A/N: Yikes, Scooby, we're in the Spartan II program.

I do not own Fate or Halo; they belong to their respective owners.

0320 Hours, September 24, 2517 (Military Calendar) / Avalon

Artoria imagined herself on the boundless pasture, feeling the warm sunlight on her skin. It was an all too familiar scene for her. It became monotonous for her, even though Avalon was to be paradise, a utopia. Despite all obstacles, the imperfect utopia became complete, whence she and her lover stood. Artoria knew that Shirou and herself could always return to this place, despite everything happening to their physical bodies. She looked at her own body. It was the same as the one that she had taken to Avalon. Shirou similarly looked like the boy she fell in love with, reincarnation aside. She turned to her lover and began to converse with him.

"Shirou," Artoria acknowledged her lover's presence. Shirou simply responded with, "Artoria-san," Seeming to affirm a love beyond words, there was no need to relay comments of expression, for the feeling between them went beyond words. However, Artoria was dismayed that some secret section of the human government kidnapped children. She could tell from Shirou's eyes that this was something that surprised him as well. It seemed that Shirou took the initiative here and decided to speak his mind.

"Artoria-san, we were kidnapped by the government," Shirou forced those words out of his mouth. The Year of our Lord, 2517, was the future, less brutal than the twenty-first century. Artoria recognized that the sixth century held significant differences from the twenty-first.

There was a question left unsaid that Artoria decided to verbalize, "But for what?" She was more focused on it than the fact they kidnapped them. After seeing that Shirou could offer no answers to said question, she went with the first thing that came to mind, "That woman, she looked afflicted, Shirou. As if she did not have the confidence to do this."

Shirou raised his eyebrow, "Well, clearly, it was enough for us to get kidnapped in the first place." Artoria still sighed, even though he was right about that. Shirou then came up with an exciting line of thought, "Desperation… If they had other options, they wouldn't have done this."

Shirou was right. Artoria didn't see the government as particularly malicious. If it were adversarial, they would have seen more regular authoritarian actions by the government. Even during her kingship, she had almost always strived for the most morally righteous options. Her attitude brought her into a conflict with Shirou's father, Kiritsugu, when the two became partners during the Fourth Grail War. She still did not know who was right in the end. From what she could understand, Kiritsugu became a changed man after the Grail War, and so did she. Artoria secretly wondered who was right in the end, though. The path of honor she pursued, getting to the end, regardless of how one arrived there. She supposed it was ironic that she was now in love with Kiritsugu's son. Fate indeed did exist and had a sense of humor.

After some more thinking, she started putting things together, "Wait a moment, they said UNSC and not UEG… The Spartan project is a military project, purely of the military wing. We're soldiers." But a question still troubled her mind: Why children? What threat could have necessitated the use of children? One of the issues that Artoria had with her parents was that they did not talk about politics around her, and she supposed they wanted to give her a sheltered childhood. She decided to voice such thoughts to Shirou, hoping his parents were unreserved around him.

Luckily, it appeared that he had listened in on his parents' conversations, "I recall in passing that Shoji-san was talking about separatism in the Outer Colonies." Shirou paused for a second, increasing the suspense in the air. Artoria eagerly awaited the following details. Shirou finally gave the second half of the story, "Apparently, in Eridanus II, there was an armed insurrectionist uprising only a few years ago. The rebels fled but are still at large." Even though they were supposed to be in a meadow that was supposed to be shining warm light upon their bodies, Artoria could feel that the temperature of Avalon got a few degrees cooler. Shirou finally added on the final detail, "Hundreds of thousands are dying, Artoria-san." She could see the raw determination in his face, that same determination to help others that brought them together in the first place.

Artoria felt a shift in Avalon, and it seemed that the dawn was approaching and that Artoria and Shirou would disconnect from the dreamscape. Quickly thinking, she realized they needed to communicate more than before.

An idea popped into her head, something about manipulating the latent mental link between herself and Shirou, which had gone dormant since the severance of their contract but still existed. "Shirou, we need to establish a mental link for communicating dynamically." Shirou shrugged; Artoria knew he knew to do it but had deferred from doing so. Besides, it's not like they needed it.

The couple raised their arms toward one another, with Shirou and Artoria pouring their mana into their arms. Artoria gently grasped Shirou's hands, with their temples touching, to create a connection.

1230 Hours, September 24, 2517 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex, Reach

If she focused on her body's pain and stress, she would feel the same as the others. Whereas an average child would have balked at the amount of pain, collapsing on the ground. Even the middle child in the super soldier program seemed to struggle with such tasks. Artoria knew it was about mindset in the end, mostly. But she knew that she had learned over years of experience, not something that would come naturally. It seemed that because of their somewhat unnatural advantage of having adult mindsets in this regard, the trio could pass the tests relatively fine while the others seemed to struggle. Life was an experience; it wasn't something that one could learn.

