A/N : Heeey~ So finally the beta-reading is done. Enjoy! (will rant later)

(Disclaimer and warning haven't changed)

After a quick ride, the pair finally arrived in front of a tall building designed in royal blue paints and wide glass window panels. Gilgamesh led the way casually as security guards, people and staffs bowed before him. Saber awkwardly walked close behind, noticing that Gilgamesh's air seemed to have changed.

A man in clad back suit bowed in front of Gilgamesh as he stopped.

"Master Enkidu has been waiting in the prepared room."

Gilgamesh nodded. "Take us there."

Without further question, the man swiftly showed them the way through empty corridors clad in velvet blue carpet. The elevator took them to fourth floor, and the door slid open to reveal a wide room—wide enough to occupy the whole floor, she guessed—full of game consoles and engines of every kind. Saber cautiously looked around as Gilgamesh led the way, the servant now gone. What else was he planning?

As they crossed across the room, Saber couldn't help but think about who Gilgamesh really was. She could recognize some of the gadgets laid down before them as some pretty popular game engines and consoles that were once popular or were in the peak of its popularity. Looking closer, the logo was also a familiar one. Was he the one who developed all these? Was this the company he managed? Saber looked at the man in front of her with awe—he might be a bastard, but he was a great one, alright. The blonde woman pondered, wanting to ask Gilgamesh about it, but maybe she would pry too much? He didn't look very eager to talk about it last time, after all. After her encounter with him in the riverbanks, a puzzle about the man's identity had occupied Saber's mind, making her guess about the sort of man Gilgamesh was—but she never really found out. She didn't bother to check the internet either, but maybe he was that great, famous even. Maybe.

But it's not like it was her business.

However, maybe... she could learn from him? After all, she needed it. But that was unlikely...

And so her mind remained in an inside battle, canceling her words before it even came out.

Upon reaching the far end of the room, they came upon a set of sofas arranged just before the wide glass panels, a marvelous view of the city laid before their eyes. On the sofa, a young man—or woman?—sat. He (or she?) was dressed androgynously and had a slender build that looked quite manly. However, the pretty face and the long, smooth olive colored hair told otherwise. Saber was never quite sure until the person in question smiled and started talking.

"You're quite late, Gilgamesh."

The voice was soft, but it was definitely a man's.

"No, you're the one who is early this time. And yesterday you made me wait, too, so now we're even."

The man smiled—a smile that would put even the prettiest girl in her school to shame. "Alright, then. Whatever you say, Gil."

Gilgamesh looked slightly annoyed. "Still the same nickname..." he muttered. Saber looked back and forth between the two, considering a proper sentence to utter out—

"You haven't introduced your companion, Master."

—but never got the chance to say it out loud.

Saber nearly jumped—the deep and monotone voice suddenly rang from nowhere. Looking around with the slightest gesture, she noticed another man in black suit stepping out of the shadows. He looked to be in the same age of her mother, noting the small wrinkle barely showing around his dead looking eyes. His black hair was cut short—she noticed—as he bowed over to the two.

"Kirei, you're creeping out our guest," Gilgamesh retorted, not looking even slightly surprised by his entrance.

"My apologies."

Saber nodded to his apologetic gesture, but she noticed a little twinkle in his brown pools.

Gilgamesh started. "So... Enki, this is Arturia Pendragon—or better known as Saber. Saber, this is Enkidu."

Enkidu had stood from the sofa to walk to her, and they shook hands. "A pleasure to meet you," Saber said formally. The man smiled as they released their grip.

"So, you're the beauty Gilgamesh had been getting worked up about."

Saber only stared with mouth slightly agape, unsure of what to say. Gilgamesh seemed to be taken aback by the remark as well, as he was having a hard time on commenting.

"Enkidu—"

"Master Gilgamesh told us quite a bit about you," Kirei added, his eyes dancing. "In addition, he's looking a lot livelier lately."

"That is—"

"Eeh, really? Is it true, Kirei? Why didn't you tell me more about this, Gilgil? Am I not your bestfriend?"

