I do not own Fate stay night. This story follows heaven's feel route. I hope the manga is as accurate as the movie portrays and plz enjoy. Though the first half was copied as I suck at monologs.
The King of Knights still remembers that day, the day when she met the knight that became one of the first knights of the Roundtable. Sir Lancelot, her best knight and her closest friend who understood her even if she expresses nothing, hears her even if she says nothing.
Arturia owes a great deal of gratitude to Lancelot. So why is she repaying his years of services by fighting against him, surrounded by fire in an all out battle for the Holy Grail?
The knight she knew snarls at her as he swings down his sword Arondight, his eyes are that of a mad man glaring hatefully at his king. Arturia blocks Arondight with her own sword Excalibur, cloaked with invisibility, pointless if you should ask, since Lancelot knows her sword's length.
When they had first fought, Arturia was oblivious, when she attempted to strike the Berserker Servant with her sword, the Black Armored Mad Man stopped her sword with his hands despite the weapon is invisible. It was by the knowledge of Arturia's sword length that she had demanded the Berserker Servant to reveal his identity, which led the revealing of her close friend.
Anguished from this disturbed truth, Arturia had lost her will to keep fighting, for who is she to go up against her friend? In her time as King, many would insult her a King who does not understand human emotion, but today she has proven that ignorant thought wrong, for so distraught is she, all she can do is defend and not attack.
"Do you hate me so that I drove you to madness?!" Arturia wants to understand, she wants to hear the words from Lancelot that if his mad enchantment was received because of her.
But a fierce roar was all that's given as an answer from the mad knight and another swing of his sword, Arturia blocks the blade with her own but the strength the mad knight possess and adding her distress causes her to be forced back, hitting a pillar with her back.
She remains there, heart broken and practically defeated, her golden hair fell over her eyes to hide a certain emotion about to break out from it's prison, locked ever since Arturia pulled the sword from the stone, from when she was just a fifteen year old girl, proud and oblivious of the fate of her kingdom.
Her Kingdom.
When Lancelot swung his weapon down, Arturia raises her arm and blocks it with her armored glove, avoiding the blow meant for her.
Her people.
Arturia rises to her feet, sword in hand, her years of suppressing emotions, she uses that to push the anguish to the bottom of her heart.
Her fellow knights.
Arturia's defense changed to offense, deflecting and charging with Excalibur in hand.
Sir Lancelot.
A sudden change it was for her to fight back, but not as sudden as Lancelot froze, his movement stills, perhaps his Master is in a troubling state, whatever the reason for him to freeze, Arturia saw her chance.
No hesitation, and no restraints, Arturia plungs Excalibur through Lancelot's armor, breaking it's exterior, and into his heart.
"Even so."
Lancelot dropped his weapon.
"I will win the Holy Grail, so that I may save Britain from her fate, and save you as well."
Tears fell from Arturia's eyes, empty her eyes were, dull green instead of it's shinning emerald, yet she felt nothing, for whatever human emotion would come when a traumatic experience such as this occurrs, have been held back long enough for Arturia to find the burden to kill her knight.
Her friend.
"Even now, you would still reach for that?" By either miracle or the results of a Servant's life coming to an end, Lancelot speaks, "You're insufferable as ever."
He says it with a smile.
Arturia let the no longer maddened knight fall to the ground, too ashamed she was in putting down her own knight that she refuses to look at him, but she could not avoid listening to Lancelot words.
His reason for his madness as he slowly fades into dust.
"Because I could not stop myself from loving Guinevere, I was never able to forgive myself," The knight on the ground said.
"But King Arthur, you never once spoken my many sins, you never sought atonement from me, you simply continue to stand before us in your righteousness."
The more he speaks, the more tears fall from Arturia's eyes.
"But deep in my heart, I desire judgement at your hands. Had your anger judge me, had your righteousness condemn me, I might not have fallen to the path of madness, in my quest to atone and save my immortal soul."
Disbelief spreads all over Arturia's face, to hear her friend coming to madness because of her inaction to punish him? But she believed that he would come to understand.
Or is it she who does not understand?
"But this much I can say with certainty," Lancelot continues, half of his face is gone, and what remained were Lancelot's final words.