Artoria's eyes finally opened and the conversations with Shirou through the mental link ended; it seemed that Chief Petty Officer Mendez was impressed by the trio, shocked, even. Thus he allowed the trainees to have a break, "Rest." Mendez then instructed the trainers to get the water bottles for the children.

Saber took one of the bottles eagerly; she recognized that her physical body was probably reaching its limit when it came to endurance; it was just that she was better at shrugging it off as if it were nothing. After all, demonstrating exhaustion in combat could lead to others seeing you as an easier target. The drink itself was a relief to Artoria, admittedly. Unfortunately, a six-year-old body had significantly less built-up endurance than her average body frozen in time. Artoria looked to other trainees; they were not taking this nearly as well as all the others, with even the one she had pegged as the most adept in the group having thrown up and clutched his sides.

Eventually, the brief respite that Mendez had granted had expired, and the man seemed enthusiastic to put them back to work. However, she did not doubt that everyone running this experiment likely had trouble sleeping at night. The man finally commanded, "Good start, trainees. Now we run. On your feet!" Artoria mentally facepalmed; even the training that her Knights of the Round Table had endured casually was not this intense, and the trainees were children. Clearing her mind, she saw one of the slightly winded trainees in the distance, who seemed to have light brown hair. Something in her head told her they had met before, but she was uncertain how. Artoria dismissed those thoughts for now as she got up and began jogging alongside the others.

It wasn't that bad of a jog, for her at least. It was clear to her and the instructors that she might have had the most endurance out of the group. Though they probably attributed it to physical reasons rather than mental ones. As they ran past the runway and the barracks on their immediate right, they eventually passed by a courtyard flying the United Nations Space Command flag, casting a long shadow upon the yard. Finally, they arrived at a dome-shaped structure with an enormous number of stairs leading up to it. From the bottom, it gave a rather imposing stature, though she figured that her shorter height probably had something to do with it. She decided to reach out into her mental link to see if Shirou had any idea where they were going:

"Shirou, what do you think they're having us do?"

Artoria sensed Shirou's realization over the mental link: "Artoria-san, look. It says Naval Officers Academy. Do you think they're training us to fight?" Artoria narrowed her eyes, but she could not read it. Something about Shirou probably having superior eyesight to herself.

"Officers… We're being trained in tactics and strategy then." Artoria made her opinions known over the mental link.

She then spotted a dim light at the top of the steps, made in the shape of a woman. It was no woman; she had seen one before in a museum; it was artificial intelligence. The fact that such intelligent hunks of metal could exist still served somewhat of a shock to Artoria. Though she supposed her magical sword would be an equal surprise to the people in the future. Her thoughts were abruptly torn away when the trainees made it up the stairs. It was then that she got a better look at the AI; It seemed that the computer program seemed to fashion itself like that of a Greek goddess sporting a toga. Something that her contemporaries would have viewed as archaic in her own time.

The Artificial Intelligence seemed designed to please, as she heard one of this program's sweetest and kindest voices, "Excellent work, Chief Petty Officer Mendez." The ethereally glowing woman then turned to the children and prostrated her hand toward the entranceway of the building, "Welcome. My name is Déjà, and I will be your teacher. Please come in. Class is about to start." Artoria was interested in this, though she felt that Shirou was exhausted about going through an education system again. Others shared Shirou's exasperation regarding the rapid transition from a high-intensity workout to academics.

The AI seemed to have her leverage over the children, though, "Of course, if you prefer to skip your lessons, you may continue the morning calisthenics." That seemed to whip them into shape, with the children hurriedly heading inside, hoping not to get into more high-intensity training. Artoria eyed the slowly retreating figure of CPO Mendez; she figured it wouldn't be the last they saw of him today. After heading down a hall to a classroom that looked more organic than the rigidly standardized one Shirou had in Homurahara Academy, Artoria began to observe her surroundings more carefully. A holographic projector seemed situated in the center of the room. Artoria figured that this was the future of education in front of her. She was not complaining in this particular instance; each trainee appeared to have crackers and milk laid down on a metallic tray. She bit into one of the crackers, it was indeed a far cry from the fantastic texture and quality that Shirou poured his love into, but she would have to make do with this.

It was then that Déjà began to tell a tale. Artoria raised her eyebrow; indeed, it would have to be a relatively straightforward account, given that they were children. It seemed to capture the attention of most of the children situated in the room. Artoria looked to her right and saw the boy next to her being enraptured by interest in the story.

