Characters: Saber (blue) (
saber_violinist) and Gilgamesh (black) (
gate-of-babylon)
Date/time: 7 Aug, 2008, 2:10 AM (back dated)
Location: Saber's dojo
Rating: PG (Kiddy kissing!)
Summary: Flashback to Saber and Gilgamesh's childhood, when, while playing, they get lost in the woods.
Bending back the tall grass, the wind from the autumn’s crisp air pulled the multicolored leaves from the trees, scattering them among the ground.
"9...10! Here I come!" A child-like voice shouted with a laugh, peeling her hands quickly away from her eyes and running into the little red barn behind the huge mansion that stood out front of it. Looking everywhere with narrowed eyes, the little girl was as stealthy as could be. She sneaked up behind what looked like a golden hay stack with the mixture of that golden hair.
Stifling the giggle that threatened to give away his hiding place, he waited to see if she could find him this time. She always seemed to be able to find him; she was pretty good at this game, and she could run faster and climb trees better than even most of the boys. It was always so much fun playing with her.
Climbing on top of the hay barrel, and looking down with a cat like grin, she poked his golden locks, twisting one playfully about her finger saying in a song like voice, as if to tease him.
"I found ya again, Gil!"
Her nose wrinkled lightly, and stuck her tongue out him childishly as she teased him lightly. Jumping from the hay stack and onto her feet, she ran about it sitting next to him, the back of her hand covering her mouth as she giggled.
"Aaaaawwww!" he exclaimed, pouting and crossing his arms. He was so sure she would never have been able to find him this time!
"You always find me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Were you peeking?"
She gasped loudly at how he called her on peeking, but covered over it quickly.
"No! I would never peek. Girls do not peek." She insisted, putting her nose into the air, her blond hair behind moving behind her neck. The navy bow in her hair started to slide out a bit from the hard day of playing and rough housing.
"It’s not my fault that you always pick the worst places to hide." Giggling, she put her arms around him, giving him a free cootie cuddle to stop his pouting.
"Yes they do! Girls peek as much as boys. So..." he ended his sentence by sticking his tongue out at her. "Cheater."
He tried flailing as she hugged him, which always seemed to make her laugh at him even more.
"Heeeeeeey!" he protested ineffectually. The truth was that he liked it: he enjoyed getting attention from her.
Seeing him flailing around like that reminded her of a fish out of water, making her laugh at him even more.
"It’s a Gilgamesh fish!" She teased, standing up quickly, knowing he would counter her cuddle with a merciless tickle to the rib cage.
"If you don't stop, I'm gonna tickle you!" he warned.
He would have probably done it anyway if she had not stood up out of his reach.
"I have a new game I wanna play! Mama made me watch a TV show yesterday, saying ‘It will make you smarter than all the children around, if you don’t remember it, you’ll be in trouble.’ So I watched it and it was about a guy with your name…"
She told him her story and jab a finger at him. "His name was Gilgamesh the hero! He was a king from a long long long long long long…"
She paused, taking in a deep breath. "…Long long very long time ago."
"Yeah, I already know that," he said, feeling a little smug. "My mum says I was named after that king, 'cause she's from his country."
Her finger turned to point at her almost as fast as she pointed at him saying with a proud grin.
"Father says that our family comes from a long line of kinds from Camelot, so I’m going to be Queen Arturia and you can be King Gilgamesh. Our countries are now at war, my castle is over there…" she pointed toward the thicket of gnarled tree branches and an old stone wall.
"My kingdom reaches the might river that divides our kingdoms!"
It took seconds for her to create a whole world of imaginary places and creations.
"Then..." he looked around, quickly deciding where his 'kingdom' would be.
There was an old well that had been filled in, and the stonemasonry seemed to him the closest thing to the pyramids that his mother had described to him, ruins of that ancient civilisation.
"That," he indicated the well, "is my castle!"
Once he had pointed off, she sprinted through the tall grass and toward the stone wall, hopping over it and dashing into the woods, laughing the whole way. Once at the river, she drew up an imaginary battle plan to her knights of the round rock, seeing as it was the only thing round in the area. Turning around to head back out of the woods, she stopped, eyes darting about.
