Fate/Heaven's Fall

Teardrops

It's fast approaching four o'clock, and Professor Akihiko has spent the last two hours of the day answering other students' questions about the assignment, and it's finally my turn to ask questions. No students have yet asked about Gilgamesh, which I take as a good sign; That must mean that I may be the only one who writes about him! Several students have already asked about Alexander the Great, so I quickly chose to scrap that legend as an assignment.

I'm writing about Gilgamesh!

"Ah, Rin Loveless! Do you have any questions about the task?" asks Akihiko with a big smile on his lips, then takes a sip from his glass of water that he has standing at his small table, along with his paper notes.

"Yes, Professor," I say, clearing my throat slightly, "I have chosen to write about Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, and I would be happy if you would tell us a little about him?"

"Ah, Gilgamesh! What a fantastic choice, Miss Loveless," says the professor with a beaming smile that shines all the way up to the back rows where we sit.

"The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first written masterpiece, and Gilgamesh is therefore, as far as we know, the first King of antiquity!" I hear Gil giggling low next to me, and I stare at him coldly for a moment.

He just raises an eyebrow at me, like I'm the one who's wrong with me, but I just turn my gaze back to the professor. The other students in the hall have gone completely silent, just observing the professor with great interest - they have, apparently, not heard of Gilgamesh until now. The hall has not been so quiet since the lesson began.

"I assume you've read The Epic of Gilgamesh, Miss Loveless?"

"Of course, Professor!"

"Great, I'll just give you a little extra information about the one you've since found, including his exquisite taste in women," says the professor, and I feel my cheeks turn slightly red for some reason.

"Oh no..." Gil mutters low next to me. "Ssshh!" I hush him, trying to focus on the professor. 

"A lot can be said about Gilgamesh. He was a tyrant, a merciless ruler, demigod and the strongest man of his time, but he had an extremely interesting taste in women," the professor begins by saying, as he goes back and forth down by the tablets, "Gilgamesh, like virtually every other ruler of antiquity, had a larger harem of virgins."

"Tch," Gil growls low by my side.

"Sssshh!!"

"Even if this was the case, his taste in women has always been slightly different from what we think when we hear the word 'virgin'," continues the professor, who fortunately cannot hear Gil complaining by my side, "Gilgamesh, you see, had the impression that everything between heaven and earth belonged to him..."

Wait, this sounds a bit familiar to me...

"Therefore, of course, it was typical that he was most interested in the women he couldn't get; the independent, strong women, who are gentle and loving, pure and untouched, but they should not depend on men, let alone exploit them," the professor said, evacuating slightly, "In other words; merciful, stubborn, precious, virgins, was what was to Gilgamesh's liking."

"Huh..." Gil mutters by my side with a small sigh, and I catch myself staring at him for a few seconds, wondering about things I wasn't even fully aware of. 

Could it be possible...?

"However, I must say," says the professor to catch the students' attention once again, "Although Gilgamesh was a demigod according to the Gilgamesh epic, there is still a lot of doubt as to whether this was true or not--"