Ex1: Starting life in [this] world from zero

It was right when everything seemed like it had been resolved. The black squirming feeling of Gluttony's Authority settled in my soul, signifying their total defeat. The witchbeasts surrounding the tower had been slain or driven off, with the exception of one or two that Meili had requested to keep as assistants for our return trip. Shaula had been completely pacified, and was sleeping off her 'killing machine' form - meaning that Emilia had defeated the final trial, just as I had hoped.

"...But man, it was really touch-and-go for a little while there." I said with a small chuckle as we dismounted our respective witchbeasts.

"Geez, Onii-san is rea~lly good at understating things, huh~?" said Meili Portroute, the girl responsible for controlling said monsters. "If it wasn't for all of my hard work, Scorpion-Onee-san was seriously going to kill us, you kno~w?"

"Yes, yes, you did an excellent job." I said, tussling her hair - and then, noting the little blonde girl still sitting on my mount beginning to pout, I plucked her from her seat and twirled around with her in my arms. "Beako, too of course! Without my beloved, cute, wonderful, cute, beautiful, cute, genius partner, we would have been in big trouble! "

"B-betty will forgive Subaru for not praising her first, I suppose…" The spirit said with a small smile - and then her eyes widened, and she started squeezing my cheeks. "Wait, Subaru said cute three times, in fact! A-are you sure that your memories are all okay, or are you forgetting things again!?"

"No, I'm fine, I just said it three times because you're cute, cute, cuuuute!" I replied, squeezing her tighter and patting her head.

"S-subaru is correct, I suppose!" she replied, preening in response to my affection even as the tips of her ears went red from embarrassment.

And then, a voice rang out.

It was a beautiful voice, melodic, drifting on the air like music. It penetrated my eardrums, and made my heart feel calm. But the words themselves were like poison. Twisting up my insides in a fit of half a dozen emotions that I couldn't find words to describe.

"My, to be celebrating so earnestly - even though your efforts have caused three children to lose their lives today."

"...What?" I asked, my face slowly turning to take in her appearance.

She was beautiful. There could be no argument about that. Silver hair and eyes like sapphires, with a peaceful-looking smile on her face. An ethereal beauty, completely out-of-place among the blood-spattered Augria Sand Dunes. Despite the wind kicking up sand everywhere, not a speck went near her. Not so much as a grain of dust dared to obscure her face.

"I merely wished to comment on your interesting perspective, that is all." She said, face still gently smiling. "You and your companions killed three children today, Sage candidate. Three orphans, with nothing to live for, and no-one to help them, except for each other. And you butchered them without mercy. And now, you gleefully celebrate it. I wonder, what would your mother and father say, if they saw you now?"

Her smile remained. Her voice was serene. As she drove dagger after dagger into my heart, she did not for a single instant raise her voice.

...That's enough of that.

"...Just who the hell are you talking about?" I replied with a snarl. "If you know anything about those three, you'd know that they're anything but innocent children. Hell, with how many lives they experienced, I'm not sure they even qualified as human anymore. There's no way those three could have been rehabilitated, so…!"

"Subaru, it's fine, I suppose. From the start, this woman didn't come here to have an honest conversation, in fact." Beatrice said, cutting me off. "Besides, whatever children once existed within the Gluttony Archbishops, have long since been overwritten by their authorities - they were little more than sentient stomachs at this point, I suppose."

"Well then. That is certainly one way to look at things!" The woman let out a musical laugh. "Of course, the fact remains-"

"[El Shamak], I suppose!"yelled Beatrice, and suddenly the woman was caught in a cloud of black smoke. "Subaru, Meili, we need to retreat. Immediately, in fact! This woman is-!"

"Pandora, Witch of [Vainglory]." Said a voice behind us.

A Witch. A Witch, in the current era. Such a thing should have been impossible. The only living Witch, was the Witch of Envy, sealed just beyond the Watchtower - and yet!

"When did she get behind us~!?" Yelled Meili.

