This time it would be different. Surely. At least, that was what Saber Alter had told herself while subtly observing the young Ashton that she was still grudgingly unwilling to admit was beginning to grow on her in her current dream world. Presently, she was sparring with the young Ashton who opted to use an actual practice sword rather than a branch.
She was harsh in her words, something that should have had been readily apparent to the young Ashton. Despite finding herself in a child-sized body, there were certain characteristics about her adult self that transferred over to her dreamscape. For instance, she was acting too mature for a kid of her age.
When Shirou had attempted to help correct her sword form, she glared at him without another word. It wasn't that she was making any sort of mistake, she was just trying to adjust to the changes in a smaller body. She didn't need the assistance of child to learn something that she was already adept in. Well, that's what she had believed at first.
The young Ashton was incredible.
He moved with the fluidity and precision of a skilled Knight despite his age. It was all the more stunning when she tried to determine which Knight must have had trained him. His style was exquisite and removed any excess movements while relying heavily on the foundations of swordplay. It was solid, and without criticism. It reminded her of her own sword style. A style in which she'd taken years to perfect and hone.
How had she allowed herself to miss out on such an exceptional ally?
Because of some God damned decision not to cross through a wheat field?
In truth, she'd been jealous. Watching her child self grow up with the help and care of a talented friend who seemed fully devoted to her just for being there for him, was difficult to endure. Moreover, her child self was evidently growing stronger at a faster rate than any parallel timeline.
It was just the difference of a single decision, and she'd blown it.
Almost certainly, the young Ashton would grow up to become a formidable individual. The fact that he'd never appeared in her time line or the other Arturia's timeline obviously meant that such a devoted friend had died.
Yet how could someone so skilled be killed when even weaker Knights such as Bedivere lived on to help create her Kingdom of Camelot?
She glowered at the young Ashton when she realized that she was being evenly matched by a green horn. At times, she'd even found herself on the losing end of a duel.
Who trained him? The answer dumbfounded her when she truly considered it.
Shirou was child Arturia's age which meant to say that this would be the time that he should be apprenticing himself to a Knight figure. However, the Ashton family had been massacred meaning that it was more than likely that Shirou had never actually been taught by a mentoring Knight. Therefore, his skill…it was natural.
The realization caused her a moment's delay and sure enough, she found the tip of a wooden sword leveled at her throat.
"Wandering thoughts have no place in battle," the young Ashton's childish voice admonished her as if she was just another naïve child.
She growled, the tips of her cheeks reddening in her amateurish blunder. She batted his sword to the left and resumed their current spar.
The young Ashton just grinned lightly at her, as if urging her on to reach her own limits and surpass them. It softened her impression of him.
He smiled at her despite everything, even her particular quirks, faults, and attitude.
It was…nice. Pleasant even. Though she was loath to ever admit to anything.
Dammit. Her mind was wandering again.
"Concede?" A sword found its way aimed at her throat again.
A wordless stare and a provocative growl that she didn't know that she could ever make was Shirou's only answer.
"Have any of you managed to beat him without using magical energy?"
The first words that Saber Alter spoke were filled with equal levels annoyance and resignation. In her dream realm, she was an adult in the body of a child and yet she was only able to match the young Ashton's sword play blow for blow. She hadn't actually beaten him yet, and no; she didn't count her earlier loss for anything. She was just distracted was all. It wouldn't happen again.
She had been a tyrant. Someone who ruthlessly stood upon the corpses of her enemies and always remained utterly alone in her position of power.
To save a country, sometimes it was inevitable to stain one's hands in blood. However, she took the concept to a whole other level. She ruled though fear and overwhelming might and skill.
A might and skill that was being pushed to the limit against a child with no background in sword training whatsoever. Grudgingly, it was vexing. It was like the young Ashton knew where and when she'd strike. Every. Single. Time.
It was to the point that she was starting to doubt herself and her capabilities. Were the hits that she was able to land 'actual' hits or hits that the young Ashton 'allowed' so as not to ruin her ego?
Damn her child body.