"Don't call me—"

"It's true, Master Enkidu. I'm happy for him as well."

Saber could only stare with gaping mouth as she felt blood slowly rushing to her cheek, unable to mutter out any word or action as a respond. Glancing from the corner of her eyes, she saw that Gilgamesh was also slightly overwhelmed. Wait, did his facade—although only vague—have a red tint? Really?

"You two, stop it at once," Gilgamesh finally commanded—which earned a snicker, a smirk, and a really confused expression. "I just haven't met an equal match for a while since you and that mongrel left, that's all. Now if we can get to our real purpose and let it be finished?"

"Alright, alright, Gil," Enkidu replied with a smile. "And my apologies, Miss Saber—may I call you that? It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

Saber nodded, trying to keep her composure. "So, what business are we doing here? Gilgamesh hasn't told me all about it yet."

Gilgamesh smirked, now seeming unaffected by the earlier conversation. "Well I heard you were the game center champion too—"

Wait, where did he hear that? No one was supposed to know about that, not even her friends and family, except for her random spectator at her favorite game center. There was no way she would let people—especially her mother—know that she was into the famous pleasure of the gaming world. She even used an alias too—

"—in the alias of "The Lioness", so I thought you'd be perfect to test out our new game engine."

-but well, of course he'd know.

"I see," Saber replied calmly. So you really are the one who developed all this, then. "Is it okay for your game to be beaten on its first trial, though?" she asked with a slight smirk.

"That is if you can, Woman." Gilgamesh smirked back. "Kirei, show us the way."

"Right away, Master."

After a short stroll, they arrived in front of huge engines still covered in silvery gray sheets. "This is the newest model we are planning to release this year. The concept is simple, actually—beat the game without dying. There are a few selections of stories from different genres, but it's basically a shooting game—with extras."

"I helped in developing this one, you know," Enkidu added cheerfully. "My favorite is the detective storyline."

Kirei pulled the sheets off the engine, revealing a minimalistic silver game stand with a huge half-circle curved glass panel—about five feet high—as a screen giving the player a better three dimensional sensation. Below the screen was two set of gun holders with a pair of handguns; one in jet black material and the other in chrome. The guns are decorated with neon red, and neon blue stripes on the sides, respectively.

Saber looked at the engine with admiration. "It looks... interesting to play."

"Heh, of course," Gilgamesh replied, stepping into Saber's side with his usual smug. "I did develop it, after all."

Saber stared with annoyance. She would admire him way more if he didn't have that attitude. It was rubbing her in a wrong—if not worst—way.

"There are motion sensors too, so the vision can move with the character's spin. The engine can be played solo or with a partner." With a monotone voice, Kirei continued his explanation. "And if there's more than one machine in a game center, the players can compete with each other."

"Interesting," Saber commented. "I can't wait to try it out."

"Then we shall!" Enkidu replied cheerfully. "Prepare it, Kirei!"

"In a moment, Master."

By the click of Kirei's fingers, two servants came to their service, swiftly preparing up the machine. In just a few minutes, the servants excused themselves as the game starts loading, politely offering their service at another finger click in case of any trouble.

Shortly, the four were in opposite game machines, pairing up as they've decided to compete against each other. Enkidu offered to team up with Saber, and she accepted politely, earning an unreadable stare from Gilgamesh—who in the end smirked in a winning passion as he teamed up with Kirei. Picking up prehistoric survival (the theme caught Saber's interest as it was quite a rare one), the game started off easy with helm-sized bugs and gradually got harder with the rising size of the dinosaurs.

Combination attacks started to get revealed on par with the growing enemies. Just as Saber and Enkidu's team was finishing off a pack of eoraptors and proceeded to open a thick curtain of big tendrils, the character fell into a swamp in two steps. Suddenly, a huge prehistoric carnivorous fish took Enkidu by surprise, killing his character. Kirei was next—he managed to handle the fish, but upon going out of water, a swarm of big larvae surrounded him, giving his character too much damage.

