Fate/Kyon's Order: The Return

A Haruhi Suzumiya & Fate/Grand Order Crossover

by Derald Snyder

Part 6: Return to Babylonia

*Rayshift Chamber*

"A remnant of Tiamat in Babylonia?! That's not good," Da Vinci said grimly. "Well, since you have memories of the servant Suzumiya's trip through the singularity, this might be a good one for you and Artoria Alter to warm up on..."

"Artesia, please," the saber spoke up, already back in her battle armor.

"Ah, so you picked a nickname to separate yourself from the original. Well, I'll be sure to let the others know," the genius caster said with a smile. "Alright, you four go take your positions, I'll ready the rayshift."

"Let's just hope it works this time," Haruhi muttered. Last time, only Ritsuka, Mash, and Gilgamesh himself had made it through, with the others being 'bounced back' to due a failsafe installed by Da Vinci. Fortunately, the servant Haruhi was able to emulate Mikuru's method of time travel to reach the singularity herself, becoming invaluable during the struggle with the Three Goddess Alliance and Tiamat.

"No worries! Your friend Nagato's actually helped me make several improvements to the system, so there should be no problems this time~!" Da Vinci assured her.

"Good to hear," Haruhi smiled and nodded as she took her position beside Artesia in the chamber.

"...Master, why are you holding my hand?" Artesia queried.

"First time I've rayshifted as a human," Haruhi responded. "Can you blame me for being a little nervous?"

"...Fine then," the saber servant decided not to press the issue.

And so the rayshift commenced...

*Babylonia, 2600 B.C.*

"So nice to see the grassy fields again," Haruhi observed. "I can still remember it being overrun by the Chaos Tide..." She shivered as she recalled the giant Tiamat slowly marching towards Uruk, she and the other servants barely able to even slow her down...

"Indeed, this era seems to be recovering nicely! As expected of my kingdom!" Gilgamesh laughed.

"So these are the lands you ruled over," Artesia said as she looked around. "I wonder what the food here is like..."

"You just ate a humongous cheeseburger," Haruhi pointed out. "Anyway, we gotta find those Lahmu before they decide to start slaughtering people again!"

"Of course, Master. I wish to test my mettle against these creatures as well," the black saber nodded. "Enkidu, have you located them yet?"

"I believe they're this way," Enkidu pointed to the sea. "Follow me!"

"Very well, lead the way!" Gilgamesh concurred, following his friend...

It wasn't long before the group saw the familiar spider-like shapes of the Lahmu in the distance. "Saber, hold," Haruhi ordered. "Enkidu, can you tell how many there are?"

"Only ten or so," Enkidu replied.

"It seems these Lahmu are only in their larval stage," Gilgamesh observed. "Good. That should make this easier for us."

"Yeah, those Bel Lahmu were a real pain to say the least," Haruhi concurred, frowning from the memory. "Even my servant self couldn't take on more than two of those at a time... Anyway, what's our strategy?"

"They don't seem to be aggressive at present," Enkidu noted. "Perhaps we simply aren't close enough to draw their attention yet..."

"In that case, we should just go in hard and fast, strike like a thunderbolt before they know what hit them!" Gilgamesh exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me," Haruhi nodded. "How about you start things off, Saber?"

"So be it," Artesia agreed, holding up her sword. "Hammer of the Vile King Vortigern, reverse the rising sun." Her sword was engulfed in dark energy... "Swallow the light! EXCALIBUR... MORGAN!" She swung her sword in a wide arc, unleashing a large dark energy wave, the Lahmu screaming as the darkness swallowed them, ending with a pillar of dark energy! But then the Lahmu leapt out of the dark pillar, making a beeline for the heroes!

"Here they come!" Haruhi cried, pulling out the black keys she'd gotten from her first summoning.

"Die, mongrels!" Gilgamesh cried as several weapons emerged from his Gate of Babylon, the front Lahmu taking the brunt of the attack and dying almost instantly! The others split off to attack the others, Artesia easily fending off two with her sword! Another leapt over her head, heading straight for Haruhi!

"Oh no you don't!" Haruhi yelled defiantly as she parried the Lahmu's sharp limbs with her keys, before leaping up and onto the creature, the black key in her right hand glowing as she shoved it through it's torso, the Lahmu screeching and collapsing to the ground! Another attempted to avenge it's fallen brethren, only for the brunette to teleport away. The creature was then run through by Excalibur Morgan!

"Good to see Master can handle herself," Artesia muttered as she withdrew her sword from the Lahmu's corpse, which promptly dissolved into nothingness.

Meanwhile, Enkidu was surrounded on all sides by five Lahmu... "Big mistake," the living weapon said, pressing his hand to the ground, the Lahmu suddenly being skewered from below by several blades of light! Enkidu then leapt in the air, blasting one of the Lahmu from above and finishing it off! The others recovered and charged again, only to be hampered by several weapons from Gilgamesh! "I had things well in hand, you know..."

"I will take no chances with these things!" Gil declared, grabbing an axe and parrying another Lahmu that tried to attack from behind, before skewering it with a spear!

"Glad to see you're taking this seriously for once," Atresia grunted as she impaled a Lahmu on her sword. Another one ran at her from the side, only to be hit with a double-footed kick from Haruhi! The Lahmu rose up again, only for the two women run it through with their weapons! This time it went limp and dissolved. "Nicely done, Master."

"Never let it be said I give orders from a safe distance," Haruhi asserted with a nod. "Good work, Saber. At least you're a good fighter, just like the original. Now we just gotta work on your attitude." Looking to her left, she saw that Gilgamesh and Enkidu had mopped up the rest of the Lahmu.