The stone wall, her house, Gil’s house, and the barn were all out of sight. The snapping of a tree branch in the distance made her turn, looking about in the woods. Yelping, she ran further into the woods, dropping her bow along the way.
It did not take long for him to become bored, since she was off planning her battles and therefore was not around to play with or tease. Hopping off his perch on the well wall, he followed the trail into the woods that she had taken.
"Arturia!" he called out. "Are you done yet? I'm bored!" However, when she failed to answer back, he began to wonder if something had happened to her.
"Arturia?" he called out again.
Stopping, she turned every which way, looking around for anything familiar, like a rock or tree. Covering her mouth she took in a deep breath, eyes brimming with tears. In the distance she heard her name being called.
"G…" it was Gil’s voice, but from which direction, she was unsure they all looked the same.
"Gilgamesh?" She rushed in the direction further away from him, thinking it was the way his voice came from.
He could hear her voice call out, though it seemed as if she was actually getting further away from him. He vaguely remembered something his father had instructed him to do if he was ever separated from his parents and lost.
"Arturia! Stay right there! I'll come find you! Don't move!"
He happened to look down and saw a flash of bright blue: her hair ribbon. Picking it up, he knew it meant he was on the right track.
Hearing what he told her, she nodded her head lightly and stopped where she was. Sitting against the tree, her knees hugged under her chin, she closed her eyes tightly and sang a soft song to keep herself semi-calm.
"It’s all right, everything is okay…" she whispered lightly, rocking slowly on her toes.
Praying Gil would find her, the minutes seemed to pass like slow and sour hours.
Trying to keep calm as best he could, he followed the trail through the woods where it seemed as if she had gone. Some of the foliage had been disturbed where she had run, so following that trail seemed like a good idea.
As he came closer, he could hear soft singing, which must have meant that he was going in the right direction.
"Arturia?" he called out uncertainly.
Footsteps were coming closer, and her name was called.
"G-Gilgamesh?!" Standing up quickly, she had the urge to run in his direction, but did as he told her and stayed put.
"I’m here, Gil…"
She could make out his figure coming toward her, and once she saw it, she sprinted toward it, dipping and ducking under tree branches.
He could just make out the figure running toward him, and he almost cried with relief. But he was a boy and boys were not supposed to cry, so instead he waved his arms up over his head, her blue ribbon in hand, and yelled as loud as he could.
"Heeeeeey! I'm over here!"
Getting closer and closer by the second, she reached him and threw her arms around his neck.
"Gil! I’m so happy!" Finally letting out a sob as she clung to him for dear life, her body trembled with terror. Coughing lightly, her grip on him tightened lightly and she snuggled closer to him.
"I’m sorry, I’m so sorry," she sobbed, fearing he would be angry with her for getting so lost in the woods.
Too happy that she was all right to be angry with her, he simply hugged her with no thought to how embarrassing it would be if someone saw them. Still, he had no idea what to do about her tears: they made him feel bad.
"D-don't cry..." he said nervously. "We just gotta get back, that's all."
It was easier said than done: he had been so caught up in finding her that he paid little attention to his surroundings, possibly becoming as lost as she was. But he was not about to tell her that.
Summoning up his courage, he took her by the hand, leading her back the way that he thought he came from. "C'mon."
Pulling away from him slowly, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as she sniffled lightly. Holding his hand in return, she nodded and stayed silent. Her cheeks slightly flushed, her normally calmness coming back ever so slowly. She followed behind him, both hands holding onto his one hand.
"Which way d-do we go?" she asked him as she rubbed her one eye again with her hand, placing it back on his after she did.
"It's OK, I know where to go," he lied.
He hoped he was not leading them deeper into the woods, but it was better than waiting for someone to find them. That would only scare her more, he thought.
"Just...follow me," he tried reassuring her as he traced a trail through the woods where it seemed the foliage had been broken, holding her hands with one hand and her ribbon in the other.
Watching his face, hearing his words and his courage, she smiled lightly remembering the T.V. show her mother had her watch about Gilgamesh. He was truly like the King of Heroes. It was something that reassured her greatly, even though in truth, he was just as lost as her. Thankfully, that was something she didn’t know.
He hoped she would not ask how much further it was, since he honestly had no idea. It was also beginning to get dark, which would make things even harder. But his parents had both instilled pride in him ever since he was old enough to understand, and it meant being a leader to others under any circumstances. He had to take charge; it was his responsibility.