In other side, Saber suffered a great HP loss from the swarm of larvae without any companion, but managed to survive anyway. The maps at the top left of the screen told her she was halfway done to claim the treasure box—which the teams fought to win. She was apparently taking too long to check it out as a raptor surprised her with a side bite. Her HP got reduced drastically and she was barely alive.

"Damn it!"

Gilgamesh laughs. "Don't let your guard down, o' King of Swords!"

He didn't have to tell her that! Saber poured all of her focus into the game—the highest difficulty level only provided one life with a low HP rate. One more damage, and she would be done for good.

One minute passed with stacks of dead dinosaurs falling in her path, but it was just impossible. When two T-rexs attacked her from both sides, even two highly upgraded handguns didn't hold. She shook her head with shame after her character died at the T-rex's first bite.

Gilgamesh died shortly after. It seemed that they could only beat that one with teamwork.

"Aww, we lost to you," Enkidu declared as Gilgamesh casually walked near.

"Of course," the blonde replied smugly. "Although just barely, I have to admit."

Kirei bowed. "It was an honour, Master."

"Well, it's natural though, with you the one developing the game," Saber remarked, crossing her arms. "Nevertheless, that was quite some fun I had there."

"I only came up with a basic concept," Gilgamesh replied. "And I barely supervised the team. I'm content with their result, though."

"The "Mad" difficulty level was designed to be nearly impossible to beat. You did a good job going that far, Mistress," Kirei added formally.

"Then I might not be that bad after all!" Enkidu remarked. "Seeing how I survived a third of the path, and considering I haven't played in years."

"That could be the case. Or it might be just because you have the right teammate this time," Gilgamesh teased.

"Oh, really?" Enkidu asked, his smile turning into a smirk. "I was doing fine—not more than one digit of HP loss, even—until that fish came out of nowhere just because we looked the wrong way, though."

"You did well, Master Enkidu. I also almost died in those waters."

Saber smiled. "Maybe next time I'll beat the game," she said, her eyes gleaming. "I don't know if the game center would have this engine, though. It looks very expensive."

Gilgamesh smirked. "About that—"

"Master."

A servant interrupted their talks with a bow, earning an intense glare from a pair of blood-red eyes.

"What is it?

The servant wavered in fear. "I- My pardon, Master... I am here to remind you about the time as you have requested."

Gilgamesh clicked his tongue in annoyance. Nevertheless, he turned around with an annoyed and slightly unwilling gaze.

"It seems that my company here is over. Well then, see you around, King of Swords."

Saber nodded.

"Kirei and Enkidu, I entrust our guest to your hands," he added with an almost stern look. "Make sure she gets home safely."

Enkidu smirked. "You learned some more courtesy, I see. I'm impressed. But of course, my friend." He smiled brightly to his friend's glaring gaze.

"Watch over him, will you, Kirei?" the blonde man asked once again, his expression almost worried.

Worried? She almost believed that he didn't have the peculiar feeling—or emotion. The King of the District was the man who only cared for his own well-being, not giving a damn to anything aside of his own entertainment. Yet, did she really... matter that much to him, or...? There's a conflict of feelings starting to well up inside Saber.

"Don't worry, Master, I will."

Kirei bowed once again, and Gilgamesh nodded in acceptance before turning away.

"Gilgamesh," Saber called as he was about to walk away. "Um, thank you. F-For today. And that game too—I know that was to help you out, but I had a good experience." She looked at him, and smiled ever so slightly. "I'll repay it."

Gilgamesh couldn't help but to grin back, his chest filled with a warmth he never expected. "As you wish, my dear Queen."

Saber nearly choked on air, and beside her, a particular olive-haired man tried hard to banish his seeds of giggles by looking away. A series of clacks could be heard across the room as the blonde man, accompanied by two servants, walked away across the big room. As the sound faded, Enkidu turned cheerfully to face the still shocked blonde woman, smiling as if nothing peculiar had happened at all. "So, Gil has left us. What do you want to do now, Miss Saber? Do you want to try the game again, perhaps, in different theme? I and Kirei will accompany you."

