Giving it a shot….A Fate fanfiction. I already regret it.

Recently watched Fate/Apocrypha, and wasn't particularly fond of Sieg. I didn't hate him, but firmly felt he should have been the focus of a side plot. The homunculus attempting to save the homunculi. He just didn't have the impact to be the main character, and I did positively hate Sieg's 'romance' with Jeanne. It basically consisted (at least in the anime) of several bland exchanges that never really got into the nitty gritty of conflicting ideals or the challenges they were facing. Although I never liked Shirou either, so maybe I'm just weird. A friend told me the light novels handle Sieg better, but I've only finished the first novel. I might finish the translations in the future, but regardless I still decided to give a shot at this. A Great Holy Grail War with Siegfried as the main character.

So several warnings just to get this stuff out of the way. Firstly, I do not own Fate. Anyone who thinks I or anyone else on this website does should probably not be on in the first place. Secondly, I will be keeping the pairing ambiguous to a degree. There won't be lemons, and my outline only has one true confession/romance. However there will be a number of hints of others and a general messiness as romance is never neat and clean. Really just depends on how much you choose to look into several more…ambiguous statements or relationships. Ignore it or read into it. Your choice. Thirdly, I'm going to have to flesh out some of the characters a bit. We really know very little of Siegfried, and this might provoke reactions from other characters in ways that aren't canon. I'll try to stick to source materials, but I'll naturally have to make some executive decisions as the author here. I welcome input on following canon material as well as incorporating their historical legends into the characters seamlessly, but there's the risk I might stray from what the head canon of you readers.

Among the possibilities of life, there are times that a Saber might give up his chance at life for a homunculus. Naturally, that means there are times when such is avoided. These stories need to be told just as much, and may be even more important.

Being summoned was odd. Even as he feel himself being summoned into the container of a Servant, his mind was barraged with a great multitude of information.

Some basic.

The Great Holy Grail War. Trifas. Yggdmillennia. The Black Faction. Saber.

Some fantastical.

Heroic Spirits. Legends. Wish-Granting Vessels.

Some just overwhelming.

History. Wars. The grandest victories. The most lamentable tragedies. The unimaginable growth of mankind despite its flaws and mistakes.

So much it should be utterly overwhelming, yet so subtly presented and underlined with the new existence he took so perfectly the new knowledge was merely like flexing a new limb. It would take time and effort for him to master its use, but it was still there for him to call upon in some form. A crucial tool to allow an ancient hero like himself to function in the modern world.

Once the swell of information subsided and the container that composed his Servant form was complete, Siegfried was finally able to open his eyes and look upon the world with his own eyes. They were in a grand throne room. Summoning circles and magic wards created from silver and gold lined the floor. Beings he could identify as homunculi cowered against the walls, from the tumultuous summoning and overpowering presences it had called forth.

These presences were what demanded his attention, only his innate battle awareness having taken note of the various minutiae of the room. At the head of the throne room, seated upon the throne was the one who undoubtedly ruled here. That Siegfried could sense him a servant was irrelevant. Dressed royally in clothes as black as night, with eerily pale skin and white hair like silk. Siegfried knew who he was. Yggdmillennia had clearly used the grail to implant the knowledge of just who was the leader of the Black Faction.

Vlad III, the greatest hero of Wallachia. He who fought the overwhelming Turks with sheer brutality to cross the numerical disparity, earning the name the 'Impaling Prince' in the process. A legend that would later be used to give birth to the myth of the vampire, Count Dracula.

He was obviously not the sole other Servant in this room which had just hosted a mass summoning.

One wearing a blue mantle and full-bodied suit, topped with a featureless mask, was by the wall. Clearly summoned before this, and merely observing with cool detachment.

A petite girl in a white dress, clutching a giant mace. Empty eyes roving the room.

An androgynous-looking boy, with pink hair and fancily dressed. Excited and beaming.

And finally a man with a bow. Simply dressed in a forest-colored cloak, he was kneeling on one knee.

The final feature, only of import due to Siegfried's current status as a Servant, were the masters. A dandy man with youthful looks but old eyes stood beside Lancer by the throne. A girl in a wheelchair. A woman with a clean appearance, but reeking of blood and death impossible for Siegfried with his dragon-enhanced senses to miss. A young man with freckles and a childish face, sweating from exertion. A child that should be too young to participate from a moral standard, standing next to the Servant next to the wall.