Seeing the colors mixing in the distant horizon, she whispered in a small voice. "Gil…W-We should stop before it gets dark. We’ll never find our way back home in the dark…"
She hated feeling weaker than anyone, physically and mentally, but this time, she’d let it slide. Hopefully, he’d forget all about this when he was older.
She was right, he knew. Keeping the panic out of his voice as best he could, he replied, "But we don't know if anyone will find us out here."
Part of it was his pride, but part of it was that he was frightened as well.
"Don't be scared, Arturia," he reassured her, keeping himself as calm as he could so that she would not panic.
Taking in a deep breath, she grasped his hand softly saying in a soothing voice, "They will. But we should stop. If it gets dark, it’ll be harder to build a shelter and find our way back."
Her wit came through in the worst of times, but it would be best. "I-I’m not scared, you’re here with me, Gil. I’m not scared anymore." She let a small smile crawl onto her lips before looking at the ground.
Since she seemed to be back to her senses, he decided to follow her advice. "OK," he said. "If you're sure you're not scared."
Looking around at the woods around them, he asked. "What should we do? I don't know how to build a shelter."
Looking at the ground, eyes darting about lightly, she saw a familiar looking weed. Carefully she touched it, making sure it was not something else. It was as she thought, and looking at Gil, she pointed at it.
"This plant here, I saw it in a book, is good to sleep on if you’re ever lost. It’s a soft plant that can provide for a good bed."
After her explanation, she released his hand and then started picking up sticks and leaning them against a tree.
"We’ll have to set them up like this and then lay some on top of it…" she said, looking at it with one hand on her chin.
"We need bigger sticks," he said, half to himself, and tried dragging a larger branch to where Arturtia had started to pile up sticks.
He struggled with the branch - much larger than he was - and dragging it took all his strength. It was slow going, but he managed to bring it to the tree.
Setting up the sticks, almost looking like a fence type structure, she made it long enough to stretch out and wide enough for the two of them. Taking a few of the sticks she laid them across the top. Once it was completed, she looked around the woods, seeing a few ivy branches hanging from the trees.
"Gilgamesh, gimme a hand, these ivy plants we can hang in front to keep the wind out, we’ll try and find a thorny bush to put in front in case of any animals that might try to come poke at the shelter." Her tiny arms flailed above her head, trying to reach it.
He did not argue, since she knew what she was doing, probably taught how to build one. Instead, he carefully climbed up one of the trees she had pointed to, gathering as much of the ivy as he could and tossed it down to her.
When he had gathered as much of it as he could, he asked, "Is that enough?"
Once placing them in front of the opening of the shelter, she nodded her head looking up at him. "Yes, that’s enough."
Gathering more sticks, she placed them on the ground, using her foot to dust away the leaves in a circle formation. Using rocks to circle the dirt area and tossing the sticks inside of it. She sat on her knee banging together to rocks near the sticks. Her face showing she was determined to lit a fire for them.
Climbing back down, he noticed that she was trying to start a fire, one of the things that he did know how to do. "Wait....you need something to put under the sticks..."
He arranged the sticks so that they were piled up into a pyramid shape before taking some dry leaves and carefully placing them beneath the stacked sticks. "You have to light the leaves first," he explained.
Letting him take over the fire making business, she nodded as she listened to him. Watching as the fire soon became a blaze, she noticed the sky getting darker and darker. "Add more leaves…" picking one up and placing it into the pit of fire.
"It’ll create smoke and get attention back at the house, but not too many to smother it." warning lightly about what help they could be.
Sitting down finally, she let out a sigh looking around for a thorn bush, none were in plain sight, and she was not about to venture off to find any. She would pull a lot of sticks in front to stop any invaders from coming in. She sat there silent, watching the fire as it danced.
He sat beside her once the fire was started, watching it quietly. The task of setting up their shelter and starting the fire had preoccupied them enough to keep them from being afraid, but once it was done and the sky had darkened, there was little to keep his mind off their predicament. Hugging his knees to his chest, he rested his chin on his knees and watched the fire silently.
"Gil…" a whisper came from the side as she threw in another leave into the fire. "I’m sorry. This is all my fault."