Déjà elaborated on the story's premise with a map projecting the Eastern Mediterranean. With a great empire spanning across from the Hindu Kush to Macedonia.

Until someone put an end to it. Artoria thought. Iskandar had once told her about his triumphs against the Achaemenid Empire. She knew how this story ended. No kingdom or empire lasted forever; it was the ultimate lesson she learned with Camelot. Trying to prevent it was like trying to stop erosion. Time always won in the end. But it still was quite interesting to view a reconstruction of such a great battle. When she looked at Shirou to her left, she could see he was also quite enamored with the story of legends and heroes fighting insurmountable odds.

Déjà elaborated on an essential background of the Persian invasion of Greece, talking about how many years prior, Xerxes' father, Darius, had also attempted to invade Southern Greece before being driven out by the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon. "... Now that will be a topic for class tomorrow. Let us set the stage for the Second War…."

The visual map changed, with the Persians having captured Thrace and Macedon, subjugating them, but Southern Greece remained a bastion against Persia. Déjà continued elaborating on the situation, "Xerxes decided to avenge the defeat of his father and finally bring Greece under his thumb."

The unknown boy to her right tried to take a nap in the middle class; it wasn't something she blamed him for; they had just emerged from a strenuous exercise. He squinted and tried to see his name. Unfortunately, he could only see that his name started with a J and the final number assigned to him was a seven. Her attention was redirected to their Artificial Intelligence teacher, who zoomed in on the area where the battle was going to take place.

Artoria's strategist mind began to take over, and she began to tune out the words of Déjà. She began to see the issue with this area of Thermopylae. It was a mountain pass that funneled forces between the unnavigable mountains and the treacherous seas. It was a perfect area for the defender to hold, provided they had enough manpower. 7,000 versus 150,000 was still nigh impossible odds, though she wondered how these Spartans would have faired against her Knights of the Round Table. Artoria privately thought that she would have strategically retreated, had she been presented with such a scenario, to conserve her own numbers to be saved for another day. To take on the Persians when they were not massed into a single force.

Then she would have used her superior maneuverability to harass their supply lines and damage their logistical ability. Therefore, they would be weakened and forced to split up into more manageable parties that she would be able to harass, but alas, this was a place that wasn't easy to maneuver around; the way that the AI described it, it seems the politics had forced the warriors to defend against a force many times their own size.

The AI zeroed in on a particular component of the seven thousand, the three hundred Spartans. Explaining how they were some of the fiercest warriors in their own time and further made a bold claim that they would be able to give modern forces a run for their own money. The AI further explained the martial nature of Spartan society, with people trained in childhood. It reminded her of her becoming the King of Camelot, being only a teen after her drawing of Caliburn from that stone.

Artoria was immensely fascinated with the reconstructed battle as the AI snapped her fingers. She watched as the Spartans heroically defended their homeland from the Persians and that they were killing machines in a scene that seemed all too familiar to Artoria. The bodies lining the battlefield reminded her of that terrible day in 537. Such was war, but somehow it brought her back to that moment. How she used Rhongomyniad to kill Mordred, her child.

Similarly, she watched a Spartan skewer a Persian on one of his spears. Her fellow students were also enraptured in the battle, eagerly watching as swords clashed in the harsh winds of action. When she closed her eyes, she could hear the sounds of war. The sounds of men who cried for their mothers in the final fleeting moments of their own lives, in tongues that she did not know of. But she knew that was the universal thought soldiers carried with them as they went into battle and lost their lives. Their wishes and their regrets, she had her own as she lay dying in Camlann until she met Shirou…

Her head swiveled over to her lover, feeling tears in her eyes. She never regretted her involvement in the Grail Wars. It was how she met Shirou. As for Kiritsugu, she didn't want to think about who was right in the end.

Behind her, she could hear someone trying to do something behind her back. She quickly eyed her plate and saw that "J-7" had snatched it while she thought she wasn't looking. Artoria probably could have made a fuss about it, but she figured it was below her to do so. Besides, the boy probably needed it. She could hear as the boy to her right munched down on the crackers, probably trying to satisfy his hunger, a hunger that all of them shared.

Finally, the engagement concluded. It was only a section of the Battle of Thermopylae, but the children cheered as the Persians retreated from the battlefield, leaving the Spartans victorious for now. The AI snapped her finger and simply remarked, "That is all for today… We will continue tomorrow, and I will show you some wolves. Now it is time for you to go to the playground."

The playground? Indeed such a thing could not exist in such a militaristic area; Artoria figured that such a thing was more of an obstacle course than a playground. As she quickly followed her classmates, she eyed CPO Mendez waiting outside. The man seemed to have a glint in his eye, suggesting the word "playground" suggested something other than a place where children played when bored…