If it weren't for the fact that she was still in the midst of adjusting, then she'd sooner wipe the floor with the young Ashton and rid him of his smug grin. At this point, she was certain that he was only grinning to aggravate her in order to try harder. On one hand, she felt belittled. On the other, it was working.
As soon as she adjusted to her child body then she'd see who'd still be grinning. She nearly started furtively laughing at her future victory before abruptly sobering. She felt blood rushing to her face when she realized that she was reveling in the future defeat of a child. Now that she thought about it, it was shameful that she'd have to go all out against a kid in the first place.
A point to the Ashton. To dare make this King feel inadequate. She could feel the burning heat over her face. Her counterparts were staring at her and she had nothing to say in her defense.
The Arturia's weren't dumb.
She'd just asked whether any of them had beaten the young Ashton yet before suddenly laughing darkly to herself. However, contrary to her expectation, no one was mocking her. Rather, she finally noticed that everyone besides Lily appeared to be in various states of agitation.
Her Lancer Alter counterpart had a dark and resigned expression while her lawful alignment counterparts grunted in shame.
So, by this point, it was probably safe to say that none of them had yet to defeat the young Ashton without cheating and augmenting themselves with magic.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and huffed.
"Say, would any of you like to spar?" Lily spoke up in the awkward silence. "I just don't like the feeling of losing to a kid and thought that maybe we could uhm…practice?" Her voice crawled to a stop as everyone turned to face her. "Ah-ok never mind, forget I asked."
No one answered.
Still, Saber Alter hummed. she'd never needed friends or companions, only subordinates who wouldn't hesitate to carry out her will. She kept reminding herself of this fact over and over again, and yet she'd seen for herself that other paths existed. Her counterparts were definite proof of what she could have had become with just a simple change in decisions.
It got her thinking in a way.
Even if her method of rule was correct, it didn't mean that it had been right. Perhaps she could actually learn something by interacting with her counterparts? Besides, she had to agree with Lily. She indeed disliked the feeling of losing to a kid.
However, she obviously wouldn't be the one to ask.
The thing was, everyone currently present was an aspect of Arturia. In which case, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to believe that in some ways they were identical in thought. All of them were waiting for their counterparts to offer up a challenge. This resulted in no one offering up a chance to spar. Their self pride was preventing them from reaching out to each other, and only Lily could see it. Not that she'd call out her older and stronger counter parts on their childishness. They'd destroy her.
Sitting in silence, the only entertainment that Saber Alter had was when the world moved to play the events of her innocent child self and the young Ashton.
In truth, her child self was embarrassing to watch. It was evident to every Arturia, but Shirou was always going easy and looking out for her. He never hesitated so long as it was to child Arturia's benefit.
She could tell just by looking at him, he would never betray her. In his eyes it would never matter what she did or would become, he would stay by her side regardless. To that extent, the one in her own dream world was definitely the same.
She could order the death of hundreds of people, and he'd follow her order without complaint, all while devoting himself to her. He'd be there when she'd be sad, and he'd also be there when she was angry.
By now, her counterparts must have had also understood this point if the warm expressions that they directed towards Shirou was anything to go by. Admittedly, she was the same, just that she could hide her sentiments a bit better.
As it would turn out, glancing away so that no one could see her expression was far more effective than using a poker face that everyone was familiar with. She had to face the facts; she was in the presence of her own counterparts. No matter how adept she was at concealing her true feelings, there was no way that her poker face could conceal anything from herself.
In regards to Shirou, admittedly, the story had already changed from the original, not that the Arturias would readily share with each other what changes that they'd already made.
Take Saber Alter for example. Originally, child Arturia was supposed to constantly lose in the spars that she had with Shirou. However, in Saber Alter's dreamscape, Shirou was holding nothing back and was no longer treating her like a helpless child. She and her other counterparts were all the same in this regard.
Perhaps the one with the largest divergence to the time line was Lily.
