Hope you enjoy the next installment of Master Arturia!
Chapter Two
"Wow, look at all this food?!" Rin and Sakura shouted in awe.
I nodded in agreement before reaching in to grab chicken leg. A small bite revealed that despite the meal prepared might have appear to look like the food I had eaten in Camelot, but it had all the culinary advances of the modern era.
"This is good, Sh-" I stopped talking and corrected myself, "Saber."
Those words didn't slip of my tongue smoothly. Calling Shirou as "Saber" felt strange when I had been called that very same name by Shirou as his Servant.
"Where are your manners, Arturia?" Rin complained.
"That's right, Senpai! You're being rude to Saber-san, who prepared this wonderful food!" added Sakura.
I rolled my eyes in response. The food looked too delicious and the smell got the better of me. Shirou wouldn't mind anyway. I glanced over to see his was staring at me with a bright smile as if seeing me eat his food brought him great happiness.
Seeing my reaction, Sakura and Rin looked at Shirou before shrugging as my perceived rudeness by Japanese etiquette was forgivable as long as the chief didn't seem offended.
Rin and Sakura brought their hands together and shouted, "Itadakimasu!" before they started to dig in.
I cried in joy at how good the food tasted. It was better than Shirou had made while I had been his Servant. For the moment, I forgot all etiquette I had received to become King Arthur and stuffed myself full.
The cries of joy that Rin and Sakura made or their glowing eyes staring at the food revealed how they, too, couldn't resist Shirou's food. What surprised me was how much food they were devouring. Just like many girls of their age, they cared greatly about their appearance so they made sure to eat enough to not gain weight, but that concept seemed to have gone out the window given how much they were eating.
I shook my head ruefully. Why should I care about Rin's and Sakura's weight? It wasn't like one meal was going to affect their appearance. And there was delicious food for me to enjoy.
"Is the food to your liking?" asked Shirou through our bond as Master and Servant.
"You managed to capture the essence of the food of my era," I nodded in approval while enjoying the modifications that Shirou had made to elevate the foods I was used to new heights.
"That's wonderful to hear. It means research and experimentations paid off!"
Suddenly, I saw visions showing Shirou going to great lengths to improve his cooking just for my sake. Some of the particular visions made my heart melt.
"Shirou, you didn't have to have to-"
My mind froze up as Shirou kissed me.
"Oh, my…" said Sakura as she covered her mouth.
"Why is Saber kissing his Mas…" Rin muttered in confusion.
My attention to my friends disappeared as Shirou started to kiss me passionately. I forgot about everything, including the food and only cared about returning the kiss. It was not long before Shirou swept me off my feet and carried me bridal-style out of the room. The last thing I heard was Sakura's gasp and Rin's muttering as Shirou took me somewhere away from prying eyes.
- O -
"Couldn't you have waited?" I asked in annoyance as I started to slip on my clothes that had been discarded carelessly around the room.
"Are you really saying that to me? You seemed to enjoy it more than I had, almost as if YOU had been the sexually frustrated one," chuckled Shirou while leaning on his side while one hand kept his head propped up.
I was about to snap back at him when I recalled how I had been screaming in pleasure and demanding for more minutes ago. My head twisted around as to hide my blush from Shirou. Shirou's growing laughter made my shoulders sag as I knew my attempt had failed.
"Rin and Sakura will have some horrible misconception going through their minds now," I continued, hoping that my deflection would distract my lover. "They might even worry that you may have used some nefarious skill to seduce me!"
"Me? Seduce you?" asked Shirou humorously. He looked at me with innocent eyes. "How could I possibly do such a thing?"
"How would they know?" I rolled my eyes. "You are a complete stranger, whose identity is a mystery to them. In their minds, they might worry that I might have summoned a legendary figure well known for seducing women and exploiting them."
"Use a Command Seal then. Rin and Sakura's concern's will be put to rest that way."
"That seems like a frivolous use of a Command Seal." I shook my head. "How about you show them your memories?"
"That could make the situation worse. While they may no longer worry that I might have 'seduced' or manipulated you, we will face a whole new can of worms."
I sighed. Shirou was right, and I had been expecting that already, but still voiced it as there had been a chance Shirou might have thought differently on the matter.
Just as I was about to talk more on the topic, I heard a knock on my bedroom door followed by Rin's voice.
"Are you finally done with the Mana Transfer?" asked Rin in a cheeky tone, that raised the alarm in my mind that Rin wanted the juicy information.