"I was always behind you." Pandora said smoothly. "Perhaps, your eyes deceived you?"

What the hell. What the hell was this? An authority for illusions?

"Still, it seems as though you are intent on causing me no end of trouble, Sage Candidate." Pandora said with a sigh. "Even after all the effort I took to create that Archbishop of Sloth, after my efforts in bending Regulus to my will, after all the time I spent subverting little Louis Arneb… you truly went and snuffed each of those beautiful lights out. And even worse, you still have yet to become anything particularly interesting yourself. Perhaps, it would be best if…"

Beatrice's body tensed up. I could feel her teeth grinding as she closed her eyes tightly. "...Subaru. Betty loves you, I suppose."

"Wha-?" My eyes widened. Those words, right now, sounded just like-! "Beako, don't-!"

"[Greater Door Crossing], in fact!" Yells the Spirit, and the world stretches.

"...you never came to this world in the first place." Concludes Pandora.

And suddenly, I found myself standing at the curbside outside a convenience store.

Naturally, I didn't waste a second in crushing my own brain with [Invisible Providence].

I found myself standing at the curbside outside a convenience store.

...Did I just imagine that I killed myself? Regardless, I proceeded to smash my own heart with [Invisible Providence].

I was standing outside the convenience store.

"No…"

I jumped in front of a car.

I was standing outside the convenience store.

"No, no, no…!"

I jumped off a building. I jumped in front of a train. I slashed my own throat.

I was standing outside the convenience store. I was standing outside the convenience store. I was standing outside the convenience store.

"No, no, no, no!"

And so, just like that, Natsuki Subaru broke.

"It seems like a severe psychotic break. We're still awaiting neural imaging, but…"

"...Will he… ever…?"

"All we can do is hope, I'm afraid."

…

"It seems like a severe psychotic break. We're still awaiting neural imaging, but…"

"...Will he… ever…?"

"All we can do is hope, I'm afraid."

…

"It seems like a severe psychotic break. We're still awaiting neural imaging, but…"

"...Will he… ever…?"

"All we can do is hope, I'm afraid."

…

"It seems like a severe psychotic break. We're still awaiting neural imaging, but…"

...How many times, have they said those same things?

My eye twitched.

"...Will he…-"

"Oh my god, shut up! No! No, he's not ever getting better!" I yelled - and then, mom buried her face in my chest, crying.

...

"He got better!?" I yelled after a few seconds.

"Mom, Dad… Sorry for worrying you." I eventually said, as we entered the house again.

"...Subaru. You don't have to apologize. For now, let's just… let's just focus on recovery." Dad said.

Incidentally, I had been in a catatonic state for about three days. Although, considering I had heard that same conversation several times… it seems like I died a few times. The question, of course, is how?

...My defective gate. It must be. Beatrice-

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

...Beatrice told me, that if she didn't drain me of mana regularly, I would explode. So in other words, enough time went by and I exploded. Sasuga Shamak-san. You saved me, even now (lol).

Anyway, my parents' expectations of me going to school went out the window. Rather, even if I insisted, I wouldn't be allowed to go to school. Which meant…

"I'll have to teach myself, huh?" I mumbled. And with that, I entered my room.

…Right, I forgot.

There were posters of silver-haired girls from anime, light novels, and videogames covering my walls.

"Those are gonna have to go." I mumbled. But for now, I wanted to get started. I need to find a way back. I must find a way back. That's non-negotiable. So, I sat down on my computer, and began my self-education.

"Multiverse theory, parallel universes, and dimensional sliding… if magic isn't an option on Earth, I'll just use science!" I muttered, frantically typing away.

Of course, twelve deaths later, I finally discover that Magic was indeed a thing on Earth, but that's a story for another time.

A/N:

Pandora is just the worst.

Arc 1 Retrospective/Q&A

And with that, arc 1 is concluded. There's a few chapters of slice-of-life stuff before Orleans starts, but before I get to that, I want to take a moment to talk about the story so far.

