Disclaimer: These are works of purely speculative fiction. It is not intended to infringe on any rights by any of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here. Fate Grand Order and all the franchises and series associated with it, are owned by Kinoko Nasu, Notes Co., Ltd. and their affiliates. Similarly, Fire Emblem Heroes is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd. and their affiliates.

I DO NOT OWN THESE FRANCHISES.

It was a sunny day, the sun high in the sky, and the breeze refreshing as it swept over the castle garden. An assortment of many roses were beautifully arranged next to the walls of the castle. Various verdant and exotic trees were bunched together to form a small forest. In the center of it all, a glistening pond with water as clean and pure as crystal. The only thing that perturbed the peaceful surface of the artificial body of water were the swans and ducks swimming and going about their day.

Surrounding the pond, an expansive field of grass grew, with patches of colorful flowers dotting the field. In a flower patch near the pond, a young woman is kneeling on the grass as she collects flowers. Her flashy wedding dress stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of flowers surrounding her…

…but she didn't care about that. All she cared about was finishing her flower crown.

There were so many options available for her in this massive garden. While she did not recognize the flowers by their names, she could still appreciate their colors, shapes and smells. Fran picked a flower, one of her favorites, and took her time to let herself get lost in the texture, the color, and aroma of the white daisy.

Once she fully appreciated it, she put it to the side and searched for another.

Chaldea was always surrounded by frost and snow for miles, and whenever her master summoned her in a singularity, there was never enough time to frolic among the flowers. Recently, however, her master made contact with this world, which allowed her to finally have both the time and access to her favorite pastime. She picked a flower and gazed at its stem.

How did it go again?

She placed two flowers with long stems over each other. Wrapped the stem of the flower on top and around… ah, the head broke.

She remained undeterred and tried again. The second time was more successful, and it brought a smile to her face. She searched, plucked and crudely tied the flowers to each other as she went. It was a tedious process, one she didn't mind doing.

The young woman was focused on her task, but even when she was in deep thought, she still heard the soft crunches behind her. She didn't really care much for them however, since she was a servant. Even as a berserker, she was still sane enough to understand that everyone in this world is a normal human, even if they had magic that could rival or surpass some of theirs. If they had tried to hurt her, any normal person would have been more likely to hurt themselves if they attacked her. So she paid it no mind and went back to what she was doing.

"Hey Whatcha got there?"

She pauses her work and turns to the girl next to her. The smile the girl gave her radiated joy brighter than the sun behind her. The girl's features were difficult to discern due to the brightness of the sun casting a dark shadow over her face, but Fran knew the girl was staring at her hands with playful curiosity.

The girl leaned forward to get a better look, which exposed the sun behind her. The radiance glowing from the sudden light overwhelmed Fran's bi-colored retinas and forced her to rub her eyes. Her vision blurred, the colors started to fade, and when her eyes readjusted, they widened in disbelief.

A soul-crushing pang of guilt hit her as she saw the superimposed image of a little girl she had met by the river.

Her first friend.

'..Maria…'

0-0-0

"Hey Fran, have you chosen a flower girl yet?"

Fran tilted her head, unsure of what a 'flower girl' was and Maria picked up on it.

She gasped, "Fran! Flower girls are super important! They carry baskets full of flowers and scatter them down in the aisle before the bride walks to the altar. You can't have a wedding without a flower girl!"

Fran had no idea this 'flower girl' was that important, then she realized the implications of what Maria said. A strong fear run through her, did this mean she wouldn't be able to marry her perfected gentleman Adam?[1]

Maria noticed her distress.

"Hey, don't worry! Just leave it to me! I'll be your flower girl! …if you'll have me."

Fran turned toward her friend with relief and joy in her face and nodded.

Maria suddenly hugged her, "thank you, thank you! I promise I'll be the best flower girl in the history of flower girls! Oh, that reminds me."

Maria grabbed a small bouquet of flowers and handed them to her.

"Here, you can have these, a bride also needs to have a bouquet."

Fran looked down at the flowers and took them from Maria's hand with shaking fingers.

"You look so pretty Fran! You're going to make the prettiest bride, I just know it!"

Fran held the bouquet in her arms tightly, a grateful smile on her face.

"You monstrosity!"

Fran's form stilled, her breath hitched when she remembered her father's voice.

"You're a monster! You're an insane monster!"

N-no… she wasn't…

"Aaahhh, Fran stop, you're hurting me!"

Fran jerks her head behind her back, horror etched into her face. Rather than seeing her lively little flower girl, Fran sees a body floating face down in the river…

"Hey, are you-"

0-0-0

"-okay?" Little Maria's image shattered and caused Fran to come back to reality.

In her former friend's place stood a girl who looked and sounded nothing like Maria. She wasn't even the same age. Yet, somehow her aura was similar enough to her that it elicited such vivid images of her past.

How strange. She was sure that she wasn't caught in Shakespeare's noble phantasm. So why?