This development brought me great relief. For a moment, I had thought Rin might have thought Shirou was exploiting me or a dangerous threat to my life.
"Arturia are you there? Do you need more time for your Mana Transfers?"
Shirou started to guffaw and I glared at him in response. This only seemed to make the situation worse as he tried to cover up his mouth, but instead he started to laugh louder.
"Shirou!" I snapped while throwing the bra I had been in the process of putting on at him. "Go away and do something productive like patrolling the perimeter of my home!"
My lover's laughter faded as his body did the same, but I could sense his laughter through my stronger than usual telepathic Master-Servant bond. Only when I no longer felt Shirou was around did I turn my attention to Rin.
"You can come in now, Rin. Sab-"
Rin rudely slammed the door open and marched up to me before I could respond. I was so caught off guard by her behavior that I barely had time to respond before she started to cast several magic spells in quick succession.
My newly awoken instincts after regaining my memories as King Arthur was to allow my A-rank Magic Resistance to nullify Rin's magic spells, but only after the first few magic spells started probing my body, mind and soul did I remember that I was not a Servant nor inhabiting my original body of King Arthur. It was only after Rin had managed to cast about ten magic spells that I called upon the proper magic training I had received from Kiritsugu and his various hired magic tutors during my "reincarnation."
"Rin," I growled while quickly manipulating my magic circuits to repel Rin's spells, "I am fine and you should have asked before daring to cast magic spells on me without my permission."
"Sorry," Rin replied as she stopped casting spells. "I was really worried that maybe Saber was manipulating you through one of his Personal Skills or Noble Phantasm."
"Well, what did you find?" I replied while resisting hissing at my friend.
"Everything seems normal, unless Saber's magic skills are higher than mine, which is unlikely given he is Saber."
"You cannot dismiss the possibility that Saber might possess the rare Double-Summon personal skill," said EMIYA as he manifested beside Rin.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. As a former Servant myself, I knew the chances of a Servant possessing Double Summon was incredibly rare. There was no way Shirou was qualified to possess such a Personal Skill.
Wait… I suddenly remembered the confusing Servant Stats I had read when I had summoned Shirou. He had possessed three Servant classes. Saber. Caster. Berserker. Did that mean, Shirou had gotten the incredible, but ludicrous, Triple Summon?!
"Arturia are you listening to me-" Rin's words blasted into my ears as I snapped out of my thoughts.
"Of course," I replied while smiling at Archer. "Your Servant knows Saber very well after all." EMIYA's eyes narrowed. "Archer is related to Saber."
"What's this?" Rin turned to her Servant. "Didn't you say you don't remember much about your life?"
EMIYA shot me a glare before smiling at Rin. "I apologize, but I don't ever recall anything about Saber. It might be due to a certain mage scr-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Archer!" growled Rin as she kicked EMIYA in the shins. She quickly turned around and faced me with a friendly smile. "Archer is speaking nonsense." She covered her mouth and haughtily said, "There is no way, I could have messed up my Servant summoning. Right, Arturia?"
I just smiled and nodded in response while hiding the fact it was amusing to see this side of Rin. It was cute when she didn't act like the perfect student she portrayed herself to be at school. Sometimes, I wished she would show this aspect of herself more. Doing so would make her even more popular with the boys-
My eyes opened at the horrifying possibility that this cute side of Rin might have been why Shirou might have fallen in love with her-
I suddenly heard a familiar scream. Rin reacted faster, and I quickly followed suit to run in the direction of the scream. There I saw something that I hadn't been expecting to see.
"Sakura, we need to see Kotomine right away to get those Crest Worms out of you!" shouted Shirou while tugging on Sakura's arm.
"Saber-san, I don't know what you're talking about?!" screamed Sakura while sporting a very unusual expression, almost as of she was trying to hide something. What did Sakura have to hide? I could only guess, but the words "Crest Worms" seemed familiar to me. I just couldn't place where I had heard them.
As if someone was answering my question, I suddenly started to see visions.
This being the third time already, my mind quickly discovered it belonged to Shirou, but not mine. What shocked me was the vision regarding Crest Worms. It disgusted me some much that I would have thrown up if my experience as King Arthur hadn't exposed me to the horrors and atrocities I had seen firsthand humanity could commit.
The next vision left me dumbfounded.