Twirling a leaf between her fingers, not looking at him, she was ashamed of herself. "If I hadn’t thought of such a stupid game, we wouldn’t be here. It’s all my fault, if we get out of here, please don’t hate me…"
She whispered as she threw the leaf into the fire, watching as small smoke clouds headed up into the atmosphere. Then she was silent again.
He thought for a moment, unsure of what to say at first. "I liked the game, Arturia. It was fun. We just went too far into the woods, that's all."
Looking at her cautiously, he asked, "We'll still get to play together, right? Our mums and dads won't make us stop because we got lost, will they?"
At the moment, the thought of not being able to play with her again frightened him more than being out in the woods for the night.
Thinking over what he had said, she wondered what her mother would say once they were, or if, found.
"Mother will be upset, that’s for certain, but I do not think they would make us stop playing with one another. It was an accident, getting lost I mean." She picked up another leave and placing it into the fire as it smoked up into the sky.
The thought of not being able to play with Gil ever again, it was scary, thinking about it made her want to cry. "If they do make us stop…" she said, scooting closer to him, and placing her head on his shoulder, "I want to be able to remember this day, even if it was scary, I want to be able to remember you."
Fear was quickly replaced by determination and a hint of his usual mischief.
"If they don't let me, I'll come play with you anyway!" he said defiantly, giggling. "I'm never gonna forget you. And when we're grown up, we'll get married."
He nodded. "My dad said that people who like each other do that. Then we can play all the time."
Shocked by his words, she was not really sure what married people really did, or if they played all the time. From seeing her parents together, it looked like they were always happy with each other. Maybe she would be happy like that, if she had someone.
"Okay! I accept! We’ll get married." nodding her head repeatedly with a large grin, taking his still larger hand in hers.
"I can’t wait, Gil," she said, her body moving closer to him slowly.
He thought for a moment. "I went with my mum and dad to one, and..."
He blushed, fidgeting. Boys usually made fun of each other at the mere possibility of kissing a girl. But Arturia was fun to play with, so it didn't seem so bad. "You're supposed to, um, kiss when you get married."
Eyes growing wide, the fire glowing within them, her cheeks started to slowly heat up with a small tint of red to her pale cheeks. "I-If that’s what it takes to be able to stay friends with you Gilgamesh, then I will."
Gulping, her hand grasping his softly, she looked away from him quickly, unsure of what to do.
"W-well I don't remember a lot, just that there was a lot of talking...it was really boring so I don't remember. I just remember them kissing and then they said they were married."
He squirmed a little, embarrassed, the fire illuminating his blushing face.
"So I guess that's what you have to do."
"I-If that’s what you have to do…" Her voice grew to a soft whisper, turning her head slowly to look at him, her cheeks a bright red, but that was from the fire, she thought to herself. The thought of kissing a boy, that was one thing, but kissing Gilgamesh was an entirely different game. They were friends.
He was determined to not let his embarrassment get the better of him. If this meant he could be friends with Arturia forever, he would do anything. Standing up and brushing leaves off his backside, he held out a small hand to her.
"They were standing in front of this guy, but I guess we can just pretend."
His abrupt stand made her tip back a bit, looking up at him, blinking. Taking his hand and standing, brushing off her skirt free of leaves and forest debris, she stood facing him, listening to everything he told her to do. She had no smart remarks about anything they were doing, seeing as she had no idea what to do.
It was a dim memory, though he did his best to reconstruct what he faintly remembered.
"They were holding hands like this..." he said, taking both her hands in his. "And the guy said some words, I just remember 'husband and wife', and then they kissed. So..." he took a deep breath.
"Husband and wife," he pronounced as gravely as the little boy was capable, and as was what he thought proper, leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
Taking his hands when he had taken hers, warmth crawled all over her body. The awkward kiss that she was given from the little boy was slowly returned, her eyes shut tightly as she did. It lasted for what seemed like slowly sifting by minutes, it was comforting and enjoyable, to say the least, even in this predicament.
He was very surprised to find out that kissing wasn't so bad, after all. He had kissed his parents many times before that, but one of the unwritten rules of boyhood was that a boy was not supposed to kiss a girl like that. It was supposed to mean that you fancy them, though he did not understand what exactly that meant. He pulled away slowly, as he saw at the wedding.