"I see now why even you would have trouble with these," Enkidu noted. "Fortunately there weren't so many to deal with..."

"Indeed, these were easily dealt with in comparison," Gilgamesh stated, watching as something caught Enkidu's eye, the lancer walking over to something on the ground. "What is it, Enkidu...?"

"It looks almost like one of those memory essences," Haruhi observed. "Betcha that's the fragment of Kingu..."

"I believe that it is," Enkidu concurred as he knelt down, reaching out to grasp the fragment... As soon as Enkidu did so, however, it seemed to absorb into the lancer, who gasped and abruptly stood straight, his eyes briefly flashing purple before returning to their normal sky blue color.

"Enkidu...?" Gilgamesh ventured hesitantly.

"It's fine, Gil. It's still me," Enkidu gave him a reassuring smile. "That fragment of Kingu was akin to a software patch, to put it in modern terms."

"So you might start displaying some of Kingu's personality traits?" Haruhi guessed.

"Correct. But I am still mostly Enkidu."

"I see," Gilgamesh nodded in understanding. "What concerns me, however, is the remnant of Tiamat... Split up and search! It can't be too far from here!"

"Do not order me around," Artesia warned, even as she did as suggested, Enkidu and Haruhi following suit.

After a few minutes, Haruhi spotted what appeared to be a glowing black lump. "Ah-ha! Got it!" Closing her eyes, she held out her hand, the fragment of Tiamat levitating upwards, before being suddenly encased in a glass jar with a screw-on lid. "There! Fragment secured!"

"Secured? Why not destroy it?" Enkidu asked fairly.

"Well... I kinda feel sorry for Tiamat," Haruhi lamented, taking the jar in hand. "All she wanted was to love her children, but the way she went about it was completely out of whack... Don't worry, no one can open or break this jar other than yours truly."

"I don't like this... what if somebody attempts to use it as a catalyst to summon the Beast?" Gilgamesh pointed out.

"...I wasn't really thinking of that, to be honest," Haruhi admitted. "Look, I'll keep a close eye on this, and I promise to only use it as a summoning catalyst as an absolute last resort. Sound good?"

Gilgamesh didn't look very convinced, but heaved a sigh in resignation. "...So be it. But I'm holding you to that, Suzumiya." Just then, something caught his ear, turning to see an Urukian soldier running up to them.

"King Gilgamesh!" the soldier promptly stopped and kneeled before the archer. "I came to scout out the Lahmu, but it appears you have already dealt with them! It is good that you have returned to us, Your Majesty!"

"Still your tongue, soldier," Gilgamesh ordered. "I have only returned briefly, for the very purpose you have just spoken, and will be leaving soon. Unless there is some other crisis to be dealt with, do not attempt to delay our departure!"

"W-well, there is one thing..." the soldier stuttered, keeping his head bowed.

"We're listening," Enkidu gently prodded.

"Well, a suspicious woman was seen at the outskirts of the city of Babylon, apparently using some sort of magic to create a wide hole in the ground! What her purpose is, we have no idea, and she vanishes if we attempt to approach..."

"Why would anyone dig a large hole outside Babylon?" Enkidu pondered. "Are they attempting to reach the Underworld? No, that can't be it, why make the hole so wide then?"

"What does this suspicious woman look like?" Gilgamesh queried.

"Ah... from what I heard from the scouts, she appears to be somewhat short in stature, and petite in build, with short lilac-colored hair..."

"What the... that sounds like Yuki!" Haruhi realized.

"Yes. It is I." The group turned to see none other than Yuki Nagato standing a short distance away. The Uruk soldier jumped to his feet with his spear at the ready, only for Gil to stop him with a gesture.

"What are you doing here?" Haruhi asked, nonplussed.

"And why are you absconding with dirt from this era?" Artesia added.

"It is required for Semiramis' Noble Phantasm, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon," Yuki replied. "She is nearly powerless without it, so I endeavored to gather the materials necessary for her to create it. As modern-day Iraq is embroiled in conflict, I thought it more efficient to procure the necessary soil from an alternate temporal axis."

"So you decided to steal it from my kingdom?!" Gilgamesh yelled angrily. "What gives you the right, alien?!"

"Take it easy, Gil, it's just dirt," Haruhi said. "I mean, it's not like she's stealing from your treasure vault or something..."

"Yes, and she is doing this to assist a fellow servant," Artesia pointed out.

"I made certain that the hole I left behind was wide enough to be easily discernible, shallow enough so anyone that fell in would not be seriously injured, and away from the most traveled roads to and from the city," Yuki explained. "It will fill back in over time, so any harm to causality would be negligible at best."

"It sounds like you thought this out well," Enkidu gave a small nod. "Gil, perhaps we can give her the benefit of the doubt this once. It sounds like this will be a one-time thing, anyway."

"...Ugh, fine," Gilgamesh caved. "But you had better make certain that Semiramis understands that she is in my debt!"

"Understood," Yuki assented. "In that case, shall we return to Chaldea?"

"Sure, I'll call Da Vinci and have her bring us back," Haruhi agreed.

"Well, it was good to see you again, Your Majesty," the soldier said somewhat sadly. "Even if it was only for a short time..."

"You can survive without me now," the King of Heroes assured him. "All I ask is that you make sure the tale of my life is passed down through the generations that come after!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" the soldier stood straight and saluted. "We shall do all we can to ensure your tale is recorded and never forgotten!"

"Good to hear," Enkidu smiled. "Farewell then, loyal soldier."

And so the group rayshifted back to Chaldea...

*To be continued...*