I again…?" Merlin muttered to himself before he remembered what he was about to do before he was rudely interrupted: find Artoria Avalon. She was one of the few Artorias that weren't in the cafeteria already so he was about to look for her. "...Oh, there she is."

It did not take long for Merlin to locate Castoria. Where was she? She was already with Ritsuka. The two were talking in front of his room about something.

"Well, this will make things a bit easier," Merlin snickered to himself. Now to drag Bedivere into this week's scheme… again.

Window Shopping

Artoria stared at the items that were on display in the shop's window with mild interest. She wasn't really interested in what was actually on sale, it just caught her eye.

"Hey."

"Ahh!" Artoria shrieked at Ritsuka's sudden appearance behind her. "Oh, it's just you…" She sighed, letting her heart slow down again.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." With the goofy smile Ritsuka had, Artoria couldn't help but forgive him. Especially since Roman seems to enjoy his mother's reaction if his giggling while being carried in Ritsuka's arm was of any indication.

"You better not grow up like your father, you hear me?" Artoria warned as she playfully poked their son's cheek which caused the young boy to giggle more.

"What were you looking at?" Ritsuka asked, glancing over her shoulder at the store window.

"Nothing, I was just looking around while waiting," she answered before taking his free hand in hers. "Come on, let's get going. We have a long day ahead of us, don't we?"

"Right, Gudako would kill me if we're late for lunch," Ritsuka laughed before the two walked away for the store front.

Unresolved Feelings

It all happened so fast, she didn't know what happened until it was too late.

One second, the group was all laughing as they travelled through the rocky valley, taking a cliffside road as they explored this Singularity. However, they were ambushed by a hoard of rampaging monsters. They were difficult; fast, sturdy, and powerful, but nothing their group couldn't handle.

Unfortunately, the last one remaining was not going to let them have complete victory. Before anyone could stop or intercept it, a crackling ball of mana was sent flying toward their Master.

The ground below him blew up and Ritsuka was thrown off the cliff right before their eyes. For Artoria in particular, she felt like time itself slowed down as she watch him fall off the side and into the river valley below.

"No!" Her scream joined the chorus of distressed shouts from the other Servants.

The next hour passed like a hurricane and before she knew it, the group had scaled down the valley and set up a temporary camp by the riverside. The group then split up, with Artoria teaming with Ryouma and Oryou.

Her emotions must have been written on her as it wasn't long before Ryouma made small talk. "If there's something on your mind, Caster, you can speak to me," He told her.

"Huh? Oh, thank you, Lancer, but I'm fine." Artoria did wonder how he can be rather cheerful in this situation—Ryoma still had a small smile on his face as they walked next to the river.

"I thought you disliked lying."

"I don't kno—"

"Caster, everybody in Chaldea knows how you feel about our Master," he politely interrupted her, making her blush a bit at the bluntness. "If you want to talk about it, I promise Oryou and I won't mention it to anybody else. Isn't that right?"

Ryouma's dragon wife, who was checking the riverside for their Master and definitely not frogs, just gave a thumbs up.

"No really, it's fine. You wouldn't want to hear about it anyway," Artoria said.

Despite her want to not talk about it, Ryouma saw the need to ease her worries. "He'll be fine, Caster. Master has been through way worse than falling off a cliff."

"..." She did know that but she still couldn't help but continue worrying about it. "It's just… there are still so many things I need to tell him and want to do with him…"

"Artoria, listen to me." For the first time in this conversation, Ryouma lost his smile and had a serious expression. "Our Master is alive. If he's truly dead, you would've felt it in your heart. Trust me, I know."

That's right… While it did end well, she remembered that the events that led to Ryouma changing into a Lancer involved Oryou dying. "Can I ask? How did it feel when…"

She didn't need to finish her question before Ryouma answered, "It felt like I couldn't breathe—that a part of me was ripped away when Oryou took that attack for me. And I'm guessing that's how she felt when she learned about my death."

Hearing the mention of his assassination, Oryou visibly looked uncomfortable but none of them brought it up.

"What I'm trying to say is, you'd know deep down if he was truly gone. You'd just know," said Ryouma. "We'll see him again and soon. And you can finally tell him how you feel about him."

Despite her worries, Artoria believed that he was right. Her Master was still alive and they'll find him, she knows it.

A/N: Well this took a while, didn't it? Sorry about that, I got busy with a whole slew of things and some parts seem a bit… awkward? And don't worry, I (mostly) remember the requests I got but just in case, go ahead and remind me.

Anyway, leave a review or request and I'll do my best to do it for the next chapter!