Arc 1-2: Fake!Arturia Interlude

"Where... am I," I spoke groggily while caressing my throat.

I blink in a daze as I shook off the nauseating headaches within my head, now with improved clarity. presently, I'm standing somewhere foreign and unknown, familiar yet unfamiliar as the designs of the man-made structures of my surroundings is a bit of a twenty-first century, the abrupt change of my surroundings is enough for my mind to blank with bemusement plastered on my face ... yet I can't help but feel something's amiss.

'Oh...' I immediately realized what's the problem.

'...So it's not a dream...' I wistfully though in sadness.

Looking at the evening sky, my mouth gapes at the sudden change of time and the fact that there's a large gap between my memories.

'Have I slept that long?" I absently muttered out loud.

'I must've been more stressed than I thought.' I thought inwardly this time once I noticed my mouth moved.

The whole ordeal is very confusing and I'm left with fear lingering in my heart as it tries to thump its way put off my chest, the very idea that I couldn't go back into my home knots my heart as I swallow the lump within my throat. Between the start of a step and my foot reaching the ground, I'm just somewhere else. Standing on an uncomfortable bed of pebbles underneath a tree. There's a hot spring pool in front of me, and a glass roof over my head. With walls of wooden slats or paper surrounding this little enclosed courtyard.

A glance at my hands shows an unfamiliar, a sort of healthy porcelain skin underneath the metallic gloves, unblemished and loss its scars of hardships. Pulling my hair forward shows a thin, light mane that is gold as the morning light instead of the thick brown-black I'm used to. On the one hand, it's annoying to lose my very body. On the other, this new one seems to be in excellent condition in terms of cosmetics and healthcare despite its noodle arms.

My body seemingly shrunk and the loss of body mass feels ... disorienting and weird, my previous one isn't bad or good per se, but it has a built of a natural bodybuilder but this one is lean, too lean --or is it petite?-- from what I'm used to but and has a far better foundation.

The clothes are new as well, or armour shall we say, I halt my introspection when I notice a mirror somewhere out of the corner of my eye. My appearance is just as what I expected, a spitting carbon copy of Arturia Pendragon of the Fate series.



How... humiliating to be a female, not to mention. A twig.

This is what she gets for poking her nose where it doesn't belong to, good thing Arturia is a high-class servant otherwise she'd be sorely disappointed in herself.

Somewhat satisfied with the introspection, and with curiosity abate. I wander around the area to acclimate in my surroundings, I kept my silence and walk with upmost caution as I could lest I earn the ire of Gilgamesh.

'Actually, is he even still asleep?'

Looking at the far corner of my vision, I saw an empty & neatly cleaned futon innocently lying around. Finding that I'm alone, my attention is snatched around the corner of the room as I quickly look at the sheathed sword idling against the wall. I couldn't help but feel restless as I retrieve [Excalibur] at my person and unsheath half of it's the length.

I see the reflection of my determined green eyes as I ponder of my situation, from what I could remember, I've just arrived yesterday night. Mentally exhausted and confused before meeting the Carbon copy of Gilgamesh, we're at the same boat and to survive against the locals and future enemies that is yet to come. We build an alliance to watch each other's back.

I have yet to step outside to get a better understanding but that could be done later.

With unknown factors to consider, I decided to wait for Gilgamesh to arrive to bolster our chances at exploring,-- lest I regret my shortsighted decision. For now, I shall further acclimate at this new vessel until he arrives.

But before I could move towards my destination which is within the backyard, I saw a map sitting in the table. With my inquisitive nature, I found myself curious and walking towards it before shock bolts into my mind.

​

'Isn't that a map?'

Specifically, that of Fuyuki, does that mean that I'm in a fate franchise?

It's unlikely for Gilgamesh to spend time on something useless or childish as a prank, especially in our peculiar situation, there's also a book beside it with a sticky note attached at the front cover with bold words written in black ink :

​

[Fate: Zero]​

​

"..."​

Arturia could only stare at the title with a blank expression. She could feel her neurons firing, her entire mind going into overdrive as she considered exactly what the implications were for this information. It was certainly possible that this was nothing more than a ruse, but as she thought about it, she couldn't help but find it plausible considering everything that happened to her.

She doesn't consider herself as an avid Otaku with a good head within her shoulders regarding meta-knowledge, but she's aware enough that there's an inevitable war has yet to come, and she could use this spare of time of hers to warm herself at top shape.

Arturia has a lot of experience and is knowledgeable regarding swordsmanship and basic hand to hand combat. More so when it comes to war, she's not the best strategic person but she considers herself decent enough.

With newfound resolve, she huffs in irritation at the challenges present as she put fear at good use as a good fuel to ignite her desire to thrive.

Arturia originally want to save her kingdom, but with the three routes humbling her with a boyfriend material. She changed and she could care less of the false grail itself, knowing that it would've spill catastrophic disasters without gaining a benefit. 

But that's Arturia, not her.

'...I should probably go now.'

With that said, she walks warily and wearily as she could already feel the incoming headaches knocking in.

​

So...goals.

short term?​

Acclimate, Training and Survive.

Long term?

Pending.