The figure I saw before me from Shirou's perspective looked eerily similar, but it wasn't me to my great relief! The hair and eyes were different, colour-wise. The second was the demeanor my clone possessed. It seemed too cold-hearted even by my standards as King Arthur and seemed willingly to carry out unbelievable cruel deeds to achieve her goals.
My suspicion that this wasn't me started to grow as Shirou started fighting, using a different fighting style and using the very same twin sabers as EMIYA. This were clearly not my Shirou.
And that also meant the clone was not me, but my parallel self.
The fight continued I witnessed everything from the perspective of my lover's parallel counterpart. This might not be mine Shirou, but I couldn't help but marvel the fighting skill and his conviction to fight a clearly superior enemy for the love of his...
"Shirou, you can't love her!" I blurted out while clutching my heart.
It hurt. Almost as if I was heartbroken. I knew rationally that this wasn't my Shirou, and thus the girl that he loved shouldn't affect me but… No matter how I tried to rationalize it, the fact that he loved Sakura Matou was just to painful for me to bear.
I was making steady progress in stopping the vision's Shirou's thoughts influencing me as I reminded myself that this was not my Shirou when…
Something impossible happened, and it brought out a myriad of emotions!
"Shirou Emiya!" I shouted as the vision ended and stared my surprised boyfriend, who let go of Sakura's arm in reaction. "How could you kill me because of another girl!"
- O -
"Oh, no!" shouted a cube-like creature inside a small birdcage.
"What's wrong, Add?" asked a gray-haired girl as the cube rattled inside it's birdcage.
Before Add could respond, it started to rattle more loudly and groaned as if under great deal of strain. The girl was about to open the birdcage to touch Add when a spark of electricity caused her to yelp in pain. She was about to make a second attempt when a familiar voice spoke up.
"Gray, stop you're only going to hurt Sir Kay," shouted a figure that the girl respected greatly.
"Teach, what do you mean by Sir Kay? Is another name Add goes by?" questioned the confused Gray as she complied with her teacher's order.
'Teach' sighed. "I didn't expect the day would arrive so soon…" He made a serious face and stared Gray in the eyes. "My name isn't Bedivere, inspired by Arthurian legends, I am the Bedivere of the Round Table." Gray's eyes widened in disbelief. "And before you ask me on the topic that will have to wait. Sir Kay is facing a situation where if I don't do anything then his very existence may end." He gestured to Gray. "Please hand it here."
Bedivere gratefully took the birdcage and used a magic spell to unlock the safety measure that had activated that had prevented Gray from opening it before.
"Bedivere, thank god you reacted in time," said Add in a manner different from what Gray remembered her cube-like friend talked. "If you had taken a minute longer then that could have been released."
"It is wonderful to hear that I managed to stop such a thing from happening on time," Bedivere smiled. "It's been a long time since we talked."
"Yea," Add replied while jumping in joy. "If it wasn't for witch's seal I would be slumbering all the time."
"What do you mean by slumbering, Add? Is the person I have always been talking to a fake?" shouted a distressed Gray as she snatched the birdcage from Bedivere's hand.
"Nah, Add is akin to a second personality of mine while I am slumbering. Imagine, Add is a version of me without the memories of Sir Kay of the Round Table." 'Add' responded.
"Really?"
"Fine, here something that only Add knows. I know about your three sizes. They are…"
"Add!" shouted Gray in a scandalous tone as she shook the birdcage vigorously.
"Kay you need to fix that habits of yours as womanizer," sighed Bedivere but he still smiled that his friend was still very much the same despite what had happened.
"Okay, Gray. I will never tell anyone! Just top the shaking!" roared Add in a unwell tone as if he was going to throw up.
"Teach! You have to help me! Please erase Add's memories regarding-" Her face flushed as she looked away.
"Don't do it Bedivere!" Add jumped up and down. "It is a perish mem-" The cube stopped talking as its eyes snapped open. "Bedivere you have to strengthen the se-"
Suddenly the top of Add burst open and a gold light erupted. The golden light started to slightly dim and the object responsible for the illumination started to reveal itself.
Gray started to frown in confusion, but she couldn't help stare in marvel at the object before her.
Add and Bedivere's expression turned sterned. They were puzzled on how to react, but before they could come to a decision, the holy light shot into the sky and disappeared into the distance.
In another part of the world, within the Reverse Side of the World, a white haired man clad in white robes stared in direction where the golden light was. He smiled while muttering, "The promised time has come. I hope you are able to best use this opportunity that I arranged for you, Arturia."
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