Fate/Heaven's Fall

The Chains of a King

I have, finally, come into my sleepwear, consisting of my short, comfortable, pink shorts with fine lace edges, and a matching top for that. My hair is still slightly wet, and I have therefore put it up in a rather unkempt bun, mostly because the wet hair over my shoulders makes me freeze. I'm wondering if I should make some dinner, or if I'm not really hungry enough to make that effort - I decide pretty quickly that I can wait until the next morning to eat.

Exhaustion takes over me after the long battle I had with Gilgamesh not long ago. So right now, I'm sitting in the middle of my living room floor watching TV, while one hand can't help but touch my golden necklace, which I still have around my neck, despite wearing nightwear.

I almost never take off that necklace, but rarely have it visible - I primarily wear it under my clothes, as it gives me an inner peace and security. Gilgamesh, on the other hand, is still quite annoyed at being forced to have a shower - and I'm still incredibly embarrassed to have seen a naked guy for the first time ever.

However, it doesn't exactly seem like Gilgamesh is affected by the fact that I've seen everything his body has to offer.

All.

"Uh, Blondie?" I ask, looking over my shoulder as I'm currently sitting on the floor in the middle of my living room, and my Servant has found her usual place on my couch. He fixes his red eyes at me and gives me a not very satisfied look.

"What do you want?" he murmurs in annoyance. He doesn't even sit with a wine glass this time, but rather just lies down and relaxes.

"The red markings you have on your torso," I murmur in a low voice, squinting my eyes slightly as I look at him.

He wears his white shirt with the low V-neckline on it - but the neckline is not deep enough to see his red markings, which are primarily in his sides and the upper part of his upper arms. "What exactly are they?"

"Oh? My so-called tattoos, as you would probably call them in this day and age?" he asks and I nod affirmatively as I look at him with interested eyes.

"You can look at it like a pair of magical shackles, so to speak," he explains, crossing his arms as he takes his gaze away from me, "These markings keep my full strength in check."

"So... You can't just use your full strength whenever you want?" I ask, imagining that it must mean that his markings are what hold back his powers - why he has them, however, is a mystery to me.

"Yes and no," he says, "I have yet to find an opponent worthy of facing my full strength in battle. Moreover, in addition to this, it requires that my Master has a large enough amount of mana to remove my so-called shackles."

"Have you ever had a Master who was strong enough?" I ask, quite fascinated that Gilgamesh can actually be even stronger than he already is. He is feared by all other Servants and Masters, and the thought that his full strength has not even been seen makes me excited and curious. However, he just gives me a rather snide look, as if he doesn't know whether to take it as an insult or not, "My last Master, had the strength to do it," he then says, "The only woman who has ever had my deepest respect." Lucy Knightwalker.

"Huh," I sigh quietly, once again directing my gaze to the television, which is still broadcasting the news of the mysterious femicides that still haven't been solved.

We have not even been told how they have been killed yet - perhaps because even the police are not aware of how it happened.

"Tell me, how do you earn your respect?" I ask, without taking my gaze off the screen in front of me.

"Well, first of all, they could start by stopping calling me Blondie," he mutters and I can almost feel him rolling his eyes at me, "Secondly, I only respect those who have the strength to measure up to me, and so far you're a beginner when it comes to magic."

"Huh, and you're not going to call me by my first name until I've got that respect, are you?"

"Don't count on that,," he says simply, and I sigh back in resignation. "I thought so..." Gilgamesh promised me that he would behave nicer around me at school the next day - or rather, I forced him to promise it, or I would punish him using one of my three Command Seals.

The girls almost swarmed around him the second we entered the university grounds, and of course Maki was there too, along with her two girlfriends. They were only interested in Gilgamesh because he was mysterious, handsome and... Yes, what girl would not be interested in such a guy? Too bad his personality didn't exactly match his good looks.

"Tell me, Gil," Maki says after a short while, during which a small group of girls have been trying to get in touch with Gilgamesh - although, for some reason, he avoids looking at them completely.

Still, he turns his red eyes at Maki when she speaks to him — but he doesn't say a word.

"We're a couple of girls wondering if you didn't want to hang out with us after school?" asks Maki, with the sweetest smile she can evoke, all the while I'm shut out of the small circle of desperate, girls in love, with no chance of getting in touch with my Servant.

"H-Hey, you can't just do that," I say in protest.

I refuse to stand by and watch as Maki, of all people, tries to steal my Servant from me. As far as I've understood on Gilgamesh, he enjoys being surrounded by girls, so I don't understand why he has such a facial expression that shows little more than disgust? It confuses me.

"I'm sure Rin doesn't mind," Maki says, giving me a small look, "It's not like you're a couple or anything."

"Tch, I have absolutely no interest in wasting my time on girls like you," he says, taking his spiky gaze away from Maki once more, and then simply walking straight through the throng of disappointed girls and continuing towards the university entrance.

"H-what?! How dare he just reject us like that?!" Maki exclaims, quite offended by the way Gilgamesh treats her - not even I'm so cold and blunt about him. His behavior really confuses me a lot.

"W-Wait, Gil!" I call and run after him so as not to lose sight of him, as you never know what he might do. However, I really want to ask him why he so coldly declined Maki's offer, as she is an otherwise quite beautiful girl, with a beautiful body and everything - and she is quite popular. Any guy at this university would be happy to go out with her. However, I quickly decide that this question will have to wait until later...

The rest of the day at university went well, but for some reason, Kekirie wasn't at school, and when I tried to call her to find out why, she didn't pick up her phone, and I left half a ton of voicemails as a protest. We had, once again, ancient history, and Professor Akihiko kept sending me smiles several times, right up to the back row where I was sitting - as if he was trying to encourage me, and motivate me, to fight this war, even though I had virtually no experience with magic. Whatsoever.

However, I got a call right after university and was asked if I could come to work that very day, which I definitely couldn't say no to. For once, I had little energy, despite being in the middle of a war. Besides, I felt like I needed the money more than ever before. I hadn't been at work for a few days now.

"What do you mean you have to work?" asks Gilgamesh, frowning his bright brows slightly at me, "Do you even have time for that kind of thing? We are in the middle of a war."

"Ssshhh!" I hush him and look around to make sure no one else is around as we stand in the middle of one of the hallways of the university. When I'm sure the coast is clear, I turn to my Servant once again with a serious look in my eyes, "I need the money, Gil. Besides, it's not more than a few hours, it'll be fine."

"Where do you work?" he asks, arms crossed. "Oh, it's at a friend's bar," I explain with a small smile, "It's... It's an okay job, even if I don't always like the way I'm treated..."

The last words come as a low murmur - so low that I don't think Gilgamesh can hear it.

"Hm, I understand," he says, "Very well, you have my permission to go to work."

"I don't need your permission to go to work," I mutter, annoyed, "I'm not your dog, or anything like that."

"Tch, everything on this earth belongs to me - including you."

"You're such an idiot, Gil..."