When I started writing "Save Scumming" (god I wish I chose a different name lol) back in February, it was on a whim. I had no clue it was going to end up as my longest continuous work of fiction to date. In fact, I was almost certain that it was going to go for one or two chapters and then die. The google document that I use to actually write the story is literally titled "Mistake", because that's what I thought this story was at the time.

I had been wanting to write an FGO fic for a while. However, the idea that I almost went with was a completely different crossover, where Kasen Ibara (the Touhou Project equivalent of Ibaraki Douji) ends up having to work with Chaldea to save the world, and in the process confronts her chuuni past. And then, when I was around 400 words into the first chapter of that, my muse suddenly said "okay but what if Natsuki Subaru".

And then this happened. And just… kept happening. For chapter after chapter. At some point after starting the fic I got around to actually reading the webnovel (I made the weird decision to use post arc 6 subaru despite only knowing the contents of arcs 4 5 and 6 from the wiki synopsis).

And then I promptly fell in love with Re: Zero. I honestly think that series might rival my love for the Type-Moon franchise at this point, which is no small feat. It's fucking amazing, go read it if you haven't already.

Anyways, I don't know the meaning of "quit while you're ahead", so I'm gonna keep writing this story, and we'll see just where it ends up going.

About Fuyuki: that which nearly didn't happen.

Mordred's presence in this fic very nearly didn't happen. Subaru's first servant was literally decided by a poll on the Spacebattles forums, and Mordred was only tacked onto said poll at the very last minute. I very nearly chose to just ignore the poll and give him Kintoki or Jason,because they'd be fun. But in the end, I followed through on it, and I'm glad I did. Mordred absolutely shined this arc, and I'm super happy about that. Also, since it was her instead of Gilles de Rais (Saber), who was also an option, I was able to give Artoria more room to shine.

Cursed Arm Alter, and by extension Hanam, almost didn't happen. He was just an ordinary shadow servant right up until the chapter I wrote from his PoV, wherein I decided, "nah let's do this." That is, incidentally, why he kinda feels like an extra for most of the arc… I didn't end up having much for him to do. Part of me wonders if the right thing to do was just to have him disappear with Shaytan. Course, I also good have included dragon tooth warriors in the fight with Saber, and if I were to go back and rewrite this arc, that would probably be one of the big changes in it.

The second half of Cu vs. Archer was also on the cutting room floor. I contemplated just ending the chapter on Cu getting his spear and then offscreening Archer. Archer's reappearance to gank Subaru was also nearly not included, and I'm still not 100% sure that it was the right thing to do. It does let me set up [Mysterious Healer] for later though, so that's nice.

Subaru eating Angra Mainyu also nearly didn't happen, and if it remains in its current state there's no purpose in including it other than to fill space in the chapter. This is because... I fucked up. I had meant to include a traumatic flashback of Subaru's return to earth among the things he saw while digesting Angra, but I somehow totally forgot. So when I do my final pass over the arc to do edits over the next few days, that'll probably be added in there - and I'll be sure to leave a list of the edits before Orleans begins.

About Fuyuki: that which was not to be.

As always, some things were cut, or left out because I needed to practice self-restraint.

The fic almost opened with a recounting of Subaru's miserable return to earth and all the ways he died before reaching Chaldea - "but that's too depressing", I said to myself, and it was relegated to an offscreen event.

Subaru nearly reset to the day of his return to earth, instead of the day of his arrival at Chaldea, after which he would have worked his way onto the A-team and eventually gotten himself murdered by Beryl - "but I don't know enough about Beryl or Daybit's abilities, and I don't want to throw out the possibility of Lostbelt stuff by saving the A-team", I said to myself, and so that plot thread was cut.

Olga was nearly not saved - after which she would have turned up in fuyuki, with Subaru in the end being forced to use Gluttony to "eat" her memories and transfer her to a puppet body - "but there's no reason why Subaru's authority ought to be the same as the previous holder's and every reason why it shouldn't." I said to myself. Again, Angra was a special case, since his memories and name had already been more or less ground up by the Grail. Alternatively, he could have used Cor Leonis to share some of his "existence" with her - "but that would be way too weird", I said to myself, so I just had her not get exploded.

