A Different Fate - [Rewrite]

Chapter 2:Waking up

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When Gilgamesh woke up, the first thing he noticed was the burning smell and the dry air that come with a fire. High flames were slowly and noiselessly consuming the scattered remains of the desolated place around him.

The second thing he noticed was his lack of clothing. He was completely naked.

And the third thing he noticed was the woman he had been shielding within his arms, still lying in his lap, lacking clothes as well.

Keeping the unconscious King of Knights in his grasp, he looked around. Everything was burnt and surrounded by flames, and it appeared that not only the building in which they had been before had exploded, but also quite a few nearby places.

Gilgamesh shook his head lightly. What had the black mud done to him, except for taking his clothes – and his valuable golden armour, he thought in irritation?

Apparently, nothing.

Or maybe, something had been done after all. He seemed… to be alive.

He had… a real body.

He was no longer dependent on someone else's mana.

Intrigued by the unexpected development, he felt for Saber's pulse.

She was alive as well, it appeared… and they both had real bodies – who cared if they were naked.

Gilgamesh stood up, with his usual haughtiness. He looked around – there was nothing suitable to be used as a piece of clothing, except for some half-burnt curtains in one corner of the former room that had miraculously escaped the fire.

He scoffed.

Those were hardly appropriate to cover someone such as himself and the woman he had taken the trouble to hold in his arms while the black mud surrounded them. But they would do – for the time being. He went to take them, and put one around the king on the floor. He didn't bother to avoid looking at her naked body – after all, she was going to be his wife, whether she wanted it or not – but he did not touch her more than what was strictly necessary to cover her. Even if she was his, and therefore his to do whatever he pleased, by carrying the weight of her burdens until the very end she had earned the right to at least that little form of respect on his part.

Once Gilgamesh had put the other curtain around his sculptured body to cover himself as well, he picked up the sleeping King of Knights in his arms. He took notice that Saber was surprisingly light.

Thinking about her, it occurred to him that it was better to stop calling her with her Servant's Class title. Her name was Arturia – a strange name, he mused – and he would now begin to use it.

He walked across the desolation left by the Grail's dark substance, caring little for the destroyed building and looking at it with contempt.

To his mild surprise, he found another living person amongst the rubble – Kotomine Kirei.

For some inexplicable reason, the priest was alive without having his heart beating. He had been drenched in the Grail's strange mud, too, and had apparently been granted life. He had seen Kiritsugu earlier as well, but the man had been completely mentally broken and was wandering around senselessly, looking for other survivors. He had found a young boy, and had then cried in relief while taking him to safety. Kirei had not found it interesting to kill either him or the child, so he had simply watched them go.

The priest related those facts to the King of Heroes, wondering at him now having a real body.

However, as soon as he saw Arturia, he raised an eyebrow and swiftly took out a dagger. Gilgamesh raised an eyebrow as well, held the woman more tightly against his chest and coldly stared the priest down.