Fran was silently lost in her thoughts while the confused girl was patiently waiting for her response. After a moment of observation and limited introspection, she gave the girl an affirmative grunt, causing the girl to sigh in relief. Fran then decided to show the girl what she was crafting, which caused the girl's eyes to sparkle.

"Oh! You're making daisy crowns? I love daisy crowns! Do you mind if I join you? I don't mean to brag, but I am a flower connoisseur myself." The little girl turned her gaze towards the unfinished crown beside the servant's hands. "and I see you are having trouble with that, mind If I help?"

Aside from the imposing dark clothing she wore, and the age gap, this girl truly reminded her of Maria.

It... felt nice.

While she felt guilt at having harmed her, Maria was still someone she treasured deeply, as she was one of the few people she knew who didn't treat her as a monster. It seemed like this girl was cut from the same cloth as her.

Fran gave her a warm smile and nodded.

"Yaay! Thank you so much! "

The girl gracefully kneeled with both her legs and began to pick some flowers next to her new friend.

The servant's dual-colored gaze lingered on her for a moment before going back to picking flowers. They both stayed silent for a while, each enjoying their own activities and busywork. The girl occasionally made small talk on how the flowers from Askr varied from the ones on her home.

"Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Elise. I am from the world of Fates, what's your name?"

Normally she would tell people to call her Berserker but due to the sheer amount of other berserker servants in Chaldea, she allowed people to call her by her nickname. Not Frankenstein, Never Frankenstein. Her name is...

"F-Fran.."

"Fran? You have such a pretty name!"

A goofy smile stretched Fran's flawless skin and could not contain the muffled giggle that escaped her lips. She then stretched out her hand towards Elise.

Offering flowers to friends was something Maria taught her was a sign of friendship, a custom which was understood by everyone… and now even people like herself.

"For me? Why thank you Fran!" Elise accepted the offering with her slender fingers and placed it in her multicolored hair.

"Alright! Let's see what we got here. Do you mind if I have a look?"

Fran shook her head and handed the flowers she had in her hand.

"Hmmm... okay, I can see the issue. You are having trouble with the braiding. Not to worry, I can show you how to do it. Just watch my hands carefully."

Fran nodded excitedly, before she instantly focused closely on Elise's fingers as she slowly but expertly braided three flowers together.

"Then... you take another flower like that and fit it into the gap. The braid should be able to hold it in place. And make sure you snap off the excess stems, so you don't get confused. "

Elise continued to work on the crown, while Fran just watched on in fascination and nostalgia. She remembered Maria giving her a similar lesson, albeit in a vague and hard to follow explanation.

"And done." Elise turned towards the excited Berserker.

"Here, this is for you, Fran!" Elise placed an intricate flower crown on top of her head.

The young woman suddenly stood up and ran to the pond, the sudden motion startled Elise, but she became calm when she saw the look of awe on Fran's face.

"Not too bad, eh? I am glad you liked it."

She stood up, "Hey Fran? I saw some really nice posies on the other side of the pond, did you want to come with me?"

Fran nodded vigorously, and followed her with the eagerness of a duckling waddling behind her mother duck.

Footnotes:

[1] Nasu gave Frankenstein's monster a significant shift in origins. Fran is an attempt by Victor to recreate Eve from the garden of Eden, alas, he deemed his creation a failure. Fran wanted to love someone thus, she asked Victor to make her a male partner, her Adam, which he refused to do.

[2] Images available on deviantart, paste the following after the end of dot com.

Fran picking flowers /ihev9sun/art/Fran-Pick-Flowers-final-939387918

Little Maria /ihev9sun/art/Little-Maria-Fate-ver-939388084

Elise looking concerned /ihev9sun/art/Elise-Concerned-for-Fran-939388269

Author's Note: And so, we have arrived at my favorite chapter of this story. This chapter is quite literally the spark that ignited my need to write this story since I really wanted to see both these two meet so badly. I could have just written this as a one shot and called it a day, but the ideas kept coming and now here we are.

I hope you guys can forgive me, I expanded a bit of Fran's backstory while adding my own spin to it, so this version of Fran is technically an AU. Then again, when it comes to the Nasuverse, everything is an AU.

As for Elise, there's a good reason why I made Fran react to her this way. Little Maria and Elise may not share any similarities at first glance but they do share enough parallels for me to weave this connection together. Two of the major ones that have enough weight to attach themselves to Frankenstein's legend is that Elise and Maria are innocent souls in a tragic setting, and that their deaths play a significant role in their stories.

They also both love flowers, and their deaths were both accidental on top of the fact that both of their murderers instantly regret their decisions after doing it. It's not so close that it's nearly 1:1 or else Fran would have freaked out and/or run away due to guilt but I thought I would lay this out just to make sure it's clear to everyone.

Once again, thanks for reading and please don't be shy and leave a comment or criticism, it feeds my soul and strengths it.