Saber smiled. "That could be a great idea. I'm not sure when I can find this particular game machine again. That is if it's not troublesome."

"Oh~no. Not at all."

"Pardon me to interrupt the fun, Master, but I have to remind you of the time."

Saber snapped out of her trance. Time?

"What time is it, Kirei?"

"It's about eight PM. I believe that it would be inappropriate for high school girls to be out very late."

"E-eight?!" Saber spat out with panic, blood draining out of her face. "Oh, damn! I'm so dead..."

Enkidu looked at her worriedly. "Miss Saber? Is everything alright?"

"It's... it's alright, Enkidu," Saber replied whilst trying to keep her calm. "But I'm afraid I'll have to excuse myself now."

"Is that so? I'll take you home, then. Kirei, fetch the key."

Kirei bowed and left, Saber's gaze trailing helplessly. "There's no need—"

"I insist," Enkidu replied reassuringly. "Besides, I have to do at least this much, or Gilgamesh would kill me."

Saber stared into a pair of light green gaze that wouldn't back down, and sighed. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble when other options are available. Besides, I don't think he'd do that far."

"Ah, you don't really know him, do you?" Enkidu grinned at her. "It's fine. Besides, riding is just fun. I always look forward to it."

Saber furrowed her brows. He had to be a rich guy to be friends with that Gilgamesh, right? How is riding a car—something so normal—can be that much fun to look forward to?

The King of Swords never got her answers as Kirei returned with a set of key at his hands, his eyes twinkling in a blank face.

The ride, in words, can only be described as one:

Madness.

Countless times did her blood freeze and her heart nearly jump out of her chest. Chill ran down her spine and prayers flowed in her head as they rode through the crazy traffic with hellish riding style. Saber never witnessed a more careless style of driving before—with the exception of Irisviel, a woman who was her old friend, in which would be an insult compared to Enkidu. With stutters, the thought-to-be fearless woman explained the way. She'd thought she was going to lose her life or take someone else's over and over again when they finally arrived in the street she was living at. Not intending to repeat her mistake, she stopped three houses early and got down, her slightly shaking feet feeling like jellies.

"T-Thank you for the ride, Enkidu," she said politely in low tone. "But next time, please be careful with the way you are riding. We almost hit four cars, three motorcycles, and ten pedestrians on the way."

Enkidu laughed sheepishly. "Well, you did say you were in a rush. I'm sorry to scare you. But I hear that a lot, actually."

Saber shot a sharp gaze to the calm Kirei who returned the gaze with a 'What?' look.

"My apologies. I should have drove had Master Gilgamesh given the order, but I can't help myself. It's always too much fun riding with Master Enkidu," he explained with a—was he almost smirking? Smiling slightly, he added: "The...adrenaline is good."

Saber worked hard to not glare into that pair of laughing dead eyes before her. She knew it. How come did she ever expect anything that had to do with that man to be normal?

"Anyway, Miss Saber. Can I ask you something? I know you're rushing, but this won't take but a minute.''

Saber broke out of her somewhat staring contest and averted her attention. "Yes, Enkidu?"

"Gil seems to think quite highly of you, but... What do you think about Gil?"

Saber thought hard. Just thinking about it made her head boil. "That is... a difficult question." she finally retorted. "He's... impulsive. Sometimes he is too—annoyingly—proud, but he is not that bad a person, I guess. And I acknowledge his skills."

Now that was a very honest answer, she realized. How come was she telling all this so easily to this man she just met, who moreover was a good friend of him? Enkidu merely smiled.

"I understand that. Do you hate him, then?"

Another difficult question. Gilgamesh was a conceited annoying bastard, a person who only cared about his own needs and entertainment, a person she hated with all her heart. Or was he? Albeit his carefree attitude, he had proven himself to be a considerably great man. He had proven to betray her worst expectation at times, and sometimes he was just a puzzle. At other times like that day for example, he had ruined her life and set it upside down, leaving a ton of problems behind. Not to mention pissing her off so easily. Well...

"I don't particularly hate him. It's just—he's hard to like, to put easily," Saber finally decided. "My apologies for my harsh words."