"King Arthur, you were the greatest of all Kings who ever lived, all of those at the roundtable, who served you, felt the same."
The knight's entire head fades into the last few of violet dust, disappearing into thin air, and the King of Knight is left alone.
Alone, not only a word of description, but as an answer she made to a Conqueror once, that a King must always be alone. That it is the King who must serve the people, to save them, but tonight, she has failed to save one.
"I will save you my friend," Arturia grips to her sword tightly, "You, and all the people of Britain, deserve a more worthy King than I."
So she advances. Her determination to win the Grail; unrelenting, unwavering. To save Britain, she must obtain the Holy Grail, the wish granting device.
And there it is. The Holy Grail. In the center of the stage upon a table, Arturia needs only but to run to it, down the stairs of the theater she is in, yet she remains, acknowledging that the Holy Grail does not simply show itself without the death of it's carrier.
"Irisviel," Arturia said the name of the woman that became the Holy Grail. How much does Arturia feel so ashamed in not being able to save her when she was taken, an innocent woman.
"You're late Saber," A voice with an arrogant tone echoes in the theater, making Arturia tense in hearing that familiar voice.
"I realize that you were enjoying yourself with your old mad dog," The speaker reveals himself, a blonde with sinister red eyes in golden armor, and he spoke with a smile Saber despises.
"But it is imprudent to the extreme to keep me waiting like you did."
Arturia glares at the King of Heroes in detest, such arrogance and mockery this man makes has Arturia loathe him as much if not more than the insane Caster.
"Look at that delightful expression, like that of a wild dog," The King of Heroes comment.
"Get out of my way," Arturia has no time to deal with this nonsensical man, but if she must fight him then so be it.
"You haven't won, the Holy Grail belongs to me!"
A sword shot out from a portal and impaled Arturia's leg, making her fall to her knees.
"Dear Saber, it is when you're delusional and crawling on the dirt," The golden Archer looks upon Arturia as he would looking upon something that is his, "That you are at your most beautiful."
Arturia frowns in disgust at the man, and before she would lose her temper and insult him, the golden Archer spoke before her.
"Lay down your blade and be my wife."
Arturia's disgust is now mixed with incredulity.
"A Grail that grants miracles?" The golden Archer said, as if saying that this marvelous thing is not without a price, "Where is the sense in desperately obtaining something so dubious?"
Before Arturia would ask what he meant, the Golden Archer speaks to her in demand.
"Abandon these foolish ideals and childish vows of yours."
Arturia looks at the man as if he had lost his head, that might as well be the case.
"From now on, seek only me and devote yourself to me alone, if you do, I swear as King of all Creation that I shall give you every pleasure the world has to offer," The King of Heroes promises.
She is greatly offended by this senseless proposal, and for him to dare tell Arturia to relinquish the Holy Grail after what she had to endure, to face and put down her maddened friend, Arturia could not think of a greater insult.
"You would steal the Holy Grail from me?" Arturia said, ignoring the pain in her leg, "For such utter nonsense?!"
She raises her sword to deflect the next weapon being shot at her but so tired and beaten was she that she lost her stance and was forced back, crashing into the stairs.
"I was not asking for your opinion, I am informing you of my decision," The Golden Archer said, "Now, let us hear your response."
Arturia could not believe this man, he would even dare call himself King?!
"I refuse, I would never-"
An axe impales Arturia's armor, cutting her off from answering the Golden Archer.
"Shyness has let you at a lost for words I see, that's fine, you may answer wrongly as many times as you like."
Many portals with weapons coming out in stand by appear over the Golden Archer, all aimed at the King of Knights.
"If you must learn the joy of me, you must learn the exquisite pain as well."
Arturia glares hatefully at the Golden Archer before her, battered she was physically, and emotionally, only her determination to win the Grail is what keeps her strong, but unless she is to be forced to move - even if she were to be torn apart - then she will have to deal with this man until she relents, which she now swore for that to be never.
That is when she sees a figure on the other side of the theater, and that figure revealed his identity when he showed his hand that has two Command Seals, the Seals that are for Arturia.
"Kiritsugu?" Arturia recognized the man who is her Master, a man she has long ago come to know as someone she will never agree with, which led to their distance and lack of communication for the majority of the Holy Grail War.