In Lily's dreamscape, she'd used her child form to her advantage and 'persuaded' Sir Ector to take Shirou into their home. Lily just found it too sad and lonely that a kid as young as Shirou was being forced to care and live by himself. She'd never admit though that a budding feeling had began to sprout from within her due to how earnest Shirou was treating her in her dreams.
Moving on, the point was, that every differing action that the Arturias made had unknown diverging effects that none of them had considered. Instead, Saber Alter and the other Arturia's had been taking the slow days of pampering for granted.
It happened during the time when she and the other Arturias were in the midst of viewing the timeline of their child self like any other day.
Word had been spreading in town about a 'Beast' appearing near the outer edges of Bristol, killing live stock and endangering fellow villagers.
The reality of the danger that the beast imposed didn't hit the Arturias until child Arturia discovered that the Beast was said to be lingering near the Ashton Forest where Shirou lived. The older Arturia's immediately tensed while Lily was secretly celebrating the fact that she'd roped Shirou out of that damn forest earlier. However, Lily soon paled when she recalled that Shirou had said that he would be visiting Ashton Manor to grab a few things to bring back.
The Arturias watched the actions of their child self grimly, jaws clenching when child Arturia attempted to face a Beast far ahead of her present capabilities. If not for the enchanted sword that Shirou had given child Arturia, then child Arturia would have had been as good as dead.
"Foolish kid," the others could only disapprove of child Arturia's actions, yet the relief on their faces was evident.
The relief did not last long.
From child Arturia's perspective, the other Arturias quickly noticed another massive beast moving in the distance. Worse, child Arturia had no inclination that it was coming.
"Look up! Hurry and look up!" Lily was the most vocal.
Saber Alter in comparison just tightly clenched her fists.
That was when it had happened. Child Arturia had no way of saving herself from an enemy that she was ignorant of and therefore, someone else appeared like a Hero from the stories.
The young Ashton. The one who'd always shown such composure during combat looked utterly panicked at the thought of losing child Arturia. After all, the other Arturias realized that child Arturia was all that Shirou had left after the Ashton Assassination.
It was clear that the young Ashton wasn't even thinking about his own life. All that mattered to him was protecting the girl he saw in front of him. Therefore, the situation led to a predictable outcome.
Child Arturia fell onto her butt, her mouth hanging open as she trembled nonstop.
Blood. So much blood that it bathed the entire area red despite the darkness.
There was a hole through the young Ashton's stomach. A kind of wound that unless healed through a supernatural means was lethal beyond doubt.
The beast that caused the damage looked entirely taken aback before being furiously driven off by a bird of flame. Efret.
The Arturias could share in what child Arturia was feeling.
Grief. Denial. Agony.
The scene faded out with the pale and despairing face of child Arturia as she desperately called out to a friend that simply would not respond. With her small frame, she hauled Shirou onto her back while sniffling and calling out for any kind of help.
Because of the folly of their child self, the young Ashton was almost certain to die. Although it was true that the young Ashton appeared to be a Wizard of some kind, not all wizards were known to carry something that could heal fatal wounds on a whim.
The other Arturias watching maintained a heavy silence. The events that they'd just seen were events that were bound to fall upon their dreamscapes as well.
Unknowingly, the tree that Saber Alter was leaning her back against splintered into pieces due to the torrent of magical energy that she was releasing. The silence continued to stretch.
Saber Alter didn't care about how the other Arturias were reacting to what they'd seen. She already knew what she going to do so she wordlessly walked away.
She inwardly thought of the young boy who constantly tolerated her foul attitude, and recalled the way that he cooked, and cared for her. It was only after seeing how the young Ashton had come to child Arturia's defense that Saber Alter came to the realization that her Shirou would also willingly risk his life for her.
For once, Lily looked utterly serious, her hands balled in front of her chest.
The other Arturias must have reached the same conclusion because the ambient magical energy in the air was turning into a frenzied storm that promised blood.
Saber Alter welcomed it.
It would seem that the young Ashton had grown in the hearts of her other counterparts as well.
And if some Beast would dare to take him away from her.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her sword, Excalibur Morgan releasing a dark and violent jet of energy.
Then she'd slaughter it.
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