Yet most important for him, the one before him that was connected to Siegfried himself. His master in this Holy Grail War. A portly man with blonde hair and a full length, white and gold suit. A pompous nature was easy to see on his face.

Siegfried was far more interested in the contract that had already bound them together with the summoning though. While it was blatantly obvious to trace the connection to identify him as his master, there was subtler activity underneath. After slaying the evil dragon Fafnir and bathing in its blood and eating its heart, Siegfried had taken on certain draconic characteristics. While a poor compatibility with his master had resulted in his Servant form being deprived of or limiting some of those traits, besides the invulnerability his skin possessed, it didn't prevent Siegfried from being something more than human. In this case, a natural sensitivity to prana all dragonkin possessed allowed him to sense that his master was only providing the minimum amount of prana. The rest of the ample prana supply he could feel came from several different sources.

Siegfried chose not to dwell on it at the moment. A mere peculiarity that he instinctively noted.

All these observation occurred in a moment, subconsciously. After which he spoke in synch with the other Servants that had been summoned, "In accordance to the summons, we present ourselves – the Servants of Black. Our fates shall be with Yggdmillennia, and our swords will be as your swords."

After a solemn moment as everyone present reflected on the reality of six Heroic Spirits all being present in one room like this, the silence was inelegantly broken by an enthusiastic declaration, "Ah, should we introduce ourselves first? We should, shouldn't we? I'll start! Servant Rider-my name is Astolfo. What about you?"

With most of those present caught off guard, the one he had spoken too successfully recovered and actually answered, "I am Servant Archer. My name is Chiron."

"Thanks, Chiron," Astolfo said happily while holding out his hand. "Our time together may be short, but let's make the best of it."

Chiron accepted the handshake, but was clearly troubled. It was clarified though when the master by Vlad ordered coolly, "Do not use your true names, Rider. Call each other by your classes."

"Right, right," Rider replied nonchalantly as he turned to the girl dressed in white and asked, "And you?"

This time Rider's overture was rejected. The girl remained silent, merely shaking her head back and forth in refusal.

"Oh, I see. You can't talk, sorry. Hmm…Where's her master?" Rider incorrectly deduced before looking past her to fixate on the childish looking man. "You over there. What's her name?"

"Well, umm," the man hesitantly mumbled under the question. Finally despite the one he assumed to be Berserker still shaking her head, the man finally caved to the questions of the Heroic Spirit, "…Frankenstein."

"I see. Well, pleased to meet you, Fran-I mean, Berserker," Rider said happily, either ignorant or simply uncaring of Berserker's grunt of displeasure at her name. Probably inevitably, Rider now turned to Siegfried himself. "So, what's your name?"

Siegfried didn't even have a chance to consider whether to answer or nor before his master immediately snapped, "Stop, Saber. Do not speak." He quickly looked around as he continued, "I will not disclose the true name of my Servant to any one of you but Darnic."

That seemed to displease the other masters, but Siegfried himself was largely unbothered. While he likely wouldn't have concealed his true name to his allies in this Great Holy Grail War on principal, he understood the reasoning. The Holy Grail gave Siegfried a good understanding of his current legend in the world. While not totally true, inevitably tainted by evolving societal norms and skewed by time, enough was true to still matter.

The Dragon-Blooded Knight. A Prince of Xanter of many adventures whose most famous feat was slaying the evil dragon Fafnir with the holy sword of the Nibelungs, Balmung, and bathing in its blood to become invulnerable. An undefeated hero revered in Germany today, and Northern Europe due to his legend seemingly becoming mixed with the Old Norse hero Sigurd. Yet although unmatched, he died in his prime from a treacherous plot. Without giving off an unseemly figure or suffering defeat, he died from a blade of betrayal to his sole vulnerability while drinking water from a stream.

Indeed, Siegfried's legend so clearly spoke of such a weakness. A weakness so great even the weakest Heroic Spirit could kill him if stuck there. One that hadn't been exposed in life till his death. Due to this, one could argue that concealing his true name was of utmost importance. For Siegfried, the piece of info could certainly be the difference between victory and defeat.