Arturia pulls out the sword from her leg and forces herself to stand, ready to willingly go through with the Commands she believes Kiritsugu would make.
"Ah, then you have finally made your decision," the Golden Archer says, unaware of Arturia's dark hair Master standing behind him.
"In the name of Kiritsugu Emiya," Tthe dark hair man began, his seals glowing red, "By the power of my Command Seals."
'Give me the Holy Grail!' Arturia is ready to follow through with that Command, even if she were to go through unimaginable pain in doing so, she is ready to face through them, as long as she would get the Grail, then this will all be over.
But unfortunately, what Arturia predicted did not occur that way.
"I order you, use your Noble Phantasm to destroy the Grail."
Arturia is at a lost for words, what she heard she could not believe, until the invisibility surrounding her sword disperses and Excalibur reveals itself in golden light.
The Golden Archer is just as shock as Arturia, "What are you doing Saber?!"
By the force of the Command Seals, Arturia grips on to Excalibur with both hands.
"No!"
She raises the sword higher, but she fought back, with her Magic Resistance, she is capable to resist a Command Seal, but if a second Command is given then she will be unable to fight back.
And Kiristugu knows that.
"By my third Command Seal, I order you again," The last Command Seal on Kiritsugu's hand lights up.
"But why Kiritsugu, you of all people, why this?!"
Arturia thought she understood, or at least tries to, her Master has done so many dishonorable acts that his wish 'To Save the World' makes it look like it's nothing but a con, to hide Kiritsugu's true intention, yet he insisted it is his wish.
If he is so determine to have his wish be fulfilled, why is he using Arturia to destroy the Grail? To destroy her only way to save her country?!
"Damn you to hell!"The Golden Archer at last acknowledges Kiristugu behind him and he aimed his weapons at the Master, "You dare interrupt my wedding ceremony, mongrel?!"
Kiritsugu didn't flinch at the endless weapons aimed at him, for he knows that all he has to do is say the last Command, and it will all be over.
"Saber, destroy-"
"STOP!" Arturia screams in hopes that her voice would reach her Master, but he ignores her cry, and said his command.
"-the Holy Grail."
Arturia swings her sword down, and a powerful beam of light shot out from the sword, traveling in a straight line and swallowing the Grail whole.
With nothing to hold Arturia down in this world because of all the Command Seals used, and in using her powerful Noble Phantasm, she begins to fade into golden dust, so many defeats she suffered; the failure to save Irisviel, Lancelot, perhaps she could of done something to save Lancer from Kiritsugu's tactics, and now she has lost her only chance to save her country.
All her tears have dried up, now, she is left with regrets, disappointment, and a broken heart.
'How could I understand that man if three Command Seals sets us apart,' Arturia thought of Kiritsugu, yet this time, she is not blaming him but herself, 'Perhaps this is my punishment for not understanding my people's feelings...'
If she is able to, if she is once again destined to be crowned king - even if her heart could not take the fear of leading it to ruins again - she would at least attempt to know and understand her followers feelings, her Knights including.
But that is only a fantasy, a hidden fabled wish Arturia believes it to be, and she could never accept herself if this is what she truly wanted, for unworthy does she feel that she would only repeat her mistake, and so she closes her eyes, and let the blast of Excalibur take her away.
And to the hill she last stood in life, where a graveyard of her fallen knights are in her view, in her last battle.
Then a surge of something happened.
She felt as just like when Alaya had sent her spirit forward to participate in the grail war. Then she felt as if she was... splitted in two. A new feeling. Her spirit was as if floating in the air and then suddenly was shot forward in a much greater speed. Despite being an experienced battle hardened maiden she was panicking as she could see nothing than blur. At last this continued for a minute until she felt herself be forced into something. And then she slipped into unconsciousness.
When Arturia came to she was hit with dizziness. She tried to make out the surroundings but couldn't. Everything was blurry but she could feel something ...that was ominous.
' What is... this... feeling!?'
She shook her head to get rid of the blurriness then she could find the source of wrongness. When after minutes after caressing her head and rubbing her eyes, she could finally see. She thought it was day but actually it was light given off of a burning inferno.