"I...I think that means we're married," he said softly. "'Least, I think that's what it's supposed to mean. Maybe that's why we're not supposed to kiss?"
Opening her eyes when he pulled away, she was speechless. Gilgamesh was one of her best friends, actually, the best friend she could have. She hardly had been kissed before, a peck on the head from her father on his way out the door, or a pat on the head from her mother. Nothing like that, ever. It was a magical feeling.
"I…I don’t mind kissing…and I’m happy that we’re married now. At least, we’ll be able to play together again."
Grinning widely, he nodded. "Yep! We'll be best friends forever!"
Though he was too embarrassed to admit this, he hoped he would be able to kiss her again as well. It was a very different feeling from when he kissed his mother, and he enjoyed it immensely.
"I...I liked the kissing, too," he admitted.
"They're gonna laugh at me, though," he mumbled, thinking about the merciless teasing he would be receiving from the other boys.
Flopping back down onto the ground, looking into the fire, feeling herself getting tired. Yawning, and covering her mouth as she did. "Do not listen to what they say. They just don’t understand."
Yawning again, she nodded her head. "I liked it too…" she repeated her eyes overlapping.
"I’m going to go to bed, I’m tired." Standing slowly, she felt her way around trying to find the shelter.
When she mentioned how tired she was, he could feel his own eyelids growing heavy. "Yeah, me too," he said, finding the shelter they had built.
"Here," he told her, taking her hand and leading her to it.
Following him to the shelter, she let him go in first and then blocked the entrance with the sticks pilling on atop the other. Lying down on the soft bed she had made, closing her eyes, trying to sleep. She cuddled close to Gil, getting a bit scared of the forest’s darkness.
He in turn cuddled close to her, shivering from the cold and knowing if they stayed together like that, it would be easier for them to fight off the chill. With great care, he hugged her to keep her as warm as he was able.
"G'night," he said sleepily.
The night was long, and she hardly got the sleep she needed. It was in the early morning when she woke up, hearing the sounds of voices in the distance.
"Gil. Gil, wake up." she shook him furiously, hearing the voices, and wondering if he had as well.
It was not difficult to wake him, since he had hardly gotten any sleep himself. "Ugh...I'm awake, I'm awake!" he insisted sleepily.
He could just make out voices in the distance. "Are there people over there?"
"I think so!" she replied, pushing down the blocked entrance, the large sticks tumbling down and hitting the ground harshly with loud thumps and thuds.
"I think it might be Papa!!" she cried, scrambling to her feet, the fire still lit with a few embers, she picked up a stick to turn then to light the fire in order to see in the dark.
Crawling out of their shelter and peering into the darkness, he thought he could make out faint lights among the trees.
"Mum? Dad? Is that you?" he called out. "We're over here!"
The silhouette that shaped from the darkness, slowly stepped into the dim light of the fire. The blond haired, scruffy looking bearded man, his eyes a bright blue. He was so like Arturia in many ways, it was uncanny.
"Pa…" the young girls eyes grew larger, brimming with tears, then she ran toward him, he opened his arms with a chuckle.
"Papa!" She jumped onto him, clinging onto his over coat and onto him.
"Did Gilgamesh protect you?" he asked in a whisper, she just nodded in reply.
Looking over at Gilgamesh, his hand reached over and ruffled his hair softly.
"I’m proud. Thank you young man, without you, my little girl would be lost. Thank you."
Her father seemed to be getting slightly emotional over this, but kept a firm look on his face.
Not long after that, Gilgamesh was reunited with his own worried parents. He knew he would be in real trouble later, but for the moment he was overjoyed just to see them, hugging his tearful mother tightly, fighting back his own tears.
After a while, she was carried by her father a majority of the way, he set her on her feet when he stepped over the wall, seeing the house in sight. Looking over toward Gilgamesh, she trotted over to him, tugging on his sleeve. "G-Gilgamesh…"
Blushing softly, she smiled. "You truly are the king of heroes, the queen of the north thanks you for helping her when she was lost and in need."
Leaning in closer to him, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She turned quickly and ran back to her father, holding onto his coat with her hand, not glancing back at him once before they disappeared into the house.