Lancer and his master, Darnic, seemed to agree. Receiving their assent, his master moved out of the room with his head held high. Siegfried instinctively followed his pleased master out of the room and through the halls of the castle they were within. They finally appeared to have reached his master's room.

Once within the room, Gordes turned to survey his Servant. His appearance was majestic and magnificent, without a doubt. Tall and well-built, with silver armor on his arms and legs. Much of his torso was exposed though, exposing a figure suited for a Heroic Spirit and a green tattoo that seemed somehow more than that. Long silver hair fell down his back, and green eyes calmly surveyed the world around him. He would ensnare the eyes of any who saw him.

Nearly certain of himself before such a figure, Gordes still had to be sure. So he asked, "Answer me just one thing, Saber-your True Name is Siegfried, correct?"

Siegfried simply nodded.

Gordes smiled before he started racking his brains. It was all good and well to have summoned one of the greatest of Servants, and Siegfried was certainly just that, especially as the powerful Saber class, but his legend was known far and wide. And with it, his weak point. How long could they hide such a well-known yet deadly weak point?

Keeping it hidden was of the utmost importance.

With that intent in mind, Gordes spoke up imperiously, "Saber, from now on, keep your mouth shut unless you are unveiling your Noble Phantasm. You are allowed to speak only when I give permission to do so." Gordes also waved his hand, emphasizing the Command Spells to show the strictness of the order.

A tension soon appeared in the room.

For Gordes, it was imprinted in his mind that this was 'just a Servant'. A mere familiar, brought into this world by Gordes, his master. This was fact, at least to him.

Yet trepidation remained. No matter the form or relationship between them, the basic instinct of his body quailed before the being before him. Siegfried was a true Heroic Spirit, an existence on an altogether different plain from even magi, and this sense of supremacy was something Gordes couldn't self-consciously ignore. That knowledge, even buried underneath the sense of superiority and pride that Gordes' parents had cultivated in his, gave rise to a question of whether he could treat such a being so highhandedly.

Would he forgive Gordes?

Interestingly, this tension was almost entirely one-sided on the side of Gordes. Despite his royal blood and leadership capabilities, Siegfried was at his base a hero who fulfilled the wishes and calls of others. In addition, Siegfried was called here as a Servant. His duty was to serve and aid the living. No command would be a burden to him if it still allows him to fulfill his own desires, and he acknowledged the necessity of concealing his identity. A command to not speak was something he would not dispute.

If Siegfried had nodded at that moment, things would have developed otherwise. It would have been so easy to happen. Gordes was insistent, and Siegfried was little bothered by the demand. That it would have been based upon and perpetuated a misunderstanding was something neither would know at the time nor would they till it was too late.

Yet the world turned, and that path passed them by. That point when everything changed was not for man to pinpoint. Maybe Siegfried thought a mere moment too long. Maybe Gordes was patient a moment too little. Possibly the change happened earlier. A slight waver in the summoning chant by Gordes, a fluctuation in the summoning that altered Siegfried's mood enough for the taciturn man to delay speaking just enough or think slightly different this time. Or a shadow of a forgotten, maybe imaginary, event lingered in the depth of Siegfried's soul that was detached from the normal time axis…something less human and more…fantastic, whispered…asking what he wanted from this second chance.

And so Gordes cracked in face of Saber's failure to respond. His calm broke, and true to his character he reverted to that which he had lived his life as. An inordinately proud man, possibly to the point of not being able to separate dream from reality. 'I, who am the only first-class magus to be born of the once Great Musik clan and shall return it to greatness, shall not let this mere familiar challenge me.'

Such a thought was behind Gordes waving his Command Seals again and declaring, "That was an order, Saber. You need not do anything but obey."

The tension in the room rose at that, and Siegfried sternly met eyes with Gordes. For the first time since his summoning, Siegfried the Dragon-Slayer spoke, "I do not object to said order. Its necessity is both undeniable, and I do not on principal object to my status as your Servant. Neither do I have a wish upon the Grail that would sow discord between us two…However I am specifically here to not merely obey."

Possibly due to Siegfried's own difficulties with proper communication or maybe it was merely Gordes' mood and pride that caused selective hearing, but only one statement mattered at that moment. Gordes huffed as he demanded, "You, a Servant, would refuse to obey me, your Master?!"

