Childhood I

"Waaaaart!" Artoria and Altria heard Kay yell while they were sparring in the early morning. A few things of note having happened in their relatively peaceful time in the village.

Altria was teaching her not to overextend in her swings and keep her sword close to her body to react to blows quicker. Kay had clearly just gotten up and was already frustrated about something. Likely because Artoria and him often pranked each other. They kept Altria out of it though, since they didn't want to go without her food for two days. Something like that had already happened once, thanks to Kay, who hit her with a spoonful of food.

Though Altria wasn't upset by the fact that Kay messed with her. She was upset at the waste of food and withheld Kay's meals for two days until he was on his knees apologizing. It had been relatively peaceful out in Tintagel but the murmurs of battles and war had been on Artoria's and Altria's minds.

Merlin had begun teaching Artoria in her dreams recently. Preparing her for her future and encouraging the spars she had with Altria. Every so often, Merlin would see into Altria's dreams but whatever lay inside her reality marble was protecting her. Something very unusual was happening within that befuddled the Magus of Flowers. He knew some strange influence was within the Reality Marble but whatever was protecting Altria was so very familiar to him.

The two, now ten year olds stopped their spar as Kay ran out to them, pointing at Artoria accusingly with an annoyed glare.

"Wart! Did you dump horse crap in my room!?" He asked, though he knew the answer already.

"Pfft..!" Artoria did her very best to hide her elation and coughed.

"Dear Brother, I have no idea what you mean..?" She tried her best to retort with a neutral face, yet her eye was twitching.

"Artoria.." Altria said in exasperation.

"What? Kay keeps feeding his horse that awful feed that makes it poop. so. much.." Artoria retorted with an indignant glare.

"Is that true, Kay?" Altria raised her brow and looked at Kay, who froze.

"Why no! I have not! It must be Wart's imagination at play.. Remember? She thinks Goblins and Dragons are real!" Kay dramatically exclaimed, making Artoria huff in embarrassed annoyance.

"*Sigh* Well Merlin is a Wizard, is he not? Is it so far fetched to believe in Dragons and Goblins if that were the case, Kay?" Altria lightly chided him, earning Artoria's smile and an odd 'wagging' of her ahoge.

~Ah.. there's one of the many reasons I like seeing Artoria happy~ Altria nodded to herself, keeping the ahoge in the corner of her eye.

As they walked through the town Artoria became uncharacteristically frustrated. Seeing a particular group of kids their age who always seemed to have it out for Artoria and Altria especially. The ringleader of their group was the son of the Noble who owned the town, Owen Tintagel. He was popular among the children, mainly because their parents had told them to get close to him. Not many liked him due to his arrogance, haughtiness and scorn he often shown others. Of course he only acted this way when his Father wasn't present.

He irked Artoria, not because he was rude to her specifically. They were both squires and he gave her a modicum of respect a Squire should have. He was rude to Altria. His Father often encouraged him to try and woo Altria but as a ten year old, he wasn't interested in girls yet. Altria was teased and mocked by Owen the most. Mainly due to her being better at him when it comes to swordplay. His pride wouldn't allow himself to be bested by a girl mainly acknowledged for her skills in cooking and cleaning.

He often got into fights with Artoria due to his comments about Altria not being a squire and wasting her time trying to learn how to fight. She always bested him so he took to other methods to try and pester Altria, even though she seemed not to care. Seeing an opportunity before him, Owen grinned and childishly stuck out his chest.

"If it isn't my fellow Squire and the pretender and- O-Oh sir Kay!?" He failed to notice Kay was walking with them, too fixated on Altria and Artoria.

Sighing, Kay simply waved him off as if it didn't concern him.

~Can't deal with all of Wart and Altria's problems. Artoria's assertive and won't back off but I've yet to see how Altria deals with these kinds of problems. Well.. aside from just ignoring them anyway~ Kay walked further ahead and watched as Artoria started a childish argument with the boy.

He knew Artoria was quite protective of Altria, simply due to the fact that Altria never shouted back. She never tried to fight the boy either, so Artoria thought her shy and always took it upon herself to defend her honor. To Altria, however, she thought Owen was trying to play with them and simply zoned out. She was focused on learning Artoria's mood by the behavior of her ahoge. It was standing straight up, she was annoyed or mad. Deciding to pay attention to their argument, she understood why.

"Altria may not be a squire but she is far better with a blade than you!" Artoria huffed in annoyance.

~Me? They're fighting about me? I don't remember offending anyone~ Altria thought back to all Owen's comments and attributed them to childish teasing no different than how Kay and Artoria went at each other.

The only thing that bothered her a little were the voiced opinions of the adults saying she shouldn't be learning how to use swords. Though it only bothered her because Artoria has to hide her gender. The argument got louder and Artoria looked ready to beat some kids up. Righteously, of course.

"Then have her slay the beast that lives in the forest if you're so sure Altria is worthy of being a Knight!" He scoffed in annoyance as he glared at Artoria.

"The beast in the woods?" Altria asked but Artoria, seeing her intrigue, paled.

"Don't you know? It's said there's a beast out in the woods that eats our livestock. They say it just moved into the area a month ago!" Owen could barely keep his fear of the beast from showing through his bravado.

