Goodbye, Beloved Artoria [Prologue]

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I grabbed her leg as she tried to leave. She turned back to me, confused as to why I was stopping her. She wore an angry look on her face, contrary to the normal elegance and composure she had. She stopped trying to move and took my hand.

Y/N: Looks like I was a little in over my head, huh? King of Knights?

I looked up at the girl who was holding my hand. In her other hand, she wielded an invisible blade surrounded by the wind. She wasn't looking at me as she stared off into the city caught ablaze. She was clenching her teeth and her eyebrows were twitching. She was angry and ready to go into battle. I squeezed her hand.

Y/N: I don't think I have any regrets. You?

Her expression went soft as she looked back at me. Her eyes had tears in them, but she refused to let them fall. At least not until the fighting was over.

**She's so strong. I think she'll be fine even without me...**

Saber: Master, save your energy, please. You are talking like the battle has already been lost.

I felt my stomach for my injury. My hand was soaked in blood. It should've hurt, but I felt nothing.

**Maybe the battle's not lost for her, but I wasn't going to make it through this. It's only a matter of time before this hole in my stomach causes me to bleed out.**

Y/N: I'm in a HOLE-lot of trouble right now.

Saber: Y/N... Please...

She let go of my hand and fully stood up.

Saber: I informed #&*$, of your location and she is on her way. Just hang on. I have to go stop him. The others need my help.

Y/N: You don't trust them?

Saber: I do...

She hesitated to speak any further as she looked off into the battlefield of destruction and chaos.

Saber: But on my honor as a knight, I can not stand by and watch this.

Y/N: Ride together, die together... Something like that, right?

Saber: I know now that I never properly lead my people. I want that to change. I'm going to save my land.

I smiled. She was always so composed and almost even formal. At moments like these where she started to lose her composure and become more impulsive, it was honestly kind of cute.

Y/N: Saber- Artoria... I want you to join the fight, and I do too, but...

I didn't notice that I started crying a little bit. Saber didn't know how to respond to my tears and comfort me, but I wasn't really sad. Just unsatisfied with how things ended up.

Y/N: I'm never going to see you again. So please, win this war, but don't think about me anymore after this.

Saber: What do you mean?

I held out my hand and my final command spell started to light up.

Saber: Y/N?!

My first 2 command spells were already gone. Used for the sake of those around me. I guess Saber's selflessness and honor had rubbed off on me. However, for this exact moment... My final moments... Was I wrong for wanting to be a little selfish?

Y/N: With my final command spell, I order you Saber, my servant, my chivalrous darling... to stay with me... Just a little longer.

I coughed up blood as I finished the command. It took a lot out of me. Her sword vanished and her arms dropped as she looked down at me. The tears that she had been trying so desperately to fight back started to fall. Regardless of what she said, her face let me know that she was relieved she didn't have to leave my side right now.

Y/N: I've never seen you cry before. I like it. It lets me know that you're alive.

Saber: I've never seen you smile...

I didn't realize how I was impulsively smiling. At death's door, I finally realized that I was happy.

Saber: Why did things end up like this? I thought you were going to make your dream come true.

She was blaming herself for my current condition and soon-to-be demise. As a Servant, she believed it was her job to protect me, not my job to protect her.

Y/N: I did. Thanks to you, and thanks to everybody else. I made my wish come true.

Saber: How?

Y/N: Don't worry about it.

I tapped on the ground next to me for her to sit down. She sat down but refused to look up. She was feeling very guilty.

Saber: I can't make my wish come true without you.

Y/N: Why not? Aren't you going to save your people?

Saber: I wanted to save them all, but here I am failing once again. What good was a second chance if I could not change anything? What do I do, Y/N?

I grabbed her head and pulled her in close to hug her. I didn't know what to say, so I just held her.

**I wish I had the words to encourage her, but I don't. I never realized that Saber considered me to be one of the people she wanted to save.**

Y/N: I don't know...

Saber: Nor do I.

???: Y/N!

I wiped Saber's tears as I held her. I didn't want them all to see her vulnerable side. A group of my friends and companions had found me. They were running over as fast as they could to help me.

???: Y/N, stay awake! ^$&# is somewhere close by!

???: They can still heal you, we'll go get them right now!

Y/N: Everyone...

???: Saber!? What are you sitting there sulking for?! Were you not going to get help for your master?

I showed them all my left hand. My command seals had vanished.

Y/N: I'm not her master anymore.

???: That doesn't matter, we're all still allies here. Somebody find &$;#% right now!

Y/N: Everyone stop, just calm down.

They all stopped panicking and looked at me. Saber hadn't said a word since they arrived.

Y/N: I'm not recovering from this. Even if I did, I'm permanently out of commission right now. Go focus on what's important.

They all had different reactions to my accepting defeat. Some cried while some got frustrated, some tried to stay strong as Saber did. The overall reaction, however, was sadness.

**Thanks for everything, you all. It sucks that it took death for me to realize I already had what I'd been wishing for this whole time.**

I looked down at Saber. She was falling apart and seemed to be having a breakdown.

Y/N: When I was born, I came into this world crying with everybody else around me smiling.

She started crying again, and for some strange reason, her tears made me feel warm inside.

Y/N: And now I leave this world smiling with everybody else around me crying. Isn't it sort of poetic?

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I knew my time was running out and I went into shock. I couldn't see anything anymore and I couldn't hear what the people around me were saying. It was all just mumbles.

**Somebody please take care of Saber. She's a strong, courageous king, but a king is only as sturdy as their kingdom and vice-versa. Please, you all.**

My body started to get hot, and then it got cold. I had no energy to react to the strange sensation. I was feeling bad that Saber wasn't getting the closure she wanted. She truly did deserve a better outcome than this.

**If there is a god out there, then, please. Let me try again... It didn't have to end this way... I beg you to let us start over.**

[PROLOGUE FIN. CHAPTER 1 COMING SOON]

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