Enkidu smiled gently once more. "I understand that too. But actually, Miss Saber—" he looked directly into her emerald pools, "—he might be a conceited bastard at first glance, but we all know that's not all there is to him."

Did he read her mind? Saber thought as she stared, guessing that the shock must had been written on her face.

"I've known him for a long time; it's as if he were my own little brother. It's hard to find something that can make his life more interesting, but I'm glad he did find something." At this, he looked meaningfully to Saber. "I don't know if we'll meet again in the near future. But... I'll leave him to you, perhaps?"

Saber blinked and looked away, her expression an awful mess. "I don't know what to say about that," she barely mumbled.

Enkidu laughed. "I'm sorry to make you feel uncomfortable. Well, I guess this is goodbye, Miss Arturia Pendragon. See you, and take care."

"W-wait a minute!"

Enkidu raised his brows, canceling his turn to look back at the blonde woman. She gulped nervously and fidgeted before opening her quivering tiny pink lips.

"I just have one question."

"Ask away, Miss, anything."

"Um..." Saber was having a mental argument, her delicate facade twisting in doubt. "When... is Gilgamesh's birthday?" Enkidu raised his brows amusedly, and before he could answer, she added : "But please don't inform him I asked. It's not anything like what you might think."

The olive-haired man only widened his smirk, his eyes dancing. "And what is it exactly that I might be thinking about, eh, Miss Saber?"

Saber was flabbergasted. "I-I don't know. However, I'm asking this only because... I only want to repay him f-for his courtesy."

"Eh? So he..." Flashes of thoughts crossed Enkidu's facial expression, but in the end he just smiled knowingly at Saber, deciding not to embarrass the lady too much. "It's August 12th, Miss Saber."

"Oh." Saber smiled back awkwardly. "Um, thank you."

Seeing the woman's fidgety attitude, Enkidu laughed. "You know, Miss, I think I might be really able to entrust that guy to you."

Saber flushed, not sure about the right thing to feel nor reply to the statement.

All question answered, the beautiful man and the servant excused themselves once more, Saber sending them off with a wave. The car drove away—this time Kirei was in the driver's seat. Walking home, Saber thought back about Enkidu's words.

Maybe she was starting to see the conceited bastard Gilgamesh was in a better way—although she didn't know how it came to that point. She didn't know about the last part, though. The woman had enough trouble to solve without adding Gilgamesh into the equation. Like how she should handle her friends the next day. That would keep her up late. And other matters too, like, for example, her Mother who was standing in front of the front door, again.

She cursed under her breath. She thought she had enough precautions already...

"Your friends told me that a delinquent dragged you away while you were hanging out today," her mother started. "But here you finally are. Seeming perfectly fine, thank God. You have a lot of explanation to do, girl."

Saber mentally groaned. Just how much better can her day be?

A/N : And thaaat's it~

This chapter was supposed to be one with the one before, but upon finishing it, I realized that it might be just a bit too long. And so after discussing with my beta-reader, I split it into two, hoping that you would enjoy it better that way (and I would have more updates to argue with mwahahaha-*kicked). And if you still have no clear image of the engine they played, this was the design : img dot twitrpix dot com/cupqc

Making this chapter was just so much fun, but upon reading it, I feel... terrible. Maybe it's because I've just read something far more awesome, I don't know, but it's just so damn amateur-ish. Of course, that is a thing everybody knows *laugh*.

And so I edited this chapter tons of times after publishing it. Such foolishness..

About Gilgamesh's birthday. No one knows when that is, even the Type-Moon Wiki labels it as unknown. I got the date from a random tumblr I found while browsing for it. I don't believe in horoscopes, but the Japanese believes it to be important, thus I think they might put him under the Leo sign...? I don't know, please correct me if I'm wrong.

So type away all of your complaints, advice, thoughts, etc. You don't know how much happiness I would feel or the stomach flips I get every time I check on my stories and see a new review. I need to improve a lot, afterall.

Did you enjoy it? I hope you do.

Thanks for reading!

Aisu