"It's probably just a stray wolf! Altria can easily beat such a beast! It's you who's scared!" Artoria folded her arms and scoffed.

"Wolf!? Tch.. I can beat a wolf, easy! Come on, guys.." Owen scowled and took off with several of the boys following him.

"Ar..thur, you know you don't have to argue with others for me. I'm sure you could even make friends with him if you could get past his childish insults" Altria said, seeing her expression morph into one of disgust.

"Him? A friend!? Never. I abhor those who look down on your efforts and mock you.." She finished with a frown.

"Besides, Altria.. You are the best and only friend I could ever ask for" Artoria finished and smiled at her.

Altria's eyes widened as she took in her earnest expression. She was hit with a myriad of feelings all at once. Happiness, Nostalgia and Longing. Blinking the water that slowly built up in her eyes, she hugged Artoria.

"You are very important to me too, Artoria. Thank you" Altria smiled back and they all continued their walk while Kay was grinning to himself.

Once they finished their walk around Tintagel, which Artoria dubbed their 'patrol duty', they returned back to their home. But they all heard some of the children from earlier screaming. Two of them were running toward them with tears in their eyes. Kay and a few adults immediately knew something was up and intercepted the boys.

"Hey. Hey! What are you crying over? What happened?" Kay asked as Artoria and Altria walked over to hear them.

"O-Owen went to.. fight the monster in the forest and.. and he.." The boy could barely continue through the terrified sobs.

"Monster? That was just a tall tale to get you kids not to explore the forest and get lost! Oh for.." Kay finished with a sigh and looked at the adults nearby.

"All of you come with me. They probably got scared by a Wolf or Wild Boar and scattered. Get your swords and meet up at the edge of the forest. Hurry!" Kay ran off as the rest of the adults went to grab their weapons.

"Altria do you- ..Do you think it's my fault? What if he truly did meet some beast out there?" Artoria seemed genuinely worried, not wishing for any real harm to come to the boy.

Altria had already felt a strange, burning need to try and help with the search. Then Artoria seemed to think it was her fault. She resolved herself and put her hand on Artoria's shoulder.

"Arthur, let's go help him. If he did meet a true beast out there, he'll need all the help he can get" Altria took her hand and ran off back to their house to retrieve their training swords.

Just as quickly as they got them, they took off into the forest in the direction where the boys ran from. Ector had been watching them from inside the house and sighed as they both took off on their own.

"Merlin, I know she is to be King but she is still only ten. I know Altria is with her but what if it's truly a monster?" Ector asked, seemingly to no one.

~Oh it is. Phantasmal species you can call them. Just a Demon Boar though~ Merlin's voice answered back in his head casually.

"Oh just a D..-"

~...~

"..."

~It's not huge. An adolescent, really!~ Merlin hurriedly tried to cover for himself.

What he got in reply was a long, tired and annoyed sigh.

-Tintagel forest-

Altria and Artoria were quickly running through the forest, training swords in hand as they looked for signs of Owen or the beast.

They quickly found it. The men from the village were quickly retreating back to the village. Some were injured with broken bones and deep wounds. Kay wasn't with them, likely trying to face the beast alone. This alone was enough to spur Artoria on, who quickly charged forward into the direction the men were retreating from.

"Arthur!" Altria was hardly surprised by this and ran after her as her mind raced.

~She's always been one to selflessly charge in.. Not thinking- No.. Not caring that she could be hurt~ Altria thought as her fingers gripped the grip of her training sword tightly.

They were greeted with the sight of a Demon Boar easily shaking off Kay's attacks. Kay himself was trying desperately not to be hit by the Boar's monstrous attacks that pulverized the trees around it. One of which trees held a terrified Owen, who was clutching onto a branch with all the strength he could muster. Artoria hadn't even considered staying back and immediately went to assist Kay with Altria.

"Wart!? Altria!? What are you two fools doing here!? Damn it!" Kay cursed and rolled away from a deadly kick by the Boar.

"I cannot stand by while a beast hurts my neighbors and brother, Kay!" Artoria recognized the danger and steeled herself, attacking its snout when it charged at them, all of them managing to roll away before it slammed into a large tree, toppling it.

"I hardly damaged that thing with an iron blade, Wart! That training sword is dull and won't do anything but irk the beast" Kay backed up and prepared to get his sisters out of the fight.

Altria had figured that out before Artoria's blade even met the Boar. It was too fast to blind. Too strong to get close. She felt a strange feeling bud inside her as she helped Kay move Artoria and herself away from its next charge. Kay wasn't without injury, however. He was violently thrown into a tree with a loud 'thud'. Artoria, not experienced enough not to know not to take your eyes off your enemy yet, quickly ran over to Kay in worry. The Boar set its sights on its new and distracted target.

Time seemed to slow for Altria as her unique Dragon-like eyes narrowed.

~No..~ She felt something give, like a dam had just given way for a large lake.

She reached out for Artoria, who had just noticed she was in the Boar's path.

~'These hands, which previously could never hold anything.. I will hold you once more'~ Altria heard the distant voice of a man speak.

~'Remember how long you searched.. Grasp it once again. Save your beloved'~

"Trace, on"

[A/N: Half the length but man.. Work, you know? I just hated making you wait so long. Sorry! Scream at me if I fucked this up though]