"Should the situation demand it, yes," Siegfried was blunt in his retort, although he at least tried to subsequently explain himself to bridge the gap that was opening up between them, "Besides potentially moral conflicts, the reality is that I am a Heroic Spirit. My experience and combat skills are on a point that I do not need interference from a modern magus, even if he be my Master."

Once again potentially due to Siegfried's failure to proper phrase his intent or due to Gordes' being confronted with his fight-or-flight instinct, the proud magus only registered part of what was said.

"You do not need?! It seems you misunderstand how this contract works, Servant. I am not the tool here, a mere prana battery so you can exist. You are the tool here, Saber, a mere blade for me to wield as I see fit…And I do not need a blade that talks back," Gordes snarled out in outrage. His fight-or-flight instinct blaring at this point, his remaining thoughts knowing there were only two options before him. To back down like a dog, or force his Servant to understand who had the power between them. And so his hand raised, one of the Command Seals on his hand flashing…and an order was given, "Saber, by Command Seal I order you to no longer speak unless I give you permission to."

The alarmed, and simply genuinely caught off guard Siegfried-surely no one would waste such a precious resource as a Command Seal to avoid a mere argument-had no choice but to stand in indignation as the power of the Command flowed through his body. A hand instinctively shot to the hilt of Balmung over his shoulder from the sensation -knowledge- of being assaulted on some level, a move that caused Gordes to freeze out of fear he was about to be cut down before he could hope to use another Command Seal to restrain his Servant. However even this indignation was not enough for Siegfried to cross such a line. Both morally, and from acknowledging his strategic situation. Here, in the base of Yggdmillennia, striking down his master would risk his continued existence and at least remove any concept of trust with his allies that were crucial in a war like this.

And so Siegfried's hand fell of Balmung's hilt, Gordes relaxing at the move and drawing a wrong conclusion. Straightening, the Master of the two coughed before asking imperiously, "Are we done here?"

With a stiff jaw and blank face, Siegfried nodded with his ability to talk sealed. He then returned to Spirit Form, allowing himself to leave the room without wasting a moment. Gordes in turn sat back down on his chair, exhaustion from such a harrowing ordeal finally setting in. However he was able to bask in the victorious afterglow of bending his Servant to his will. It took a Command Seal, but with Siegfried submitted to his will it was a worthy sacrifice.

And thus a misunderstanding was born.

Gordes made the age old mistake of mistaking the lack of complaints voiced as a lack of complaints, and even took it a step further by believing that forcibly stopping anyone from voicing complaints was a genuine solution. He did not understand that Siegfried merely acknowledged that with his ability to speak sealed, it was pointless to continue any discussion. His Master's apparent willingness to use a Command Spell for such an occasion also spelled the end of communicating in the future. Thus only Siegfried left knowing that while the contract remained, trust was now missing.

It was a poor start for the relationship between the two, and called into question any future cooperation in a way Siegfried could not ignore.

There it is. The light novel just made the divergence point to perfect for me to resist. '...If, at this very moment, he had resolutely refused to the point of Gordes perhaps choosing to use his Command Spells, his fate might have been different. But Siegfried chose to submit, as a Servant of the Saber class - whereas Gordes recognized this exchange as a Master bending said Servant to his will.
In time, this misunderstanding between them will bring things to a fatal pass.' I actually had a different premise planned for this story, but when I read the first light novel only a bit ago I just shifted everything because this fitted so much better.

Unfortunately, despite deciding on such a subtle POD from the first light novel, I subsequently fell to my whim and decided to switch out Berserker of Red. Because the Red Faction needs more heavyweights, right (sarcasm)? I'm already set on which Heroic Spirit will be Red Berserker, although if enough people dislike this and want Spartacus I might cave.

A lot of the first half of this chapter was rather blatantly copied from the light novel, merely from Siegfried's perspective. It was only during the argument between Siegfried and Gordes that I was able to start going off canon. As the story proceeds and events shift, I hope I'll be able to do this more. Until then, I'm going to skip any canon scenes since I don't feel like basically copying scenes word by word from the light novel. So Mordred's summoning, is entirely canon by this point. Only Berserker of Red is planned by this point to be non-canon by this point.

Overall a bit of a short chapter, but I wanted to put the idea out there. Looking forward to any feedback I am lucky enough to receive.