' Just what is happening?! '
Then she got a look on her body if there was any serious injury but was dumbstruck.
She was in her body of course but...she seems to have undergone a huge change.
'WHAT TRICKERY IS THIS??! WHY IS MY BODY THAT OF WHEN I WAS 12!!'
But before she could mull it over she felt that the building was shaking.
Now that she was aware of her surrounding - a huge err in not confirming the safety of the place on her part - she found two points i.e. 1) She was on a building that was slowly destabilizing and 2) It was extremely hot. If she had not had A-rank magical resistance then she might have even perished.
'Wait a minute... This fire seems to be magical in nature and it feels like it is made up of curses. Extremely strong curses.'
Arturia might not have dabbled in the field of magic but she knew enough to distinguish them after the incident with her detestable witch of a sister...
' Morgan Le Fay ' she growled mentally as she weaved past the door and into the staircase. She was limping as it seemed that when she woke up she had found that a wardrobe was pressing on her legs.
'It could be broken'
But she did not allow this much of pain to hinder her mentally but it seemed to have affected her physical young body. She decided to check the building for any survivors - not that there could be any due to the raging fire that seemed to envelop many places- but her honor as a knight demanded that she should check just to be sure - or however much of it was left after the Grail war.
"Kiritsugu"
Honestly she was surprised with how much she loathed him through the sheer venom and malice that was present in her 12 year old voice.
"Must be the whole place that could be affecting the negativity of my heart. This curse is extremely strong... but what could be the source of this curse... and I am getting sidetracked..."
Arturia decided it would be best if she just focused on finding anyone and help them in need. She searched the place and found no one. It was getting more and more hotter by the second. She just reached the ground floor before she heard the whole apartment crumbling down. She dashed out of the building with what strength she could muster before jumping at the side to avoid the debris.
BOOM!!
She gasped for breath and noted her abysmal stamina. She then checked if her magic core - her magical circuit replacement- was functioning or not and gasped for relief as it was still there but there was little prana left. Something in the curse seemed to have hindered her prana recovery speed as it was very very slowly recovering.
She then trudged slowly forward along the damaged street when she felt the effect of the curse strengthening. She lamented, deciding against moving forward because she knew that no people could have survived against the curse as well as the massive fire which could probably melt even the best tempered steel.
She again could not protect anyone again. She was then again on the top of hill, a graveyard full of her fallen knight.
She then gasped and came out of her stupor. For the first time in a while she was scared. She bolted with whatever speed she could muster away from the this... this horrible place.
Arturia sprinted towards anywhere the curse seemed to have weak influence, which was away from wherever the point the curse originated. She dashed and fell forward which caused her knee to scrap a wound. It stung a little and she was then ashamed of herself running away like a little girl, which she was physically, not the best of excuses.
Arturia then wiped off the tear that was clinging to the edges of her eyes before looking at her small hands. Honestly she felt so lost than ever before, her kingdom gone, her only chance of redemption : the Holy Grail gone and she did not know what else to do. Why, Why was she given a chance to live again? What was the purpose of it?
Arturia then found a small place, a corner of a traditional Japanese home just outside the influence the curse and fire. There was a small tree, just over ten feet tall. It did not seemed to have caught the fire, a small reprieve, where she plopped down her small body and rag of clothes that she was wearing. She was just tired and wanted to rest her weary heart.
Arturia then curled up and slept after a long time.
If she had just focused a little on her surroundings while she was on a running spree then she would have noticed a small red-haired boy, who was slowly trudging away with empty look in his eyes on her right and a crying familiar man, who was doing everything to save anyone while crying and digging the scorched rubbles, on her left. Arturia did not know that due to her running the crying man looked towards her direction, a hope that someone or anyone surviving, only to see a small red haired boy falling on his back.
She did not know that her small action had saved both the man she loathed, Kiritsugu, as well as the young boy who would then become the adopted son of the magus-killer as well as her small brother like figure to her, Arturia Fujimura, the adopted granddaughter of Raiga Fujimura.
And this is it for the prolouge. I was making it kind of a one - shot kind of fanfiction because I don't have enough time for focusing on it. Though I might plan on continuing it. I always wondered why there was no Arturia given a second chance after the Fate Zero event and decided to make one myself.