Subaru almost found Kaleidostick Ruby in the Tohsaka residence - "but that would be stupid", I said to myself, and it was relegated to an Omake that will be released some time in the next week or so.

The first time Subaru died to Artoria, Mordred Alter nearly popped out of the mud - "but that's just gratuitous at this point", I said to myself, so I didn't do that.

There was nearly a subplot where after dying to Salter Subaru whined about not having enough command spells, and Cu was like "lol I know where we can get some" and they went on a quest to loot Kotomine's body, only to find out he was still alive somehow, and get forced into yet another stupid conflict - "but everyone's gotta be sick of Fuyuki at this point", I said to myself, so I didn't do that.

...

...Well, that's about all of the weird extra stuff that got , here's a section where I compile the most important (or entertaining) questions I've received on every platform up to this point.

Q&A

Will [X] remember Subaru's failed timelines?

No. Only Natsuki Subaru remembers his failed timelines. Well, there's two or three others who due to some unique circumstances remember a few timelines from Lugnica, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Can [X] beat Reinhard?

Unless Reinhard is jobbing, you'd need to be on at least the level of Heracles to stand a chance against him.

Can [Re: Zero Character] be summoned as a servant?

When Subaru returned to Earth, he was recorded in the Throne as a Foreigner. As he was recorded, any records of other souls in within his soul, were also added to the Throne of Heroes. This includes:

All the prior holders of Sloth, though Sekhmet will not allow herself to be summoned if she can help it.

All the prior holders of Greed.

All the prior holders of Gluttony, though Roy Alphard has lost his existence, and Louis Arneb won't allow herself to be summoned if she can help it.

Anyone eaten by Gluttony, though things get weird for anyone who only had their 'name' or 'memories' eaten and not both.

And anyone whose book Subaru read in Taygeta.

Also, potentially the prior holders of Pride, if the "Subaru is Pride" theory pans out.

Will [Servant] be summoned by Subaru?

I have no frickin clue, I've not planned ahead enough to know every servant he'll summon.

Is Satella a Beast?

...Yes and no. She's the local equivalent of a Beast in Lugnica, but the exact details, ramifications, and implications of her role are not identical.

Will Events (i.e. GudaGuda and Kara no Kyoukai) happen in-story?

KnK yes, GudaGuda probably not. I'll probably stick to the less nonsensical events. Vengeful Demon's Wail in particular is one I've got high hopes for. *Villainous laughter*.

What was the deal with EMIYA Alter?

It was OG EMIYA right up until it wasn't. EMIYA got corrupted by the grail, and was slowly turning into his alter. But Edgemiya purposely didn't move to complete the transformation, instead opting to interfere with EMIYA's consciousness to lowkey sabotage Saber and keep Lev from noticing him until he got a chance to shoot him.

At some point during his fight with Cu, what remained of EMIYA got eroded away and his alter took control, hence his change in eye color and sudden propensity to bleed molten pyrite.

Will this fic continue?

Yes! Thank you to all of my readers for all your support thus far, and I hope to live up to your expectations going forward!

Review Responses:

Crown of Reaper said:

Theoreticaly speaking, if Barusu died in the void, when would he return to? You said that time doesn't exist is the void.

Odds are about 50/50 of him just going back to prior save point and not coming back at all. Depends on if Satella can find him or not.

Guest said:

what do you think is Od Laguna in type moon terms.

It's similar to the Root/Gaia/Alaya (which are all sorta the same thing but also not, it's weird). Of course, since it's a different world, the development of Od Laguna and its nature are quite different from any of those.

Reviews are bugged (again), so any reviews from times past July 9th are not showing up right now. Sorry to anyone who had a burning question that I can't read.

Any questions from before that time that weren't answered are things that I either already answered elsewhere or don't want to answer at the moment (either to give myself leeway or just to avoid spoiling).